Isle Tower is a Grade B listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 3 August 1971. 2 related planning applications.
Isle Tower
- WRENN ID
- crumbling-hinge-elm
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP: David Mundell (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 3 August 1971
- Address
- Isle Tower, DG2 0RW
- OS grid reference
- NX 935 832
- Coordinates
- 55.13193, -3.67046
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Isle Tower is a building with several phases of construction dating back to circa 1589, with significant additions in the early 19th century. The core of the building consists of a rectangular tower house, linked at the southeast angle to a house arranged in a Z-plan layout. Outbuildings form a rear courtyard, extending westward from the tower house's west wall and south from the house's south gable, with a datestone indicating 1700. The entire structure is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings, and the house is painted.
The tower house is three stories high, with an attic, and features turrets with curved roof corbels over two diametrically opposite angles. A door provides access to the courtyard, with an armorial panel and a yett above it. There are gabled wall-head dormers on each face, crow-stepped gables, and a coped end stack. The ground floor is vaulted, containing a wheel stair within the southeast angle.
The house was originally two stories and three bays wide. In 1882, a second floor was added with pedimented dormer heads, designed by Peddie and Kinnear of Edinburgh. The house features a central, east-facing door and small-paned sash windows, most of which are bipartite. It also has crow-stepped gables and end stacks. All roofs are slate.
The crest visible on the building belongs to the Ferguson of Isle family. It is said that Robert Burns stayed in the tower for a time while Ellisland was being built.
Local climate
Isle Tower sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,240 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.