Smailholm Tower, Kelso, Scotland

3D Model

Smailholm Tower stands at 20 metres tall with walls 2.5 metres thick. It was built in the 1400s by the Pringles, a prominent local family on the borders. As the laird’s residence, the tower housed cellars on the ground floor, a great hall on the first, a bedchamber on the second floor, with further chambers on the top. There are ruined foundations of an outer hall and a kitchen block.

Smailholm was acquired by the family of Sir Walter Scott in the 17th century, and Scott spent some of his childhood at the tower. Later in his life, Scott described the powerful effect the tower had on his imagination, ‘standing stark and upright like a warden’.

For information on visiting Smailholm Tower, go to our website.

Rae Project | PIC161