Tower House

near Peebles in Scotland .]]

A tower house is a particular type of stone dwelling, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Such buildings were constructed in the wilder parts of Great Britain , particularly the Scottish Borders , and throughout Ireland , beginning in the Middle Ages and continuing at least up to the 17th Century . The remains of such structures are dotted around the Irish and Scottish countryside. Some are still intact and even inhabited today, while others stand as mere shells in a field or on a hillside.

Tower houses are often called Castle s, and despite their diminutive size compared to a major castle, they are formidable habitations and there is no clear distinction between a small castle and a tower house.

The few surviving round Scottish Iron Age towers known as Broch s and the remains of numerous Dun s indicate that the idea of tower houses goes back at least two thousand years.

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Tower House