Whitslaid Tower

Whitslaid Tower was an ancient Berwickshire seat of the Lauder family for over 300 years. It is today a ruin high above the eastern bank of the Leader Water, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the burgh of Lauder, in the Scottish Borders. In feudal times it fell within a detached segment of the King's personal Barony of Renfrew.

It stands on an abrupt eminence, shaded with old ash trees, and behind it is a flat open space sufficient for a garden and the offices attached to the residence of a landowner in the ancient warlike times with which it is associated. An old dirt road winds round it in a gully leading north from the Leader Water, the whole immediate area being commanded by the fortress. The walls of this square pele are now in ruins. The huge vault on the ground floor remains largely intact and the turnpike stairs situated within the thick walls still takes one to the first floor level. The ceiling of the vault is of a quarried greywacke that splits into thin slabs, which are fitted edgeways with little art. In the 1880s when more of the building was intact at the top could be seen a square aperture for pouring boiling liquids such as melted pitch on the heads of assailants. The main living apartments were on the third floor, still intact in the 19th century, as was the roof. Both have now collapsed. Several of the foundation stones are immense rolled unsquared boulders, that must have been dragged there by oxen. The northern end is built of unquarried stones, that may have been collected from the fields or the river sides, their angles being worn off like stones rolled by water, or polished by the glacial drift. This end is now badly decayed, not helped by trees rowing through it. Most of the stones incorporated in the building are of greywacke; several of the corner blocks have been picked out; and the dressed stones of the fireplaces and windows have been stolen.

There are Letters of Bailiary by Robert, Steward of Scotland (later Robert II King of Scots), Earl of Stratherne and baron of Renfrewe, with consent of John Steward, Earl of Carrick, his eldest son, constituting Alan de Lawedir, Crown tenant of Whytslade, their bailie of the lands and tenandries of Byrkynsyde, Ligeardwod [Legerwood], Morystoun [Morristoun], Whytslade and Auldynstoun, within the sheriffdom of Berwick-upon-Tweed, with the power to hold courts at any place in the lordship he pleases, to punish excesses, repledge men dwelling on their lands to their liberties etc., and to do any other thing pertaining to the office of bailie, dated 16 October 1369. One of the witnesses was Sir John de Lyle [or d'Lisle], whose family held Stoneypath Tower, near Garvald but in the parish of Whittingehame.

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