Strategically situated where the valleys of the Evan, Annan and Moffat waters converge at the head of Annandale proper, Lochhouse Tower was a stronghold of the Johnstones of that Ilk and at one time, second only to Lochwood in importance.  It stands on a slight eminence at the northern end of a loch (now drained) from which it took its name and whose waters provided a natural defense to the southeast and southwest.  Lochhouse appears to have been built soon after the English occupation of Lochwood ended in 1550.

The tower is oblong in plan, with rounded corners and comprises three stories and an attic.  On the outside there is the familiar plinth course, some 3 feet above the ground, but a second offset course higher up, at the level of the second-floor windowsills, is very unusual.  It may represent a later phase of building, though this seems unlikely; both offsets are similar and of the same width.  The tower measures 37 feet 11 inch by 27 feet 10 inch over walls 6 feet thick.  It is built of local rubble, mainly a black greywacke, with red sandstone dressings.  Around the entrance doorway, which is at ground level on the north side, the jambs and lintel carry a roll-and-hollow molding.  Immediately inside, a mural recess on the left served as a guard chamber, while to the right, in the northwest corner, lay the wheel-stair, 5 feet 8 inch in diameter.  The guard chamber measures, on average, 6 feet 8 inch long by 2 feet 9 inch wide, and is roofed with a segmental vault; it has one small window, now enlarged high up.  The basement beyond is vaulted.  It has a maximum height above the cobbled floor of 8 feet 9 inch and was lit by a single window high up at the east end.  In each wall there was one, narrowly splayed, gun-loop, which emerged through an oval opening in the outer wall-face.  When the tower was restored around 1900, the wheel-stair was superseded by a straight wooden stair rising up the west wall to the first floor, while the basement was partitioned off to serve as a sperate store, with its own new entrance at the east end.

The first floor had a fireplace at the east end and one window in each wall, that to the east being on the right of the fire.  On the other side of the fireplace, in the northeast corner, both walls were reduced in thickness, indicating that there was originally an additional feature here, the purpose of which is now lost.  Both this floor and the floor above were greatly altered as the tower was successively restored.  The second floor had a garderobe on the north side, but no window at the east end.  All the windows had iron grilles, which were still in place in 1887, they were only removed at the time of the first restoration.

Above the second floor, a parapet walk ran around the wall-head on all side.  The parapet itself has long since gone, but the disproportionately narrow corbels that supports it have survived.  The roof and west gable had also gone, leaving only a ruinous gable and chimney stack at the east end.  The roof has since been restored.

Currently, Lochhouse tower is privately owned and rented out as a self-catered property.  Anyone looking to immerse themselves in Johnstone history will not want to miss the opportunity to stay there.

https://www.lochhousetower.co.uk/

enquiries@lochhousetower.co.uk