This list of town defences in Scotland identifies both the defensive walls and stone walls that were built around towns and cities in Scotland. Scottish burghs were rarely enclosed by walls unlike many English and Welsh cities and towns such as York, Caernarfon or Chester. Gates, known in Scotland as ports, were often established to control who or what went into and out of the city or town, They were used to collect tolls and duties, rather than to defend the town from invaders, such as Aberdeen who never had a town wall.[1]
| Status | Criteria[2] | |
|---|---|---|
| B | Grade B listed. Building of special architectural or historic interest which are major examples of a particular period, style or building type | |
| C | Grade C listed. Building of special architectural or historic interest which are representative examples of a period, style or building type. | |
| bgcolor= blue style="color: white" | Scheduled Monument. Nationally important archaeological building. | |
| bgcolor= ff0000 style="color: white" | ||
| Name | Reference(s) | County | Heritage status | Condition | Image | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberlady town wall | East Lothian | Substantial remains | Historic Environment Scotland listing as Aberlady, Back Lane, Town Wall. The wall is approximately 510m (1,670feet) long, which incorporates an earlier town wall. | ||||
| Dunbar town wall | [3] | East Lothian | bgcolor= ff0000 style="color: white" | Masonry fragments. | Canmore listing as Dunbar Town Wall. A fragment of Dunbar Town Wall was found at 24 High Street. The wall varies in height from 12m (39feet) to 6m (20feet) and it's about 1m (03feet) thick. The remains of Dunbar Town wall are described by Canmore as being considerably restored. | ||
| Dundee town wall | Dundee City | bgcolor= ff0000 style="color: white" | One gatehouse (port) and vestiges | Canmore listing as Dundee, East (Cowgate) Port, Wishart Arch - Gateway (Period Unassigned), Town Wall (16th Century). "By the end of the (16th) century, however, the town had invested heavily in the upgrading of existing ports and the building of a stone wall to surround the town"[4] | |||
| Edinburgh town walls (King's Wall, Flodden Wall, Telfer Wall) | City of Edinburgh | bgcolor= blue style="color: white" | Substantial remains | Scheduled Monument (SM) listings: Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall and Telfer Wall, Heriot Place. SM number: SM2901 Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Johnston Terrace to Grassmarket. SM number: SM3012 | |||
| Historic Environment Scotland listing as High Street, Tweedale Court, Walling to West of Court and to South of Tweedale House | |||||||
| Haddington town wall | East Lothian | One gatehouse (port) and vestiges | Historic Environment Scotland listing as Town Wall (Haddington) states that "Portions of the old town walls remain, mostly rebuilt, lining the Butts and on the North side of the town." | ||||
| Inverkeithing town wall | Fife | Masonry fragments | Historic Environment Scotland listing as Roman Road, Town Wall states that "This small section of medieval town wall is the only fragment remaining in Inverkeithing. Stone walls were built around Inverkeithing following a mandate to further fortify the burgh with dykes, ditches and catapults in 1557." | ||||
| Kirkcudbright town wall | [5] | Dumfries and Galloway | bgcolor= ff0000 style="color: white" | Vestiges | Canmore listing as Kirkcudbright, Meickle Yett and Town Wall states that "The town defences of 1547, when Kirkcudbright was besieged by the English under Sir Thomas Carleton, consisted principally, on the east, of a broad marshy creek extending south from the harbour to the Meickle Yett. Here a wall and ditch ran west to where the Academy stands and turned north to the riverside." | ||
| Lauder town wall | Scottish Borders | bgcolor= ff0000 style="color: white" | No remains | Canmore listing as Lauder, Town Wall states "Where the West Port had been, there was till lately a crumbling remnant of the old town wall." | |||
| Montrose town wall | Fragments | Historic Environment Scotland listing as West End Park and Western Road, fragments of Old Town Walls | |||||
| Peebles town wall |