Dryhope Tower

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Walter Scott of Harden – or Auld Wat to give him his reiver nickname – was married to Mary Scott of Dryhope, a bonny lass known as ‘the flower of Yarrow,’ and they had six sons and six daughters.

Auld Wat is famous for his dry line: “Aye, if you had fower legs, you wouldn’t stand there lang,” on passing a large haystack on his way back from one of his raids, while his bugle horn, complete with carved initials, is on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

He was also one of the chief riders in the rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong from Carlisle Castle.

The substantial ruins of the tower at Dryhope are still standing beside Dryhope farm near Saint Mary’s Loch, surrounded by the beautiful green hills just off the Southern Upland Way, and can be visited.

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