Alternative Names Kipps House
Site type TOWER
Canmore ID 47914
Site Number NS97SE 11
NGR NS 98821 73921
Council WEST LOTHIAN
Parish TORPHICHEN
Former Region LOTHIAN
Former District WEST LOTHIAN
Former County WEST LOTHIAN

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Kipps, early 17th century
Ruins of a three-storey château, circular stair-tower at north-east angle and a rectangular one to south-west, in a commanding site overlooking the valley between Cockleroy and Bowdenhill. Home of Sir Robert Sibbald, 17th-century naturalist and antiquary, who relished its distance from any other seat of the gentry, so that it is a perfect solitude and without the ornaments of art, which other seats have, but has commendable advantages by nature¿s free gift.


Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Archaeological Notes

NS97SE 11 98821 73921.

(NS 98821 73921) Kipps (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map (1968)

The house of Kipps in an oblong rubble-walled block, originally 3 storeys high, 59 1/2' E-W by 24 1/2' with a rectangular stair-tower at the SW angle, and a circular stair-tower projecting from the N. wall. The W part, including the stair, was the original house, which was built in 1625-6; it was extended to the E later in the century.
It is now (ie 1964) roofless, and very dilapidated, especially at the gable ends, having been unoccupied since the 1880s.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1924; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1892; SDD List 1964

As described.
Visited by OS (JLD) 5 December 1952 and (JP) 13 August 1974

Notes and Activities

Jaques and McKean, R and C (1994) West Lothian: an illustrated architectural guide, RIAS/ Landmark Trust series [Edinburgh]
Page(s): 48 Held at RCAHMS D.7.3.JAC

MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1887-92) The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, 5v Edinburgh
Page(s): Vol.4, 14-16 Held at RCAHMS F.5.21.MAC

RCAHMS (1929) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, Edinburgh
Page(s): 237-8, No.382 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV/10

SDD (1960-) List of Buildings of Architectural or Historical Interest, (Lists held in Architectural Department of RCAHMS) Scottish Development Department
Page(s): 4, no.18