Mangerton (The Gatehouse Record of the Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Maingertoun

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: NY47978534
Latitude 55.15963° Longitude -2.81801°

This is certain as the location of Mangerton shown on the Aglionby Platt.

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 4797 8533) Mangerton Tower (NR) (Remains of) (OS 6" map (1957))
Mangerton Tower has been reduced to its lowest storey, the walls on two sides being represented by little more than foundations, and having a maximum height of 8 ft at the SW angle. It has been oblong on plan, measuring 34 ft 3 ins N-S by 26 ft 3 ins over walls 5 ft thick. An armorial panel, dated 15 (8?)3 has been inserted in the W wall. (RCAHMS 1956, visited 1931)
Alexander Armstrong, laird of Mangerton, is noted in 1378; throughout the 16th century the Armstrong chiefs resided at Mangerton, but in 1629, Francis Scott was provided with the lands of Mangerton, along with 'the castle, tower and fortalice thereof'. (W A Armstrong 1960)
Mangerton Tower (name verified) is situated on low-lying level pastureland. The NW wall is 10.5m long and survives intact up to a height of 2.6m; a portion of inner wall face indicates a thickness of 1.6m. The NE and SW walls are now only 3.8m and 7.3m long respectively and there is no surface trace of the SE wall. The interior is filled with rubble which is now turf-covered. The armorial stone is as described. The tower is recored on an 1818 estate map as The Old Castle of Mangerton (M Robson, Hawick Museum).
Surveyed at 1:2500.
The RCAHMS state that this tower was burned in 1543, 1569 and laid waste in 1602. (Visited by OS (MJF) 26 July 1979)
Mangerton Tower measures 10.4m from NE to SW by 7.7m transversely over a wall 1.55m in thickness. At the W corner, which has been rebuilt recently, the wall stands up to 2.8m high, but on the NE and SE it is reduced to grass-grown footings. The interior is filled with rubble, again grass-grown, and there is a pile of rubble against the SE wall that may be the remains of an external stair. An armorial panel has been inserted into the outer face of the wall on the NW. It is enclosed by a roll moulding (missing along the bottom edge and on the lower left side) and bears the date 1563, below which there is a shield displaying, on the left, a chevron over a lozenge and, on the right, a sword flanked by the initials SA and EF. The tower is now in the care of the Armstrong Clan Trust. (LID96 41)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) February 1996 (Canmore)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Canmore (The online National Monument Record for Scotland) Number 67872.

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. 26-7, 38, 42, 46-7
  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. 86 No. 66 online copy
  Jeffrey, Alexander, 1864, The History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 239-41 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. 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. 771 no. 1422 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 and Old Cumbria Gazetteer

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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

Mangerton (Mangerton)

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