My attendance last November at the Angie Bush GSQ DNA Interest Group seminar brought back memories of the multi speaker DNA event held in the Nazareth Lutheran Church, Woolloongabba in 2019. At that event I nervously presented a short PowerPoint of my brother’s Big Y-DNA results and heaved a sigh of relief when it was over.
During the following monthly DNA group meeting, those that had also attended the conference encouraged me to visit Bonshaw Tower, home of my Irwin/Irvine/Irving clan during my then upcoming UK visit. With a little bit of itinerary shuffling, I found that I could fit in a visit to Bonshaw Tower and then move on to Edinburgh to stay with some genie friends that I hadn’t seen for many years, so I began making plans. It was fortuitous that the adjoining Bonshaw house had two rooms available overnight as a BnB guest.
Feeling more than a little exhausted, I boarded the train to Carlisle at Euston the day after flying in from Australia and found my reserved first-class seat. In between my husband and I visiting family and friends in the past, I had usually visited Devon, Leicestershire and Northern Ireland alone, while hubby visited his Kent and Sussex record offices. This was therefore my first time since my youth to be travelling long distance by myself and as a widow. In view of that I’d decided to travel by train and just hire cars at each spot, rather than drive long distances alone. I’m glad I made this decision, and that I upgraded my train bookings, as there is a big difference in comfort levels within British Rail and booking my seat very early meant that I had great prices!
I collected my overnight hire car and drove to the Tower also known as a peel tower. Bonshaw Tower, Dumfries is in the Border Region of Scotland and just 6 miles NW of Gretna Green. My updated Tom-Tom Sat Nav did not recognise the name, and I found it by following my nose! The entrance is a very long dirt track winding through a heavily treed lane.
The current Clan Laird, Chris Irving turned out to be the perfect host. By booking beforehand he reserved my room, one of the two B&B rooms they then had available. He then gave me a tour of the main rooms of the house and across to the tower itself. He is a fountain of knowledge having majored in history and knows the Irving/Irvine/Irwin stories intimately.
The tower was where the clan took refuge when under attack; we are talking about the brutal fights between the Border Reivers here.[1] Bonshaw Tower is part of 6 towers erected by the clan, all in a circle and each one within eyesight of the other so they could provide updates without leaving the safety of their particular tower. Five of the towers remain standing today and Bonshaw is a wonderful example of this era.
The tower is made from stone quarried on the property and stands on a solid base shelf high above the Kirtle River. When standing outside the front door you can hear, but not see, the water rushing down the burn to the river down below constantly. With a heavy wooden door and musket points in every direction, the occupants would have been fully aware of insurgents. The tower has a vaulted basement where there is a small prison erected several feet above the floor, so no digging out to escape that one! As the clan’s stock would also have been herded into this defence room, there are huge fodder bins lining the left side. There is a small hole in the ceiling leading up to the levels above where food would have been passed up or down, although it’s too small for a man to fit through. The walls of the tower are about 6 feet thick at that level, and commands would have been shouted up and down through that hole. The floor above the animals and prison was reached by a clock-wise spiral stone staircase and held the great hall where they would have eaten. Above that was the family room for daytime use and sleeping. The level above again was the garret where more men with muskets etc would have been stationed and 5′ above that is the parapet.
Today, the first level is full of historic items including a family bible from cc 1500 or so. How wonderful would it be to have something like that in your family’s possession! Since 2005 when Christopher Irving inherited the property from his father Dr Bruce Irving, he and his wife Claire have continued to maintain the tower and adjoining mansion. He is the resident Laird of Bonshaw and a member of The King’s Bodyguard for Scotland, Royal Company of Archers.[2] The tower itself has been recognised as one of the least-altered and best-preserved border towers. The timing of my visit was shortly after the US based Irwin Clan had met at the castle and for that event many of the original Irwin branches family history charts spanning back to the 1400s were on display.
It was with beautiful memories that I left Bonshaw Tower the following morning to return the hire car and join a train to travel north to my friends in Edinburgh. I’m so thrilled that I had the experience to stay in the property, which my brother’s Y-DNA has confirmed is the place of our Irvine’s origin. The following week I had arranged to meet James M. Irvine the manager of our Irwin Clan Y-DNA project at his Surrey home.
As well as completing a very in-depth book of all the Irwin lines in 2020, James and his team of volunteers have continuing to do wonderful work on the project and I’m eternally pleased that my brother agreed to do the Y-DNA test for me.
[1] For more information see https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Border-Reivers/
[2] The Irwin Surname: its Origins, Diaspora and Early Branches by James M. Irvine. Published by New Generation Publishing in 2020. Chapter 16.5 page 173.
Leave a Reply