Bonshaw Tower And House

This is a remarkable complex featuring a mid-16th century rectangular-plan tower house linked to an 18th century country house, with substantial alterations and additions dating to 1841-2. The entire composition is situated around a forecourt dramatically positioned at the head of a steep cliff to the east and south. All structures are built of rubble with ashlar dressings, and have slated roofs.

The tower house is four storeys high and stands on a splayed base course. It has horizontal gun loops to its elevations, with the upper openings largely consisting of roll-moulded bipartites or slits. A corbelled plain parapet incorporates machicolations, and the crow-stepped gables feature crow steps projecting forward to the northeast above the internal wheel stair, with an end stack on the south side. The roof pitch has been lowered, and a former attic light in the north gable’s apex has been converted into an open belfry. A corridor encloses the outer door and yett of the tower, leading to a roll-moulded doorway with a cornice and panel recess above. The interior of the tower features a monogrammed pendant boss above the doorway, a vaulted ground floor with a prison cell and stone girnal, a wheel stair located within the northeast angle, a wide roll-moulded fireplace on the first floor, stone window seats, aumbries, a fireplace on the second floor, and a garderobe.

The country house’s development is not entirely clear, but seems to have begun with a two-storey, three-bay house of 1770 featuring a Doric-columned and pedimented porch and a piended roof, with a single bay projecting from the east flank. The long, three-bay west elevation was altered, possibly in 1841-2 (though perhaps earlier), with a full-height bow added to the right and the left bay raised to full height. The house has a continuous eaves band and cornice, with corniced stacks. A tall lean-to fills the re-entrant angle. A crow-stepped service wing is situated to the north.

The low corridor linking the tower to the house has roll-moulded slit openings and a forecourt door. It incorporates a re-used bolection-moulded doorway in its west wall and has a concealed roof. A masked cavetto skewputt is incorporated into an interior wall.

The courtyard is enclosed by a largely rebuilt crenellated low wall, dating from 1895, which incorporates some 17th and early 18th century stones, including roll-moulded jambs and a broken pediment.