Scotland · Still standing
Cranshaws Castle
Cranshaws Castle (Cranshaws Tower) is a privately owned 15th‑century rectangular pele tower near the village of Cranshaws in Berwickshire, Scotland. The four‑storey tower has rounded corners and a crenellated parapet and remains in use as a residence; it is protected as a category A listed building.
Its prime
1410
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1410
What Cranshaws Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall, boxy four‑storey rectangular pele with gently rounded corner towers, its walls finished in a grey‑brown harled render over rubble stone. Small narrow slit and later sash windows punctuate the plain façades; a single modest ground‑level doorway opens to the lawn. A corbelled band supports a crenellated parapet and short square chimney stacks rise above the battlements. The tower stands isolated on a grassy plot amid scattered trees with no remaining barmkin walls.
Its story
The story of Cranshaws Castle.
Cranshaws Castle is a 15th-century pele tower beside the village of Cranshaws in Berwickshire, four storeys with rounded corners and a crenellated parapet, still in use as a residence and protected as a category A listed building. Occupancy of the estate was granted early to a younger son of the Olifard line, with whose descendants it remained for centuries; William Oliphant, Lord of Aberdalgie and 7th chief, left Cranshaws among his properties at his death in 1329.
The superiority lay with the Barony of Bothwell, which had passed by marriage to the Morays in 1252 on the extinction of the senior Oliphant line. In 1362 Joanna de Moravia, heiress of Bothwell, married Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas, and their son became the 4th Earl.
In 1401 Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, bestowed Cranshaws on Sir John Swinton, 14th of that Ilk, a man the earl called "dilectus consanguineus nostra", our beloved cousin, dispossessing the Oliphants. Swinton fell at the Battle of Homildon Hill the following year, and his son Sir John Swinton, 15th of that Ilk, is thought to have built the existing castle; what kind of building the Oliphants had is not known.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1410.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Cranshaws Castle, including 1 interior: upper‑storey chamber with window embrasures. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Cranshaws Castle.
The families that held Cranshaws Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Oliphant
The Olifard/Oliphant line held Cranshaws for centuries; William Oliphant, Lord of Aberdalgie, left it at his death in 1329, and the family was dispossessed in 1401.
Swinton
Bestowed on Sir John Swinton, 14th of that Ilk, by the 4th Earl of Douglas in 1401; his son is thought to have built the existing tower.
From the archive
Cranshaws Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
SECTION
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
WEST ELEVATION
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
SOUTH ELEVATION
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
