Steakhugh (The Gatehouse Record of the Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Stakeheuch; StakehugheAchiniriffack

In the civil parish of Canonbie.
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: NY37218050
Latitude 55.11498° Longitude -2.98581°

The given map reference is suggested as the probable location of Steakhugh 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

(NY 3721 8049) Auchenrivock Tower (NR) (Remains of) (NAT) (OS 6" map (1957))
Built of irregular boulders and now forming part of the garden wall to the N of adjoining farm buildings, the remains of Auchenrivock Castle, earlier Stakeheugh (J and R Hyslop 1912), measure 33 1/4 ft N-S over walls 4ft thick and 7ft high, the N wall 13 1/2ft, and the S 10ft long. Shot holes remain in the N and S walls.
This was the original seat of the Irving family and was burnt by Sir Christopher Dacre in 1513. (RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912)
NY 3721 8050. The decaying remains of Auchenrivock Tower are now obscured by dense vegetation. The W wall is 9.4m long, 1.6m high internally and 0.9m high externally. The return walls are 4.0m and 3.0m long respectively; a single shot hole survives in both the N and W walls (but not in the S wall). (Visited by OS (MJF) 10 October 1979)
All that remains of this tower, formerly known as Stakeheuch, are fragments of the N, S and W walls. (RCAHMS 1981, visited March 1981)
Tower (NR) (remains of) (NAT) (OS 1:10,000 map, 1983)
The remains of this building, which is probably a fortified house of late 16th- or 17th-century date, lie to the rear of a garden plot on the NW side of Auchenrivock steading, from where it would have enjoyed a particularly fine psospect across the valley towards Broomholm. The house was rectangular on plan, measuring 10.3m from N to S by 4.1m transversely over walls up to 0.9m thick and 1.7m high where best preserved (at the N end); the greater part of the E wall and part of the adjoining S wall have been removed by robbing. The interior was divided into two compartments, the smaller, on the N, containing a newel-stair of which only the cut-back treads remain. A chamber beneath the stair was lit by a small circular loophole in the N wall. The main apartment at ground floor level was vaulted with a loophole in the W wall (piercing the haunch of the vault and of the same type as that in the N wall) and a mural recess with splayed jambs (possibly a flue) towards the W end of the S wall.
The house possibly occupies the site of the tower-house that was the original seat of the Irving family and was burnt by Sir Christopher Dacre in 1513. (Visited by RCAHMS (IMS), March 1993)
Only a fragment now remains of a tower of the Irvines originally called Stakeheugh. It or a previous tower on this site was burnt in 1513 by Christopher Dacre. (M Salter 1993)
Listed as tower. (RCAHMS 1997)

Comments

The remains are ambiguous as to to form but, on the bases of social status as an early caput of the Irvines and relatively early date (possible in existence in 1513 when 'Stakehughe the manor place of Irewyn' was recorded as being burnt although by a relatively small party of men who reported burnt this manor place and other places all in one morning) probably a small tower of three or more storeys. Not a chamber over byre pele-house but, arguably, might be considered as a 'superior bastle'.

The resident householder c. 1590.

Irvine

Sources of information, references and further reading

Canmore (The online National Monument Record for Scotland) Number 67708.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MDG10411.

Books
- Maxwell-Irving, A.M.T., 2014, The Border towers of Scotland 2: Their Evolution and Architecture p. 99-100, 185, 377, 456
  Coventry, M., 2001, The castles of Scotland (Musselburgh)
  Maxwell-Irving, A.M.T., 2000, The Border towers of Scotland: their history and architecture: the West March p. 65-66 no. 3
  RCAHMS, 1997, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape (Edinburgh) p. 116
  Gifford, J., 1996, The Buildings of Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway (London: Yale University Press)
  Salter, M., 1993, The castles of south-west Scotland (Malvern)
  RCAHMS, 1981, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Ewesdale and Lower Eskdale, Annandale and Eskdale District, Dumfries and Galloway Region (RCAHMS Archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland 13)
  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. 27 no. 44 online copy
  Hyslop, J. and Hyslop, R., 1912, Langholm as it was: a history of Langholm and Eskdale from the earliest times p. 353 online copy
  NSA, 1845, The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy (Edinburgh) Vol. 4 Dumfries p. 490 online copy
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.)
- Brewer, J.S. (ed), 1920, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 1 p. 1060 no. 2406 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

Steakhugh (Auchenrivock Tower)

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