Robgill Tower
| Robgill Tower | |
| Dumfriesshire | |
|---|---|
 Robgill Tower on the hill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY247716 |
| Location: | 55°1’59"N, 3°10’42"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dumfries and Galloway |
Robgill Tower is a village in Dumfriesshire, on the Kirtle Water, downstream of Kirtlebridge, and close by the roaring corridor of the M74 motorway. It is primarily farming-oriented and residential.
There is very little to the village; a farm or two, and the remains of the tower house from which it takes its name.
The hamlet takes its name from Robgill Tower, a 16th century tower house perched on a hill overlooking the Kirtle Water. Since it was built in the 16th century the tower has been extended to incorporate a modern house.
The tower
Robgill Tower stands three-quarters of a mile down the Kirtle Water from Bonshaw Tower, and has a somewhat similar situation on the edge of a cliff about 40 feet high. The tower remained intact until the mid-twentieth century, when it was pulled down to the level of the hall floor in order to allow of a dining room connected with the adjoining modern house being built over the ancient basement floor. The kitchen was on the ground floor, where the fine arched fireplace still survives. The arch is rounded on the edge and projects some inches from the line of the wall.[1]
Name
The village's name is from the tower on the hill here. This in turn is from the Old English personal name Hreoðbeorht, the equivalent of the modern name Robert, and the Old Norse gil "ravine", which is used in many local stream names. The name was recorded as Redbeilgill in 1125.