Fatlips Castle is a pele tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

 in Roxburghshire

Roxburghshire

Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh is a registration county of Scotland. It borders Dumfries to the west, Selkirk to the north-west, and Berwick to the north. To the south-east it borders Cumbria and Northumberland in England.It was named after the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh...

, in the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

. Situated at the top of Minto Crags, above the River Teviot

River Teviot

The River Teviot, or Teviot Water, is a river of the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and a tributary of the River Tweed.It rises in the western foothills of Comb Hill on the border of Dumfries and Galloway...

, it was built in the 16th century by the Turnbulls

Turnbull clan

Turnbull is an English surname.- Origins of the name :The origin of the Turnbull name was told by Hector Boece, in his History of Scotland. Boece tells the legend that during the Wars of Scottish Independence William of Rule saved King Robert Bruce by wrestling to the ground a bull that had charged...

 of Barnhills, notorious Border reivers, and owners of nearby Barnhills Tower and farm. In 1545, during the War of the Rough Wooing, the Earl of Hertford burned "Mantoncrake", or Mynto Crag.

The castle is said to have obtained its unusual name from the habit of the members of the house to greet guests with less discretion than was considered decent at the time. One of the pleasures of a visit to Fatlips used to be that "every gentleman, by indefeasible privilege, kisses one of the ladies on entering the ruin."

The castle was acquired by Sir Gilbert Elliot in 1705, whose family eventually became the Earls of Minto

Earl of Minto

Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The family descends from the politician and judge Gilbert Elliot, who served as a Lord of Session under the judicial title of Lord...

. It was extensively restored in 1857, while the interior was renovated by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1897–8 as a shooting lodge and private museum. The building was in use until the 1960s. It is now however, again in a parlous state, although there are proposals for the future, notably through the Landmark Trust

Landmark Trust

The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then gives them a new life by making them available for holiday rental...

. On the 18th of November 2011, it was announced that a major restoration of the building would take place, with work expected to be complete by 2013.

The rectangular tower is 26 in 9 in (8.15 m) from north to south, and 32 in 3 in (9.83 m) from east to west. It comprises four storeys plus an attic, which is surrounded by a 19th-century parapet walk.