166 : BonsHaw Tower. 
the same wheel stair, you come on the next floor to a similar 
room, with window recesses, ammunition boxes, etc. In one 
corner is a door leading into a small room in the thickness of 
the wall to, they say, the head of an underground passage in the 
rock leading to Robgill Tower, so that they could get water, food, 
ammunition, etc., in time of siege. Resuming the ascent of the 
wheel stair, you come to the top floor, which now is used as a 
billiard room. Here you see the great brown beams that carry the 
roof, fastened, as of old, with huge oak pegs driven through 
before the days of nails. A very few more steps bring you to 
the battlements, from which is a fine view of the countryside. 
At one end is the flagstaff and an old bell for ringing in the clan 
in time of danger. At the other end are the crowsteps, from 
whence the sentry looked out towards the Solway to give timely 
warning in time of danger. In the centre of each length of wall 
are two holes overhanging each firing hole, from which hot lead 
or boiling oil could be poured on an invader’s head. There are 
sixty steps from the ground to the top. 
, I will now, to conclude, give two or three incidents con- 
nected with the history of the Tower. Of course, I could easily 
give a great many, but this only purports to be a short sketch. 
King Robert the Bruce in 1306, when flying from the pursuit of 
Edward Longshanks, came one stormy night to Bonshaw to take 
refuge, it being the first dwelling he entered in Scotland. When 
he left he took one of the laird’s younger sons, Sir William de 
Irwin of Woodhouse, and made him his secretary and armour- 
bearer. He was with him, in all his troubles and prosperities, till 
his death. The King, when firmly seated on his throne, gave him 
for his fidelity, in 1323, the castle and lands of Drum, in Aber- 
deenshire, which the Irvines still have.. The original parchment, 
signed by King Robert the Bruce, is still extant. I saw it when 
at Drum. Another son of Irving of Bonshaw, Roger de Irwin, 
was keeper of King Robert’s robes. 
In 15138, at the battle of Flodden, on 9th September, under 
James IV., Christopher Irving of Bonshaw commanded the Light 
Horsemen of the Scottish Army. He fell in the first engagement 
with all his sons but one, and a very large number of his clans- 
men. He was succeeded by his son William. Henry VIII. of 
England, in 1544, sent the Earl of Hereford and Lord Wharton 
with.an army to effect the complete subjugation of Dumfriesshire, 
