Pocornal (The Gatehouse Record of the Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Polcornare; Cornal Burn; Logan

In the civil parish of Moffat.
In the historic county of Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Modern Authority of Dumfries And Galloway, Scotland.
1974 county of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NT11190439
Latitude 55.32557° Longitude -3.40117°

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

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Tower House (gentry).

Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Description

(NT 1119 0439) Cornal Tower (NR) (Remains of) (OS 6" map, 1898-1938)
Location formerly entered as NT 1119 0439. Cornal Tower was granted early in the 15th century to Carruthers of Mousewald afterwards held by Johnstone of Coreheard, and owned of late times by the Duke of Queensberry. (Name Book 1857)
The ruins of Cornal Tower stand on a plateau on the steep edge of the Cornal Burn. The tower stood at the eastern extremity of the site and has evidently been of 16th century date. Only a portion of the north wall is now left, 12 feet, 6 inches long, 12 feet high, and 5 feet thick. Twenty-nine feet west of the tower is an outbuilding. (RCAHMS 1920)
Generally as described above. The standing section of wall is at the SE corner of the tower, the remainder of which consists of thickly overgrown footings as does the outbuilding which lies to the NW. Name confirmed. Resurveyed at 1:2500. (Visited by OS (D W R) 30 November 1971)
Cornal Tower (NR) (remains of) (NAT) (OS 1:10,000 map, 1988.)
This tower occupies a ridge of wooded ground on the E bank of the Cornal Burn. All that is visible of the tower, which occupies the highest point of the ridge (on the E), is a fragment of its ENE wall (some 14.2m long) which measures 1.5m in thickness by 3.9m in height and is of mortared random rubble construction. From the surviving portion of masonry and slight traces of its broader extent, the tower has apparently measured about 14.2m from NNW to SSE by 8.8m transversely overall.
To the WNW, at right angles to the tower and seperated from it by a yard, there are the remains of a rectangular building which measures 14.1m from SW to NE by 6.3m transversely over grass-grown stone wall-footings 0.9m thick.
A track, which is terraced into the slope and in part stone-revetted, gave access to the tower from the SSE. To the W of the tower, in the gully of the Cornal Burn, traces of a lade indicate the possible site of a mill.
'Polcornare' (Cornal) in the estate of Logan is on record in 1512.
Visited by RCAHMS (IMS), 4 July 1990. (J J Reid 1889)
The neck of a wooded promontory (35m long by 20m wide) above the Cornal Burn bears footings of a building (about 14m long by 6.5m wide). One fragment remains standing of a shorter building which has probably formed a tower in the middle of this area.
Cornal belonged to the Carruthers family and later passed to the Douglasses. (M Salter 1993)
(Listed as tower, lade and mill). (RCAHMS 1997) (Canmore)

The resident householder c. 1590.

Johnstone of Coreheard

Sources of information, references and further reading

Canmore (The online National Monument Record for Scotland) Number 49731.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MDG406.

Books
- Coventry, M., 2008, Castles of the Clans: the strongholds and seats of 750 Scottish families and clans (Musselburgh) p. 92, 155
  Maxwell-Irving, A.M.T., 2000, The Border towers of Scotland: their history and architecture: the West March p. 110-1
  RCAHMS, 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape (Edinburgh) p. 210, 215, 312, 320
  RCAHMS, 1920, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Seventh report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Dumfries (Edinburgh) p. 169 no. 476 online copy
  Hyslop, J. and Hyslop, R., 1912, Langholm as it was: a history of Langholm and Eskdale from the earliest times p. 320- online copy
Periodical Articles
- Reid, J.J., 1888-9, 'The barony of Mouswald and its barons: a page of Border history' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol. 23 p. 50, 62-5 online copy
  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
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

Pocornal (Cornal Tower)

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