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Set on a rocky ridge in moorland, the tower house has four storeys and there is a parapet on two of the sides which gives great views over the surrounding countryside. There is still a seat used by the lookout and a recess for his lantern there. The tower is said to have been used as a landmark by ships going in to Berwick, 25 miles away. Scott persuaded his patron the Duke of Buccleuch to restore the tower. The price he paid was a poem, The Eve of St John, set with Smailholm as its location. It is a ghostly and dramatic tale in the Gothic tradition which Scott loved.
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Western Europe
