Ancient Borderland Strongholds: Slacks, Dykeraw & Timpendean Towers

Searching the Forgotten Fortresses of the Borders

The Scottish Borders are absolutely riddled with history.
But it’s not always obvious — some of the most fascinating sites are buried, ruined, or simply forgotten.

In this film, I set off in search of three little-known towers just south of Jedburgh and close to the Scotland–England border.
Once strongholds of the Douglas and Oliver families, these places sat right on the front line during the turbulent 16th century — a time of raids, wars, and Reiver warfare.

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1⃣ Slacks Tower: Lost in the Landscape

My first stop was Slacks Tower, once a powerful defensive structure, now little more than a moss-covered shell. Destroyed in the 1540s during Henry VIII’s brutal Rough Wooing campaign, its size and layout suggest it was far more than a simple Reiver peel tower — it may have resembled a bastle house, similar to the fortified farms of Northumberland.

What remains today?
Scattered walls, sheep, silence — and a feeling that something great once stood here.

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2⃣ Dykeraw: The Vanished Tower of the Olivers

Next, I tracked down the ruins of Dykeraw Tower, once a home of the Oliver family, a name forever linked to the Border Reivers.

Today, Dykeraw is reduced to a few turf-covered stones, hiding in the hedgerows. The site was flattened, like so many others, during English incursions. But you can still sense its former presence in the shape of the land — the hollow of a courtyard, the footprint of walls, the ghosts of a fortified past.

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3⃣ Timpendean Tower: A Glimpse of Grandeur

The final stop was Timpendean Tower, the best preserved of the three. Once held by the powerful Douglas family, Timpendean saw both destruction and rebirth — wrecked in the Rough Wooing, rebuilt and reoccupied until the early 1800s.

Gun loops, thick stonework, and imposing ditches tell of serious military purpose. But here’s the twist: those earthworks may be far older than the tower itself. Was this the site of an ancient fort or settlement, reused by the medieval Douglases?

Once again, we see how layer upon layer of history defines the Scottish Borders — a land of fortresses built atop forgotten temples.

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What These Towers Tell Us

This corner of Scotland was no peaceful backwater.
It was a war zone — a place where every hill had a tower, every family needed a fortress, and survival depended on stone walls, alliances, and vigilance.

And yet, these stories lie quiet in the landscape now. Crumbling towers, hidden ruins, and whispers in the heather.

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Plan Your Own Visit

• Slacks Tower – Remote and ruined, but powerful in atmosphere.

• Dykeraw – Hard to find, but worth the detective work.

• Timpendean – A scenic standout with visible architecture and mysterious earthworks.