Scotland · Restored
Fatlips Castle
Fatlips Castle is a 16th‑century peel tower on Minto Crags in Roxburghshire, Scottish Borders, overlooking the River Teviot. Erected by the Turnbull family, it was restored in the 19th century and again in the early 21st; it was adapted as a shooting lodge and private museum in 1897–98 and is a scheduled monument.
First raised
1600
Its prime
1898
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1898
What Fatlips Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact, rectangular stone peel tower of four storeys plus an attic, built of pale grey rubble with lighter ashlar dressings; small vertical slit and rectangular windows punctuate the walls. The top is finished with a 19th‑century parapet walk with heavy corbelled eaves and a low cap‑house behind a crow‑stepped gable and chimney. It stands alone on a grassy crag above rolling farmland and the River Teviot, roof and parapet intact at its prime.
Its story
The story of Fatlips Castle.
The Turnbulls of Barnhills and the Burning of Mynto Crag, 1545
Fatlips is a peel tower on the top of Minto Crags, above the River Teviot in Roxburghshire. It was raised in the sixteenth century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, notorious Border reivers who held Barnhills Tower and its farm nearby. In 1545, during the War of the Rough Wooing, the Earl of Hertford burned Mantoncrake, or Mynto Crag.
A Name Said to Come from the Greeting of Guests
The tower is said to owe its name to the habit of its household of greeting guests with less discretion than was reckoned decent at the time. One of the pleasures of a visit used to be that every gentleman, by indefeasible privilege, kissed one of the ladies on entering the ruin.
The Elliots of Minto and Lorimer's Shooting Lodge
Sir Gilbert Elliot acquired the tower in 1705, and his family became in time the Earls of Minto. It was extensively restored in 1857, and in 1897–98 Sir Robert Lorimer renovated the interior as a shooting lodge and private museum. The building stayed in use until the 1960s.
The Restoration Announced in 2011 and the Work of 2013
A major restoration was announced on 18 November 2011, the work expected to be complete by 2013; in mid-2013 the cap-house, parapet and roof were renovated. Historic Environment Scotland designates the tower a scheduled monument.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1898.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Fatlips Castle, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Fatlips Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1898, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Fatlips Castle.
The families that held Fatlips Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Turnbull
Built in the 16th century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, Border reivers.
Acquired by Sir Gilbert Elliot in 1705; his family eventually became the Earls of Minto.
