Whitslaid Tower

The ruins of this fifteenth or sixteenth century Whitslaid Tower in Berwickshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Bhearaig) are oblong in shape and the 7ft thick walls with internal stairway enclose an area of 12ft by 16ft 10ins. Much of building, including the roof was relatively intact until the 19th century, but has since collapsed. Many of the building's original stonework has since been taken and used for other purposes. The main living apartments were situated on the third floor of the tower. The vault on the ground floor is still largely intact and the turnpike stairs to the first floor can still be seen. Whitslaid Tower was an ancient Berwickshire seat of the Lauder family for over 300 years. It is positioned in a good defensive position with the Leader Water, a small tributary of the River Tweed, on one side and a ravine to the north. The site is located about two miles south from Lauder (Scottish Gaelic: Labhdar) of the A68 road.

The River Leader, or Leader Water, close to which the Whitslaid Tower stands is one of a number of tributaries of the River Tweed. The River Leader flows southwards from the Lammermuir Hills (Scottish Gaelic: An Lomair Mòr), a range of hills in southern Scotland. On its journey a number of burns (streams) flow into the Leader. There are many rivers and burns in the Scottish Borders. They play an important role in shaping the landscape of the area that support a diverse range of plants and animals.

River Tweed (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Thuaidh) into which the River Leader eventually flows is the major river of the area stretching for some156 km (97 miles). It is the fourth longest river in Scotland and it flows primarily through the Borders region of Scotland. In a number of places it forms the historic boundary between Scotland and England. Tweed in the Celtic Old Brythonic language is a name meaning "border". The river's valley floor is a drumlin field the remains of a paleo-ice stream that once flowed through the area during the last glaciation. The River Tweed, which rises in the Lowther Hills in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, eventually flows into the North Sea.

Image: courtesy wikimedia commons attribution Walter Baxter / The remains of Whitslaid Tower near the Leader Water / CC BY-SA 2.0