Fatlips Castle

Fatlips Castle stands on the summit of Minto Crags, high above the River Teviot in the old county of Roxburghshire. It is a peel tower — the compact, defensive tower house typical of the Scottish Borders — raised in the sixteenth century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, a family among the reiving clans that harried this contested frontier. The rectangular tower rises through four storeys and an attic, later ringed by a nineteenth-century parapet walk. The crag itself saw violence during the Rough Wooing: in 1545 the Earl of Hertford’s forces burned the stronghold recorded as Mynto Crag. In 1705 Sir Gilbert Elliot acquired the castle, and his descendants rose to become the Earls of Minto. The tower was extensively restored in 1857, and towards the century’s end the architect Sir Robert Lorimer reworked the interior, turning it into a shooting lodge and private museum. It remained in use until the 1960s before falling quiet. A fresh programme of repairs began in 2011, and by 2013 the cap-house, parapet and roof had been made good once more. The castle’s curious name is traditionally said to spring from a household custom of greeting visitors with a kiss.