Before the Tower
Pre-history
The Elphinstone Tower area would have first been populated by the Brythonic tribes that predated the Roman invasion of Britain. The Romans never successfully occupied the area, it being north of the Antonine Wall by many miles.
The Barony of Airth
The land upon which Elphinstone Tower was built was once part of the barony of Airth, owned by the Airth (de Erth, d'Erth, Derth) family in the 13th century.
The ruins of Airth Old Parish Church, consecrated in the 1120s and parts of which date to the Romanesque period, attest to the area's strategic importance as a settlement overlooking both the Forth and the River Carron. Airth comes from the Gaelic for "hill".
Richard d'Erth was falconer to the king in 1212, and the family appears to have had a long reputation as falconers.
John of Elphinstone married Marjorie d'Airth and thereby acquired the land where the Tower was later built. He was recorded in the area by 1338.
Around 1394 the lands around Airth became property of the Bruce family through marriage.