Smailholm Tower
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Smailholm Tower is a peel tower that stands some five miles from Kelso in the Scottish borders.
Originally built in the fifteenth century by the Pringle family, Smailholm was designed, in common with all Scottish peel towers, to provide its occupants with protection from sporadic English raids.
Smailholm is a four story rectagular tower, situated on top of a rocky outcrop. It is surrounded by the remains of a stone barmkin wall within which the ruins of outbuildings and a small chapel are still visible. A ditch protects one of the structure's four sides - the others being naturally protected by the face of the outcrop.
The tower provided inspiration to Sir Walter Scott, whose family owned nearby Sandyknowe farm where Scott spent considerable time during his youth. Accordingly, Smailholm provides the setting for Scott's ballad The Eve of St John.
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