Sorbie Tower

Sorbie Tower stands about a mile east of Sorbie village in Dumfries and Galloway, the ancestral seat of the Hannay family. Built of rubble masonry in the late sixteenth century — possibly by Patrick Hannay, a poet who served at the court of James VI — it follows the L-shaped plan common to Scottish fortified houses of the period. The shell survives today to second-floor level, though unusually for its type it appears never to have carried a wall-walk or parapet along its wallhead.

The Hannays held Sorbie for generations before the estate passed to the Earl of Galloway in 1677. When the last of that line died in 1748 the tower fell empty and slid into ruin, standing roofless for more than two centuries. In 1965 its owner gave the ruin back to the Clan Hannay, returning the family to its founding seat. The tower is now a scheduled monument, and plans have been raised to consolidate and restore the walls — a 2017 appeal sought substantial funds towards the work. The exterior can be viewed freely, with access to the interior arranged locally through the nearby village.