Castle in East Lothian

Tantallon Castle is located 3 miles south-east of North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland. It is built in an imposing position on a promontory opposite the Bass Rock, looking out onto the Firth of Forth. Tantallon is a curtain wall castle with a single wall blocking off the headland, with the other three sides protected by sea cliffs. The ruin is now in the care of Historic Scotland. To the south-west, the massive 15m tall curtain wall blocks off the promontory forming an inner courtyard. The curtain wall has a tower at either end, and a heavily fortified tower gatehouse in the centre. There are several small chambers within the walls, and stairs accessing a parapet walk that connects the three towers. The northwest tower, known as the Douglas Tower, was circular and seven storeys high. The lowest storey was a pit prison. The East Tower is D-shaped and was originally five storeys high. The central gatehouse tower is square with four storeys of chambers. The main entrance ran through a passage below, protected by a drawbridge, three pairs of doors and a portcullis. There are two corner turrets, facing in toward the courtyard, where a 16th century spiral stair gives access to the head of the curtain wall. There is a north range of buildings running at right angles to the main curtain wall. The range is joined to the Douglas Tower of the main curtain wall. Alongside the curtain wall is a deep, rock-cut ditch. Tantallon Castle was built in the mid 14th century by William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and remained in the Douglas family for most of its history. In 1397 George Douglas, Earl of Angus (of the Red Douglases) married Mary the daughter of King Robert III, allying with the Royal House of Stewart. In 1482, The 5th Earl of Angus (Archibald "Bell the cat") conspired against James IV. In 1491 Tantallon Castle was besieged by James IV, but the Douglases submitted and the castle did not suffer extensive damage. In 1525, the 6th Earl of Angus kidnapped the young King James V. In 1528, at age 16, King James V escaped and sent troops to attack Tantallon, which was besieged and bombarded with cannon for 20 days. The defensive ditch prevented the cannons being brought close enough to the walls to do serious damage. Angus fled to England, leaving the castle to James V. Tantallon was retained as a Royal fortress until James V died in 1542, when the Earl of Angus recovered it. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell's forces invaded Scotland and laid siege to Tantallon bombarding it with cannon until a breach was made in the Douglas Tower. The Douglases surrendered and Tantallon was left in ruins and was never repaired or inhabited afterwards. The Douglases finally sold Tantallon in 1699, but the castle decayed further. In 1924, the castle was handed over to the UK Government Office of Works and is now in the care of Historic Scotland. The Arts Sir Walter Scott described the castle in his 1808 poem Marmion.

Fa'side Castle is a ruined tower house situated in East Lothian, Scotland, standing on a prominent ridge near the village of Tranent. It is one of the more evocative and historically layered fortifications in the Lothians, a region already rich in castles and defensive structures. The castle's elevated position gives it a commanding presence over the surrounding agricultural landscape, and while it is not a major tourist attraction in the conventional sense, it holds considerable interest for those drawn to Scottish medieval history, battlefield heritage, and the quiet drama of a ruin that has witnessed centuries of conflict and change. Its proximity to the site of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh makes it particularly significant to those tracing the story of the Wars of the Rough Wooing. The origins of Fa'side Castle are generally traced to the thirteenth century, when a fortification of some kind is believed to have been established on this defensible high ground. The structure that survives, however, reflects later medieval construction typical of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The castle is most closely associated with the Fawside family, from whom it takes its name, and later passed through other hands including the Schaw family. Its most dramatic historical moment came in September 1547, just days before the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh — one of the bloodiest defeats ever suffered by a Scottish army. An English force under the Duke of Somerset besieged and burned Fa'side Castle as part of their broader campaign through the Lothians. The castle was reportedly still occupied at the time, and accounts suggest it was set ablaze with people inside, a grim episode that underscores the brutal nature of the conflict between England and Scotland during this period. Physically, Fa'side Castle presents itself as a consolidated ruin of a rectangular tower house, the main walls still standing to a reasonable height in places, though the interior has long since collapsed or been cleared. The masonry is of the rough rubble construction typical of Scottish tower houses of the period, and the walls carry the weathered, pitted texture that comes from centuries of exposure to the harsh east coast climate. Standing close to the structure, one is aware of the wind, which frequently sweeps across the ridge with considerable force, and of the deep quiet that settles around the ruin in the absence of visitors. The castle sits within a small farmstead context and has at various times had agricultural buildings constructed in close proximity to its walls, which adds to the sense of a place that has been quietly absorbed into the working landscape over the generations. The landscape surrounding Fa'side Castle is characteristic of East Lothian at its most open and agricultural. The ridge on which it stands provides views across a wide sweep of gently undulating farmland, with the Firth of Forth visible to the north on clear days and the hills of East Lothian rising to the south. The area between the castle and the coast was the scene of the 1547 battle, and the flat fields below retain a certain melancholy resonance for those who know the history. The village of Tranent lies close by to the west, and the town of Musselburgh is within a few miles to the north. The broader region is dotted with sites of historical interest, including Seton Collegiate Church, Hailes Castle, and the battlefield of Prestonpans, fought in 1745 during the Jacobite rising. Access to Fa'side Castle is relatively straightforward for those with their own transport, as it lies just off the minor road network between Tranent and the surrounding rural areas. It is not maintained as a formal visitor attraction, and there is no visitor centre, staffed entrance, or dedicated car park. The surrounding land is working farmland, and visitors should be respectful of this context. The best approach is on foot along the track that leads to the farmstead, and visitors should be prepared for potentially muddy conditions underfoot, particularly in autumn and winter. The castle itself should be approached with caution, as with any unconsolidated ruin, and entry into the structure is not advisable. The site is most rewarding in the quieter months when the light is low and dramatic, though the openness of the ridge means it can be visited at almost any time of year with appropriate clothing for the wind and weather. One of the more fascinating dimensions of Fa'side Castle's story is the way it straddles the boundary between documented history and local legend. The burning of the castle in 1547 left a mark on local memory, and the site carries a weight that is difficult to entirely attribute to its modest physical remains. There is also something quietly unusual about the way the castle has persisted in the landscape, never fully restored and never fully forgotten, present enough to mark the skyline without demanding attention. For students of Scottish history, it serves as a tangible link to one of the most turbulent and consequential periods in the relationship between Scotland and England, a period whose outcomes shaped the eventual union of the two crowns. That such a significant witness to those events survives even in ruined form, overlooking the very fields where so much blood was shed, gives Fa'side Castle a resonance that well exceeds its modest scale.

