English: The fortified tower house was the classic Scottish solution to the problem of building defensible structures in a country where warfare was endemic for centuries. The Scottish Lowland landscape is peppered with many fine examples, to the extent that the 16thC historian, John Major, could write,

"There are in Scotland for the most part two strongholds to every league, intended both as a defence against a foreign foe, and to meet the first outbreak of a civil war." (History of Greater Britain, 1521).

Scotland's Stewart monarchs explicitly forbade the Scottish nobility to imitate the fortifications of their royal castles. Most 'castles' in Scotland are in fact tower houses which have been expanded by additional ranges which can often conceal the original tower at first sight. Borthwick is a unique example of twin towers.