Fourmerkland Tower

Fourmerkland Tower stands a lonely sentinel in a small woodland just north of the hamlet of Gribton in Dumfriesshire in southern Scotland. The plaque over the door gives the date of 1590 for the tower's construction but it's generally accepted that an earlier fortified dwelling built by the Clan Ferguson occupied the site and the current tower is built on its foundations. The lands and earlier tower belonged to the Abbey of Holywood, but after the Protestant Reformation of 1560/61, the lands became the property of the Clan Maxwell who built the tower we see today. Tip: Just outside Dumfries at Newbridge watch out for the Twelve Apostles standing stones.