Hills Tower

In 1527 Edward Maxwell, tenant of Breconside, bought the Hills estate from James Douglas of Drumlanrig, and had the original tower built soon afterwards. It was later improved by his grandson, also Edward Maxwell, the third laird, between 1598 and 1600; the surviving gatehouse was added at this time, and work was done on the upper parts of the tower, including the addition of the cannon gargoyles. The building works put a financial strain on the family, but they were able to retain ownership of the property and in 1721 the sixth laird, another Edward Maxwell, commissioned the mason John Selchrig (or Selkirk) to add the two-storey wing to the east side of the tower. This addition, which…

Hills Tower is set in farmland near the hamlet of Lochrutton, approximately 10 km south-west of Dumfries. The main part of the building is a four-storey square tower house, attached to which on the east is a two-storey Georgian extension. The building is set within a courtyard, with a surviving small gatehouse. The main tower has a footprint of 30 ft by 24 ft, and its walls, which are up to 4 ft thick at the base, rise to a height of 45 ft to the level of the parapet. It has a single door, on the ground floor, giving access to the house from the courtyard; grooves remain in the stonework for the iron yett that would originally have protected the entrance. Above the door is an armorial…