east-lothian-1924/05-126

Transcription

INNERWICK.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [INNERWICK.

east of the rock cut ditch. If the structure
borne across the ditch and indicated by the
beam holes was a bridge, the entrance in the
curtain would lie opposite to it. The main
block comprises two chambers of approximately
equal lengths but unequal in width, with a
vaulted passage on the north. These chambers
are ceiled with round barrel-vaults and enter
from the east, the northern through a vestibule
within the thickness of the wall, the southern
from a passage, at the southern end of which
are traces of a staircase leading to the upper
floor. In the east wall of these chambers
above the vault is a stone conduit sloping
diagonally downwards in the thickness of the
wall, which, it is suggested, may have served to
collect roof water for domestic purposes.
A rib-vaulted passage on the north turns
southwards along the main block and gives
access to a long apartment running east and
west ; the western portion nearest the passage
has a large fireplace beside the doorway and is
elevated above the eastern and larger division.
This chamber was covered with a round barrel-
vault but appears to be later then the main
block. Off it, at its eastern end, is a little room
on the north, which has been ceiled in wood,
while a doorway farther west leads to an
irregularly shaped chamber with a drain in
the north wall east of the window. This
chamber has a pointed barrel-vault and gives
access to a small circular staircase.
The structures west of the main block are
extremely ruinous. The only feature of archi-
tectural interest is a window overlooking the
ditch, which from its detail, is evidently of the
16th century. At the north-west angle of the
site an oblong tower is placed, from which is
entered a passage to the south against the
west wall of enceinte.
If the entrance to the castle was not by means
of such a bridge as has been suggested, it must
have been by a stairway abutting against the
oblong tower and descending to the north
passage ; in which case, probably, the court-
yard originally extended as far as the cross
wall shown dotted on plan, the other portions
to the south being occupied by two conjoining
structures.
The chambers in the portion referred to as
the main block measure internally 18 1/4 feet and
17 1/2 feet from east to west and 7 feet and 14 1/2

54

feet from north to south ; the long apartment
to the east has a total length of 36 feet and a
width of 16 feet. To the north of this the
irregularly shaped chamber is 14 1/4 feet long by
12 1/3 feet wide. The walls of the castle vary
in thickness from 1 1/4 to 4 feet. The older
portions are built of ashlar, the later of un-
coursed rubble.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-The castle of Innerwick
of Inverwick (castrum de Inverwik in Laudonia)
was one of the places that fell into the hands
of the English after their success at Homildon
Hill in Sep. 1402. It was recaptured by the
Regent Albany with an army in the summer of
the following year, when he had it razed to the
ground (prostravit ad terram).1 But a purchase
of timber " for the siege of the castle of Inner-
wick " in 1406 would seem to relegate the
siege to that year.2 Thereafter it was re-
constructed, and "Anderwyke" as a "pyle or
holde " on a " craggy foundacion " menacing
communication with Berwick, was assaulted by
Somerset on the way into Scotland with a force
on Sep. 6, 1547. The place "perteined to the
Lorde of Hambleton" and was kept by the
Master of Hamilton and eight others "gentle-
men for the moste part." The defenders
blocked the outer doors and the stairs and made
their defence from the battlements. But the
hackbutters, who were attacking, forced a way
in and started a fire in the lower parts, so that
the "smoke and smoother" forced the defenders
to ask mercy. Ere a reply could come from the
commander, the hackbutters had forced their
way up and killed eight of the garrison ; one
jumped from the wall and ran a furlong before
he was overtaken and slain.3
On the Hamiltons of Innerwick, see Introd.,
p. xxii.

1 Scotich. Lib. xv. cap 16 ; 2 Exch. Rolls
iii., p. 644 ; 3 Patten's Expedicion into Scot-
lande, pp. 36-7.

xii. N.E. 16 July 1913.

DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.

88. Hill Fort No. 1, Blackcastle Hill.-About
1 mile due south of Innerwick village, some
200 yards north of the Ogle Burn close to its
source and near the eastern end of the ridge
known as Blackcastle Hill, at an elevation of
900 feet above sea-level, is an oval area enclosed