Tower of Hallbar

The Tower of Hallbar stands beside the Braidwood Burn in South Lanarkshire, a small five-storey tower house built in the 16th century. It sits on a narrow square plan just 7.5 metres across, with walls up to 1.6 metres thick. A winding stair built into the thickness of the walls links each floor, and the main door opens at first-floor level. The tower rises to a pyramidal cap-house and two parapet walks, one reached through the garret room. A projecting garderobe was added on the west wall in the 19th century, and a dovecot with pigeon holes is set into the north gable. The tower was recorded in 1581 when Harie Stewart of Gogar held the barony of Braidwood. It passed through the Marquess of Douglas to George Lockhart of Lee Castle in 1681. By the mid-19th century the upper parts had collapsed, but Sir Norman Macdonald Lockhart restored it in 1861. The Rev. Neville Donaldson, minister of Glasgow Cathedral, lived there during the 1950s and 1960s. After 1984 the tower stood empty until the Vivat Trust restored it in 1998 for holiday use. Inside, the vaulted cellar now holds a kitchen, and the second floor has a bathroom with two rooms beyond. The hall ceiling carries a painted medieval design with the Lockhart arms. Outside, a barmkin courtyard once surrounded the tower, and the parapet walks are corbelled with an oriel window in the south gable. The tower is a category A listed building, and the ground to the south is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.