Gilnockie Tower

Gilnockie Tower stands beside the River Esk in Dumfriesshire, a 17th-century rubble-built house four storeys high. It began as Hollows Tower around 1520, built by Johnnie Armstrong, the Border outlaw. The name comes from the Gaelic for ‘Little White Hill’. The tower was burned in 1528 by Sir Christopher Dacre and rebuilt after raids in the 1540s with a new parapet walk and beacon stance. In 1978 it was a roofless ruin until Major T.C.R. Armstrong-Wilson restored it, fitting oak doors and adding services. The restoration returned the interior to a 16th-century appearance while meeting modern safety rules. It now holds a furnished Grand Hall and Master Bedroom, plus the Clan Armstrong Museum. Artefacts from the clan line the walls, including items linked to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. The tower is Category A listed and is recognised as the ancestral home of the Armstrongs. A four-star visitor centre rating was awarded in 2019. Visitors climb a spiral stair from the vaulted cellar to the hall on the first floor. Above are two more rooms, with the attic between crow-stepped gables. A parapet walk runs along the top, now fitted with a safety fence. The oldest part is a carved stone by the basement door, reused from a 2nd-millennium-BC site. Nearby, earthworks mark the former Gilnockie Castle, linked to Johnnie Armstrong. The Esk flows past the hamlet of Hollows, 2.2 km north of Canonbie.