Drumcoltran Tower, tower house in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK
Drumcoltran Tower is a residential tower house from the 1500s set in the Scottish countryside of Dumfries and Galloway. The structure contains three floors, a spiral staircase ascending through its interior, and a parapet walk atop the roof that offers views across the surrounding fields and rolling terrain.
The tower was built around 1550 by Edward Maxwell, a member of a local gentry family. In the 1700s, a dwelling was constructed adjacent to it, and the structure then served for roughly a century as housing for farm workers before later becoming a storage building.
The name reflects the family who built here and the type of structure they raised. The carved inscription above the doorway, calling for honesty, discretion, and kindness, reveals the values that mattered to those who lived within these walls.
The site sits in a quiet rural area and is easiest to reach by car. The nearest bus stop lies about a kilometer away in the village of Kirkgunzeon, so parking at the roadside near the farm is the most practical approach for visitors.
A small restored wooden chamber near the staircase resembles one at Elcho Castle and suggests the tower served as a lookout post. The rounded corners of this structure differ from the typically angular corners found on other towers of the same period.
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