Littledean Tower

Littledean Tower was built on high ground at the meeting of the Maxton Burn and the River Tweed. The site had been occupied for some centuries before the Tower was built early in the 16th century as the principal residence in Maxton of the Kers of Cessford, a well known reiving family. It was originally built as an oblong Tower four stories high with walls five feet thick and surrounded by a barmkin. It was attacked by an English force commanded by the Earl of Hertford in 1544. The Barmkin was breached but the Tower was not taken and the attack was abandoned. As a result of this attack and concern about the effects of artillery the Tower was extended to result in its somewhat unusual shape. An additional D shaped Tower was added to the vulnerable west end of the oblong original. This extension provided a new entrance with a gunloop in the blocked up original entrance. The curved shape of the extension was intended to deflect incoming gunfire and gunloops were built into the ground and first floor walls. It remained a stronghold of the Kers until the 18th century. The Tower is said to be haunted with a number of stories explaining the presence of the ghostly apparition

 

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