Turnbull Trails

Fatlips Castle

Historical significance to Turnbulls:  Fatlips Castle is a 16th century stone rectangular tower house which served as a fourteenth-century Turnbull stronghold. The site commands a wide view of the surrounding country and the castle was used to provide a beacon when danger threatened.

Interesting facts: The castle sits 730 feet high on Minto Crags.  It was originally the fortress for the famous Border Reiver Turnbull of Barnhill.  Sir Walter Scott wrote of the castle and Turnbull in “Lay of the Last Minstrel:”

On Minto Crags the moon beams glint,

Where Barnhill hewed his bed of flint;

Where falcons hang their giddy nest.

Mid cliffs, from whence his eagle eye

Full many a league his prey could spy.

Fatlps Castle today

The origin of the name “Fatlips” has many theories.  However, the most likely follows.  A Minto woman vowing to never leave home after her lover was killed in battle declared that her house was kept in order and her food and drink provided for by a fairy or spirit named Fatlips.  She described him as a little man with heavy iron shoes, with which he trampled the clay floor to dispel the damp.  As reported by the October, 1927 issue of the Border Magazine, it is believed that the name of the spirit, Fatlips, was transferred to this type of dwelling.  There is at least one other structure in Scotland bearing the name Fatlips.

The castle was destroyed by Hertford’s Border Raids in1545.  The castle became the property of Sir Gilbert Elliot and was rebuilt in 1857 by the third Gilbert Elliot, brother of Jean Elliot who wrote the great lament "Flowers of the Forest."  Fatlips was used as a family museum and shooting box for the Minto Estate until around 1960.

Sights to see:  While the castle itself is much in ruin, there is still plenty to see outside.  The castle entrance way leads to a vaulted basement.  There are no remaining floors from the original structure. Spiral stairs lead to a garret with a round caphouse opening onto an impressive parapet, rounded on the corners.

Getting up to Fatlips is a bit of a challenge but it is well worth the effort.  If you cannot make the climb, be sure to view the castle from below and along the Ancrum road.

Until it is repaired, you must not venture inside the castle and extreme caution be taken in walking around it as stones do fall from the parapet.  The hilltop around the castle provides the most spectacular views to be found of the Teviot Valley, Bedrule area, and Ruberslaw.

View from Fatlips south  towards Bedrule.