Near Sauchie, in Clackmannanshire, Sauchie Tower still raises its fifteenth-century tower house. The residence of the Schaw family, it bears witness to the role of those gentry families who, without being of the high nobility, served the royal household and gravitated in the orbit of the court.
A tower of the royal gentry
The lands of Sauchie were acquired around 1431 by Sir James Schaw, who built there shortly after a tower house — a construction typical of the late-medieval Scottish gentry: four storeys, a corbelled parapet, corner bartizans, a hexagonal cap-house with a pyramidal roof, a vaulted cellar with a well. The Schaws were not great lords, but servants of the Crown: accountants of the royal household, one of them was even governor of Stirling Castle. This family illustrates the discreet but essential role of the lesser nobility in the service of the royal administration.
In the orbit of the court
The domain of Sauchie gravitated in the orbit of the Stewart court. In 1503, the gardener of Sauchie brought pears as a present to James IV — a small telling detail of the exchanges between a gentry domain and the royal court, where the fruits of one's lands were offered to the king. Later, in 1565, Mary Stuart visited the domain. These modest episodes tell the way a family like the Schaws maintained its links with the Crown: through administrative service, but also through these gestures of deference and closeness. Sauchie Tower thus illustrates the life of the Scottish gentry in the extended circle of royal power. To see: the four-storey tower with corbelled parapet and corner bartizans, the hexagonal cap-house with pyramidal roof, the vaulted cellar with well.
Did you know?
In 1503, James IV was given pears picked in the garden of Sauchie — a modest but telling present. In Renaissance Scotland, to offer the king the best fruits of one's domain was a gesture of deference and attachment, a way for a gentry family to recall its existence and its loyalty. These pears of Sauchie, recorded in the royal accounts, are a small touching testimony of the links that united the court and the domains of the Scottish countryside.
Notes
Sauchie Tower lies at Fishcross, near Sauchie, Clackmannanshire; a tower under a temporary roof (Clackmannanshire Heritage Trust). Access to check.
Quiz
- Which office did the Schaws hold?
- Accountants of the royal household
- Bishops
- Admirals
- What was offered to James IV from Sauchie in 1503?
- Pears from the garden
- A warhorse
- A manuscript
- Which queen visited the domain in 1565?
- Mary Stuart
- Elizabeth I
- Anne of Denmark