Fulton Tower

Fulton Tower stands in the Scottish Borders, 7.2 kilometres south-west of Jedburgh and 3.2 kilometres south of Bedrule, beside the Rule Water. It is a ruined 16th-century tower house, also known locally as Rule Water or Fulton Farm. The building has an L-shaped plan, with a small circular stair-tower projecting from one corner. Rough harled rubble walls survive to an average height of 5.5 metres, though the south-east wall and most of the stair-tower have collapsed. Inside, two storeys remain, though neither is vaulted and the entrance has vanished. The tower’s history is tied to the Homes and Turnbulls. In 1570 Margaret Hume of Cowdenknowes held the lands of Fulton for life before marrying William Turnbull, heir of Thomas Turnbull of Bedrule. During the Rough Wooing in 1545 English forces under Lord Hertford burned twelve settlements along the Rule Water, including Fotton, the site of Fulton. Hertford’s report lists the places destroyed, among them Bedrule Castle and several mills. Visitors find a quiet grassy rise beside the Rule Water, with the roofless stone walls of the tower rising above the ground. Two oval gunloops face north-west on the ground floor, while above a fireplace and the remains of a window with a small locker can still be seen. The surviving walls, built of roughly coursed harled rubble, stand to about 5.5 metres in places, offering a clear view of the tower’s simple L-plan form. The surrounding farmland stretches away, with Jedburgh and Bedrule nearby but out of sight.