Site type TOWER HOUSE
Canmore ID 64937
Site Number NX86NE 4
NGR NX 86661 66178
Council DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Parish KIRKGUNZEON
Former Region DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Former District STEWARTRY
Former County KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE

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Archaeological Notes

NX86NE 4 86661 66178.

(NX 8666 6615) Corra Castle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1957)

Corra Castle was originally oblong on plan, measuring c 45' by 16' within 3' thick walls. The N gable exists to a height of c 24' and appears to have contained 2 storeys and an attic. The central portion of the S wall, 15' wide, is almost level with the ground while the remainder is fairly complete to the level of the wall head, a height of 17' 6". The N and W walls have been taken down to make room for modern farm buildings which almost fill the interior of the castle.
From its general dimension, the building appears to have been of the domestic type probably 17th century.
An Irish penny of Edward I was found in 1955, in a garden at the foot of the walls of Corra Castle, a 16th century tower house. (A E Truckell 1956) The coin, and the tradition that Mary, Queen of Scots, slept at Corra during her flight from Langside, might suggest an earlier occupation and in 1844 (J Crockett, NSA 1844) the moat which surrounded the site could easily be traced.
RCAHMS 1914, visited 1911; J Gillespie 1912

The remains are generally as described by RCAHMS except the SW angle has been destroyed and only c. 5.0 m of the south wall survives, at the SE angle. The description i.e. oblong, two-storeyed with an attic suggests a 17th c date.
Visited by OS (RD) 8 July 1969.

Gillespie, J E (1912) 'Notes on the parish of Kirkgunzeon', Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 2nd, vol.24
Page(s): 178-9

Maxwell-Irving, A M T (2000) The Border towers of Scotland: their history and architecture: the West March, [S.l.]
Page(s): 112-3 Fig 184-5 Held at RCAHMS F.5.21.MAX

NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy, 15v Edinburgh
Page(s): Vol.4 (Kirkcudbright), 220 Held at RCAHMS B.2.2.STA

RCAHMS (1914) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Fifth report and inventory of monuments and constructions in Galloway, II, county of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh
Page(s): 145-6, No.275 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV(5)

Truckell, A E (1955f) 'Corra Castle, nr. Kirkgunzeon', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 18

Truckell, A E (1956a) 'Archaeological finds, 1955', Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 3rd, vol.33
Page(s): 202