Although we cannot examine every tower, they do have shared features, common to many which we can illustrate.

Most Towers are a rectangular or L-shaped building, usually of a local stone forming thick walls, of 3, 4 or 5 stories in height, with the bottom floor being a vaulted basement, often with internal access though a trap door via a ladder. External access was through one door only, sometimes set at first floor level.  This door often had the 'back-up' of a second door consisting of an iron grating called a 'yett'. Access to upper floors was often (though not always) up a spiral staircase called a 'turnpike'. Any windows which existed were small and unglazed and usually protected by shutters and/or an external iron grille. The roof was capped with tiles of stone or slate and may have a had a walkway round its perimeter for offence against attackers. Many had a beacon which would be lit to warn others of danger. In later version, corner turrets were sometimes added. This then was the classic Border Tower. We can examine these features in more detail.

It would be impossible to discuss every tower, individually, at length. The map at left shows the distribution of towers within the bounds of the modern day Scottish Borders Council. You should not be surprised to learn that the cluster at the bottom of the map is Liddesdale!!

As you can see, the towers are prolific and this does not even number those in the modern-day border regions of Dumfries & Galloway, Cumbria or Northumberland.

Image by kind permission of Scottish Borders Council

The basic “footprint” of the Tower was rectangular in area, as in Hollows Tower.

Some started life as a rectangle and had an extension added to make them L-Shaped, as at Buittle

Some have been so heavily modified and added to over the years  that it can be difficult to see that they started life with the same basic shape as Hollows eg at left, Traquair House.

Construction of the towers is usually of the local stone, eg sandstone around Dumfries, granite around Dalbeattie, etc etc. Sandstone is easy to cut an mould, but the other native stones used (granite, greywacke and gritstone) are not. For this reason the stone is rarely dressed and squared but left as rough blocks. Two walls are built, using lime mortar, with a cavity between, which is filed with rubble again held together with lime mortar. This gives a very sturdy construction.

The walls on the ground floor are usually very thick , sometimes 3 to 4m (10 to 13feet). This is for two reasons: one is for defence (to stop would-be intruders digging through the walls) the other is for strength, as this storey has to carry the weight of the tower.

At Comlongan, a particularly large tower, the thickness of the walls has been continued throughout the building which has allowed the building of mural chambers (rooms inside the walls). These include a pit prison, garderobes and a “chappel” as well as stairs and passages. These spaces within the walls would have weakened the building had it ever had to withstand a siege by artillery, as these would have formed weak spots - but, fortunately for the Murrays of Cockpool, who owned the tower, this never happened.