whithaugh (The Gatehouse Record of the Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Quhythauch

In the civil parish of Castleton.
In the historic county of Roxburghshire, Scotland.
Modern Authority of Scottish Borders, Scotland.
1974 county of Borders, Scotland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY48888801
Latitude 55.18345° Longitude -2.80439°

Whithaugh has been suggested as a location on the Aglionby Platt although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry footings remains.

The likely form(s) of this building in 1590 are;

Tower House (gentry).

Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Description

(NY 4887 8798) Tower (NR) (Site of) (OS 6" map (1957))
Only the foundations of Whithaugh Tower remained in 1795, and in 1931 the only surviving portion was an unvaulted cellar, partly underground. An armorial stone dated (?) 1552 and insribed BIGIT B(E) LONSI ARMSTRONG, taken from it, has been inserted above the entrance to the modern mansion of Whithaugh. (RCAHMS 1956, visited 1931; OSA 1795)
"The hous of Quhythauch in Liddisdaill" was taken by the English in an escalade in 1582, and was burnt in 1599.
Whithaugh and its laird were next in importance to Mangerton (NY48NE 3, the residence of the chief of the Armstrongs). (W A Armstrong 1960)
There is no trace of stonework or other features at the OS site which is in a small wood beside a burn. The cellar is at NY 4888 8801 under the S wing of the mansion (Mr Walters, Whithaugh) (access is gained from inside the house). The armorial stone is as described. Documentary evidence indicates that the tower was destroyed circa 1770 and that the stones were used in the steading (M Robson, Hawick Museum). Visited by OS (MJF) 20 August 1979 (Canmore)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Canmore (The online National Monument Record for Scotland) Number 67861.

Books
- Coventry, M., 2008, Castles of the Clans: the strongholds and seats of 750 Scottish families and clans (Musselburgh) p. 14
  Armstrong, W.A., 1960, The Armstrong Borderland: a Re-Assessment of Certain Aspects of Border History (Edinburgh: John McQueen) p. 38
  RCAHMS, 1956, An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire (Edinburgh: The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland) Vol. 1 p. 85-6 No. 65 online copy
  Jeffrey, Alexander, 1864, The History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 236-7 online copy
  Sinclair, John (ed), 1795, The statistical account of Scotland, drawn up from the communications of the ministers of the different parishes (Edinburgh) Vol. 16 p. 83 online copy (large file)
Periodical Articles
- Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Bain, J., 1894, Calendar of Letters and Papers relating to the Borders of England and Scotland (Edinburgh: HMSO) Vol. 1 1560-1594 p. 86-8 no. 129 online copy
  ibid p. 314-15 no. 595 online copy
  Bain, J., 1896, Calendar of Letters and Papers relating to the Borders of England and Scotland (Edinburgh: HMSO) Vol. 2 1595-1603 p. 610 no. 1074 online copy
Maps (Early maps)
- 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, RCAHMS (or its successor Historic Environment Scotland), County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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The Gatehouse website record of

whithaugh (Whithaugh)

a location shown on a 1590 map of the West Marches of Scotland (The Aglionby Platt)