Scotland · Restored
Tower of Hallbar
The Tower of Hallbar is a 16th‑century, five‑storey Scottish tower house standing above the Braidwood Burn in South Lanarkshire. It is a narrow, 7.5 m square stone tower with very thick walls, a high first‑floor entrance, corbelled parapet walks and a small barmkin to the south.
Its prime
1581
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1581
What Tower of Hallbar looked like in its prime.
A narrow, square five‑storey stone tower (7.5 m square) with walls up to 1.6 m thick, each level originally a single room; a winding stair built into the wall thickness links floors. The basement is a low‑vaulted cellar with external access, the main entrance sits at first‑floor level above the ground, and the roofline is finished by a pyramidal cap‑house giving access to corbelled parapet walks. A corbelled oriel projects from the south gable and a dovecot is built into the north gable; a roughly enclosed barmkin lies to the south above the burn.
Its story
The story of Tower of Hallbar.
The Barony of Braidwood, 1326–1581
Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Braidwood to John de Monfod in 1326. Two and a half centuries later, in 1581, the barony was transferred to Harie Stewart of Gogar, brother of James Stewart of Bothwellmuir, who held the earldom of Arran briefly during the insanity of the third earl, James Hamilton. The tower — known too as Braidwood Castle, after the barony — is recorded at that date, which makes it likely that it had been raised in answer to James V's edict that "tours of fence" be built on all lands worth more than £100 Scots. It stands above the Braidwood Burn some 3.5 km south-west of Carluke, on the west side of the Clyde.
Thirlestane, Douglas and the Lockharts of Lee, 1581–1681
Braidwood, and Hallbar with it, came into the possession of Lord Maitland of Thirlestane Castle, and later passed through the hands of the Marquess of Douglas. In 1681 it changed hands again when George Lockhart of Lee Castle bought the estate, his own lands adjoining Braidwood to the south.
Ruin, Rebuilding and the Last Tenant, 1861–1984
By the middle of the 19th century the tower stood in ruins. Its dereliction was halted by Sir Norman Macdonald Lockhart Bt., the young laird of Lee, who had it restored in 1861 by D R Rankin of Carluke; the parapet, cap-house, gables and roof all belong to that rebuilding of the upper works. The tower was then let, generating income for the Lockharts, and among its tenants was the Rev. Neville Donaldson, minister of Glasgow Cathedral, who lived in it during the 1950s and 1960s. The last tenant left in 1984, after which the narrow five-storey tower — 7.5 m square, with walls up to 1.6 m thick — became semi-derelict once more and suffered vandalism.
Category A Listing and the Vivat Trust Conversion
The tower was listed category A on 12 January 1971. In 1998 the Lockharts, who own the tower still, agreed a lease with the Vivat Trust, a historic buildings preservation trust, which undertook to restore the building and convert it for holiday accommodation. The work ran to extensive masonry consolidation, the rebuilding of a defective section of the upper wall and complete reroofing, carried out alongside the restoration of a neighbouring cottage or bothy to provide further rooms; in the hall the ceiling was painted with a medieval design incorporating the Lockhart arms.
The ground to the south, which may once have formed the tower's barmkin, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument; the tower itself was de-scheduled so that the conversion could go ahead. Since the Vivat Trust's demise the tower has been let through a commercial holiday-cottage agency.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1581.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Tower of Hallbar, including 5 interiors: first‑floor hall (entrance level), basement low‑vaulted cellar, second‑floor vaulted chamber and more. 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 Tower of Hallbar with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Tower of Hallbar.
The families that held Tower of Hallbar for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Lockhart
Bought by George Lockhart of Lee in 1681; still owned by the Lockharts of Lee.
Nearby
