Aikwood Tower

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Auld Watt’s son William Scott was a character who was caught sheep stealing once too often, despite his father’s warnings that times were changing after King James VI started to clamp down on the reivers.
It wasn’t the Crown that young buck William had to worry about though, but an irate Sir Gideon Murray who is said to have offered the reiver a choice – the rope or the hand of his none-too-pretty daughter, known as ‘Muckle Mooth Meg.’
William was reputed to be full of bravado and said it was ‘nowt for a Scott to die’ but soon changed his mind and married the lass. Historians have subsequently proved the story as a tall tale, but it’s a good one. Robert Scott married an Elspeth Murray of Elibank at Aikwood in 1602, with their initials carved in a wall of the tower.
The large pele was built in 1540 and now provides stunningly restored five star boutique accommodation in the Etterick Forest.
It’s also a wedding venue and corporate setting near the town of Selkirk and belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, whose main residence today is at Bowhill House, which can be visited in the summer. For more information please visit http://aikwoodtower.com/.
Further up the Etterick Valley are the fragmentary ruins of Tushielaw Tower, once home to Adam Scott ‘The King of Thieves.’

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