Aikwood Tower, or Oakwood Tower, stands on the Ettrick Water near the Borders town of Selkirk. It was probably constructed by Michael Scott shortly after James V’s decree in 1535 when he proclaimed that all landowners in the South of Scotland should construct defensive towers in those ‘troublous times’. The Scotts of Aikwood were descendants of the famous 13^th Century scholar and ‘wizard’, Michael Scott, after whom the builder of Aikwood was named. Aikwood passed to the Scotts of Harden, a famous family of Border Reivers and the tower has connections with James Hogg, the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’ and with Sir Walter Scott. The present occupants of Aikwood, Sir David Steel and his wife, acquired Aikwood from the Duke of Buccleuch in 1989, after which tasteful and careful and award-winning reconstruction took place.

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