Cramond Tower, Kirk Cramond, Cramond, Edinburgh

Cramond Tower is a tower house dating to the late 15th and early 16th centuries, which was restored and converted into a residential property between 1979 and 1981 by Robert Hurd & Partners. Originally a square-plan tower measuring approximately 25 feet by 22 feet, it features a full-height round stair tower in the southeast corner, and a later three-bay, single-storey addition with an attic to the east. The tower is constructed from random yellow sandstone rubble, incorporating embedded seashells in the walls. It has long and short rubble quoins, and an asymmetrical arrangement of openings, with a continuous eaves course.

The south elevation, the main entrance face, has a two-leaf boarded timber door at ground level in the central bay, set within a surround comprising an outer rectangular recess and an inner round-arched chamfered recess. A small window is centred above the door, and there are single windows at the first and second floors. The stair tower has a single window with recessed surrounds at the first floor facing southwest, and deep reveals to a single gun-loop below. Stair lights are present on the second and third floors. The east-facing extension has a timber-boarded door in a tooled basket-arched surround, and single windows in the bays to the left, centre, and right.

The east elevation of the tower has asymmetrically disposed single windows at the second, third, and fourth floors. A portion of a previous wall extends southward on the ground floor to the outer left, with a horizontal raggle at the second floor. The extension’s east elevation is two bays wide with a timber-boarded door in the left bay, and single windows to both floors in the remaining bays.

Most windows are predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case, though the extension has 6-pane timber casements on the second floor. Smaller openings within the tower have timber casement windows, and there are various Velux rooflights. The roof is covered in graded grey slate with lead flashings and tiled ridging, with a conical capped stair tower, raised stone skews, a rubble apex stack to the east extension with a square stone can, and additional apex stacks to the east and west tower.

The interior was restored from ruin between 1979 and 1981. Floors and supporting beams were reinserted, and the turnpike stair to the upper floors rebuilt, with a replacement fireplace on the first floor. The layout includes a store at ground level, a living room on the first floor, a kitchen/dining room on the second floor, a bathroom on the third, and a bedroom on the fourth. Original features retained include barrel-vaulting, window seats, a segmental-arched hood above the fireplace on the second floor, and the staircase. The store is located five steps below ground level, accessed via a pointed stone arch in the vestibule. Sea-shells are embedded into the walls of the second floor, reportedly to ward off evil spirits.