Auchenbathie Tower

Auchenbathie Tower stands in the parish of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, as the roofless remains of a 14th-century tower house once held by the Wallace family. The ruins sit beside an old farm track west of the modern road, their low gable ends and side walls rising no higher than about five metres. A single byre once stood inside the enclosure, used as a cattle outhouse long after the tower lost its roof. Nearby, fragments of a 17th-century cottage chimney carry the date 1678 and initials that may belong to the Cochrane family. The tower is worth the journey for its links to Scotland’s most famous Wallace. Records from 1398 show John Wallace of Elderslie passing the lands of Auchenbathie to his son Thomas, tying the site to the warrior’s extended family. Later maps by Timothy Pont and Roy mark the tower under names like Achinberthy and Auchinbathy, while Blaeu’s 1654 chart omits its fortification status. The Wallace tradition also survives at Wallace’s Knowe, a small hill once surrounded by winter loch and summer meadow where William Wallace reportedly defended himself. Visitors find a quiet grassy rise above Barcraigs Reservoir, with only the tower’s lowest courses and a single elevated stone wall remaining. Avernacular building beside the road may once have served as a smithy or toll house, adding to the layered history of the spot. The field behind the ruins still shows traces of old infield boundaries, while Wallace’s Knowe now forms a small island in the reservoir. The wider moorland carries the names Boghouse and Broomknowe, recalling farms and families long gone.