The General's Tower, Riddell is a Grade B listed building in the Scottish Borders local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 16 March 1971.
The General's Tower, Riddell
- WRENN ID
- blind-grate-moth
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Scottish Borders
- Constituency
- Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP: John Lamont (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 16 March 1971
- OS grid reference
- NT 520 248
- Coordinates
- 55.51537, -2.76139
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The General's Tower at Riddell is an 1885 observation tower and folly constructed by Herbertson of Galashiels. It is a tall, single-stage structure with a corbelled parapet and a crowstepped caphouse. The tower is built of squared rubble with ashlar quoins. The south elevation, the main entrance face, features a corniced, roll-moulded doorpiece with a dated lintel at ground level; above the door is a heraldic panel bearing the initials ‘J S’. The elevation is centred on the doorway and is surmounted by three irregular, small vertical openings. The north, east, and west elevations have a variety of irregular openings, including a dated, monogrammed panel on the east side. Some of the openings have been blocked. A coped stack rises from the caphouse. Inside, a corner spiral staircase provides access to the upper levels. The tower was built for Major General Sprot on the site of a former medieval motte.
Local climate
The General's Tower, Riddell sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 77% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 54 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 95% of listed buildings. Of these, 33 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
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