The Scotts of Aikwood Tower
The lands of Aikwood were granted, in 1517, on behalf of the infant King James V, to Maister Michael Scott, namesake of the thirteenth century scholar on whom the legends of wizardry are founded. Previously, Aikwood has been one of the forest steadings in the Royal Forest of Ettrick: the outright grant may indicate that Michael Scott had performed some special service.
There are records of him signing documents at Aikwood throughout the 1520s, but it is not until a Charter of Novodamus in 1541 that we find a reference to "unam honestam mansionem cum turre" - as good a description of the tower now as it was then. It is likely that it was constructed in the aftermath of James v's 1535 decree that all owners of land in the south of Scotland should construct such a defensive tower in the current "troublous times".
The descendants of Michael Scott and Isabella Ker owned the tower until the late 1620's: the marriage stone of 1602 records the union of Robert Scott and Elspeth Murray. Their son Andrew, was the last of the Scotts of Aikwood Tower.
See also: The Scotts of Harden |
