In 13th-century written charters, several Cockburns appear as landowners in Roxburghshire and Fifeshire. The land around Cockburn Law in Berwickshire was possibly the location of the residence of the 13th-century Pieres de Cokeburn; however, the nearby land may have been held by Cockburns as vassals of a more powerful land-owning family, such as the Dunbars. Cockburn Tower, a small fortified house (now a ruin) that occupied a site on the southern slope Cockburn Law overlooking the Whiteadder Water, was the seat of the Cockburns of that Ilk from about 1527 to 1696. The surrounding land was purchased in about 1527 by William Cockburn from Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford. The Tower and surrounding land were auctioned off in 1696 to pay off the debts of Sir James Cockburn of that Ilk.