Whitslade Tower

Whitslade Tower is a ruined 16th century tower house, of which only the ground floor remains.

The early history of Whitslade isn’t clear, but the style of Whitslade Tower has led to suggestions that it was built in the 16th century. However the first mention of Whitslade comes in a charter from 1439, when a William Porteous granted William Brown “half of Logan“. Porteous is described as the son and heir of John Porteous of Whitslade, suggesting that the Porteous family owned Whitslade at least as far back as the early 15th century.

During the 16th century the lands of Whitslade seem to have been divided between several families, including the Porteous family, the Gillies family, the Cockburn family, the Dickson family, and the Inglis family. Around 1634 Sir David Murray of Stanhope began to buy up the various portions of the lands of Whitslade, and had apparently bought the whole of Whitslade some time prior to his death in 1653.

In the second half of the 17th century, possibly in 1668, John Dickson, the third son of John Dickson of Hartree, became the owner of Whitslade Tower. It remained in the Dickson family until 1777 when a William Dickson sold the lands of Whitslade to Alexander Tweedie of Quarter.

Since the nearby Whitslade House seems to have been built in the late 18th century, it seems possible that Whitslade Tower was occupied until around that time. Today, however, only the ground floor remains, covered with ivy, and it is used as a store room.

Aligned approximately east to west, it measures around 8.8m by around 6.9m, with walls varying in thickness from around 1.0m to around 1.2m.

Projecting from the south-west corner of the main block was a small wing, which may once have housed the original entrance and a turnpike stair leading to the upper storeys. However the footings of this wing are now covered with earth and ivy, and its exact dimensions could only be discovered with excavation.

A small window in the south wall, close to the west end of the tower, is a modified remnant of the opening into the stair tower.

How tall the tower originally was is unknown, as it only stands to ground floor height. The ground floor is vaulted, and there is a small window in the west gable.

The entrance in the east wall is a later addition, created to give access to the ground floor after the upper floors were removed, and has destroyed a small window corresponding with that in the west wall.