Gergely.Horvath.
Still standing
Smailholm Tower stands atop a crag of Lady Hill in the Scottish Borders overlooking miles over the surrounding countryside, was built in the first half of the 1400s and it was succesfully holding against many attacks from the English armies throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.
The nearby privately owned farm, Sandyknowe, was owned by Sir Walter Scott's, the famous Scottish poet's grandfather. As Scott himself recognised, his imagination was fired by the ballads and stories he heard as a child at Sandyknowe, and by the ruined tower a stone's throw away.
In his old age, Scott described the powerful effect on his imagination of these border ballads and the sight of his ancestors’ ancient tower, “standing stark and upright like a warden”.
Still standing
Smailholm Tower stands atop a crag of Lady Hill in the Scottish Borders overlooking miles over the surrounding countryside, was built in the first half of the 1400s and it was succesfully holding against many attacks from the English armies throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.
The nearby privately owned farm, Sandyknowe, was owned by Sir Walter Scott's, the famous Scottish poet's grandfather. As Scott himself recognised, his imagination was fired by the ballads and stories he heard as a child at Sandyknowe, and by the ruined tower a stone's throw away.
In his old age, Scott described the powerful effect on his imagination of these border ballads and the sight of his ancestors’ ancient tower, “standing stark and upright like a warden”.