Tantallon Castle on the East Lothian coast is one of the most dramatically positioned medieval fortifications in Scotland, a great curtain wall castle of the late fourteenth century built by the Douglas family on a promontory of red sandstone jutting into the Firth of Forth with the Bass Rock visible offshore. Historic Environment Scotland manages the castle, whose ruined but substantial remains provide some of the finest coastal views of any medieval castle in Scotland. The castle was built approximately 1350 for William Douglas, first Earl of Douglas, as the principal stronghold of the Black Douglas family. The massive curtain wall across the landward approach, rising to approximately fifteen metres and flanked by towers and a great twin-towered gatehouse, is one of the finest examples of curtain wall fortification in Scotland. The castle withstood several sieges before being finally reduced by Cromwellian artillery in 1651, and the marks of the bombardment can still be seen in the masonry. The combination of the great wall, the sea views, the Bass Rock offshore and the dramatic red sandstone cliffs dropping to the sea on three sides creates one of the most compelling castle visits in Scotland. The walk from the car park through the castle earthworks and out to the cliff edge provides views that place the fortress in its extraordinary coastal landscape context.

Hailes Castle is situated about 1.5 miles south west of East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland. This castle belonged to the Hepburn family. The major remaining structure is the West Tower, and also the smaller remains of the central tower. Other remains include a roofless chamber that may have been a chapel, a vaulted basement bakehouse and brewhouse. Only a finger of stonework remains of the East Tower. Hailes Castle has been owned by the state since 1926, and it is administered by Historic Scotland. The castle was originally built as a fortified tower house by Hugo de Gourlay in the 14th century. The de Gourlays supported the English in the Wars of Independence, and their land was forfeited and the castle and lands were given was given to Sir Adam de Hepburn. One of his descendents Sir Patrick Hepburn extended the castle in the 15th century building a large square tower to the west of the original castle, and a lower tower to the East. The thick curtain wall of the castle may date back to the 13th century. The castle was attacked by Archibald Dunbar in 1443 resulting in the massacre of the castle's inhabitants. In 1547 Lord Grey of Wilton occupied it for the English in 1547. In 1567 Mary Queen of Scots visited Hailes Castle. Oliver Cromwell partly destroyed the castle in 1650 after the battle of Dunbar. It later passed into the hands of the Stewarts, the Setons, and finally, in 1700, the Dalrymple of Hailes family. By the mid-19th century the castle was being used as a granary.

Dunbar Castle is a dramatically situated ruined castle on a rocky promontory at the entrance to Dunbar Harbour in East Lothian, its fragmentary walls rising directly from the sea rocks and framing one of the most atmospheric harbour views on the east coast of Scotland. A stronghold of the powerful Earls of Dunbar, the castle controlled the main coastal route between Edinburgh and England and was the scene of Black Agnes, Countess of Dunbar's celebrated five-month defence against English forces in 1337-38. The castle was destroyed in 1568 by order of the Scottish Parliament. The town of Dunbar was the birthplace of John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist and founder of the American national park movement, celebrated through the John Muir Birthplace museum and the John Muir Country Park on the nearby coast.

Dirleton Castle is a situated in the village of Dirleton, East Lothian (about 19 miles east of Edinburgh). The castle was built in the 13th century by John De Vaux, and was abandoned by the end of the 17th century. Dirleton Castle is built on a rocky outcrop guarding the coastal approach to Edinburgh from England. The ruins of a 13th-century keep remain, along with an adjacent 16th-century house. The keep is made up of a large round tower to the south, a smaller round tower to the west, with the two round towers joined by a square tower. Other buildings within the courtyard have been demolished and basement levels of some of these survive. The castle is surrounded by gardens, which may have been first laid out in the 16th century, but is mainly 20th century plantings. There is a 16th century doocot, or pigeon house within the gardens. The castle was heavily damaged during the Wars of Scottish Independence, when it was twice taken by the English. Dirleton was acquired by the Ruthvens in 1505. The Ruthvens were involved in several plots against Mary, Queen of Scots and King James VI, and eventually forfeited the castle in 1600. Oliver Cromwell besieged the during the Third English Civil War in 1650. The damaged castle was then acquired by the Nisbets of Dirleton who continued to maintain the castle grounds. They handed Dirleton into state care in 1923. The ruins and gardens are now in the care of Historic Scotland.