east-lothian-1924/05-139

Transcription

NORTH BERWICK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. [NORTH BERWICK.

original, but the windows on either side have
been altered ; one of the original windows
remains built up at the western end. The hall
was entered from the west through a round
headed doorway ornamented with an edge roll
on jambs and head, and was an oblong apart-
ment lit by windows in the lateral walls and
also by a clerestory above the south windows.
The lower windows have been lintelled, but
the clerestory windows have obtusely pointed
arched heads. The north wall shows the
remains of a fireplace and is pierced by two
slop drains. The west gable shows a particu-
larly interesting feature in the raggles for the
roof timbers, by which the construction of the
roof trusses is made clear. The corbels in the
lateral walls supported wall trusses bracing the
tie beams, but this construction is secondary,
since it appears that originally there was a
third floor supported on corbels and a scarce-
ment, which was lit by the present clerestory
and entered from the allure.
About 88 feet north-east from the tower,
the north curtain contains an opening which
may have been a postern.
The castle is now in the hands of H.M.
Office of Works, which is carrying out the
necessary repairs.
LANDING STAGE.-In the bay immediately
north-west of the castle, a series of post holes
[marginal note]
J.S.R.
are formed in a stretch of rock jutting seawards.
The holes are about 3 feet apart and the
construction had a width of 12 feet.
? CRANE BASTION.-On the edge of the cliff
at Oxroad Bay, 200 yards south-south-east of
the outer gate of the castle, is a fragment of
masonry probably the remains of a parapet in
front of a crane seat ; the masonry is rubble
2 feet in thickness and resembles the walling
of the round tower at the castle gate.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-Tantallon, in the form
" Dentaloune," appears as a castellated site on
a map which has been dated as before 1300.1
(Cf. footnote on next col.). At that time the
barony of North Berwick, including Tantallon,
was in possession of the Earls of Fife. If the
dating of the map is approximately correct,
then it can only be said that no part of a 13th
century castle has been identified in the present
building. Otherwise the earliest mention of
the castle is in 1374 when William, first Earl
of Douglas and Mar writes from " our castle

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of Temptaloun " and refers to a voyage on
two occasions to St. Andrews " in great danger
from the sea."2 Douglas held the castle with
the barony of North Berwick as a tenantry
from the Earls of Fife.3 James, second Earl of
Douglas and Mar, fell at Otterburn in 1388.
His only sister Isabel had married Sir Malcolm
Drummond, brother-in-law of King Robert III,
to whom as Countess of Mar she conveyed the
title dominus de Mar,4 as well as Douglas lands;
which explains how Sir Malcolm Drummond
had in 1389 a protection from Richard II. for
himself and all his possessions including the
castle of " Teintalon."5 There was some
question as to the legal heirs of the Douglas
properties.6 Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife and
Monteith, afterwards Duke of Albany, on re-
suming the barony and castle until the proper
heir should be invested, found the place
occupied by Margaret, surviving widow of the
first Earl, to whom he gave permission to stay
there " als lang that Castel happynnys to be
in wr hand."7 Meantime the constable of the
castle was Alan Lauder of the Bass.8 The
issue as to the Douglas succession was settled
in terms of an early entail of the property, and
Archibald Douglas ' the Grim ' was established
in the Douglas title and lands.9 In the spring
of 1425 the Duchess of Albany (Countess of
Fife) was imprisoned in Tantallon, and in 1429
the rebellious Alexander, Lord of the Isles was
sent thither to be under the custody of William
Earl of Angus.10 The forfeiture of the Duke
of Albany and Earl of Fife would be followed
by the transfer of the properties, including
the castle, to the Crown, and tenants would
become Crown vassals. The eighth Earl of
Douglas was assassinated by James II. in
February 1452 and in June of that year there
is a grant to George Douglas, Earl of Angus,
Warden of the East Marches, " for services
rendered gratuitously to the King," of Tan-
tallon and the lands pertaining to the castle,
" Castiltoune ,* Bondyrytoun, Samyltoun and
the lands called Half-pleuland," the whole,
with some other royal lands near, to be held as

* The villa called Castleton seems to be older
than the castle as it now appears. In 1335-7 it
was equipped with fishing boats and two breweries,
the latter belonging to the Earl of Fife, and in it
Patrick of Herdmanston had a " tenement " or
holding. (Bain's Calendar iii. pp. 352-3, 339).

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