Note 228 — 169 JOHNIE ARMSTRONG
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It has been maintained that there was a Gilnockie tower on the eastern side of the Esk, a very little lower than the Hollows tower. “We can also inform our readers that Giltknock Hall was situate on a small rocky island on the river Esk below the Langholm, the remains of which are to be seen:” Crito in the Edinburgh Evening Courant, March 8, 1773. “Many vestiges of strongholds can be traced within the parish, although there is only one, near the new bridge already described, that makes an appearance at this point, its walls being yet entire:” Statistical Account of Canoby, Sinclair, XIV, 420.
Sir John Sinclair, 1795, says, in a note to this last passage, that the spot of ground at the east end of “the new bridge” is, “indeed, called to this day, Gill-knocky, but it does not exhibit the smallest vestige of mason-work.” Mr. T. J. Carlyle, The Debateable Land, p. 17, gives us to understand that the foundations of the tower were excavated and removed when the bridge was built; but this does not appear to be convincingly made out.