east-lothian-1924/05-228

Transcription

WHITTINGHAME.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. -- [WHITTINGHAME.

the doorway is wrought a bold quirked bead-
and-hollow moulding; on the lintel is a shield
charged as under-parted per pale, dexter a
cinque foil beneath two stars on a chief ;
sinister a boar's head erased beneath two stars
in chief (for Douglas) : the cinquefoil shows
maternal descent from Borthwick. The Doug-
lases of Whittinghame being descended from
the Earl of Morton used their arms with a
difference.
The basement chamber has been modernised
but retains its stone vaulted ceiling, below
which a mezzanine floor was entered off the
staircase but has been removed. The windows
have been enlarged, and direct access with the
exterior provided in the east wall.
The principal apartment of the tower is
situated immediately over the vault and is
entered from the staircase, which at this
height has attained a circular form. The
apartment measures 21 1/2 feet by 15 feet ; in
the east and west walls are deeply recessed
windows and in the south gable a fireplace.
The northern end was screened off at the
small window in the west wall, forming the
servery usual in buildings of this type. Mural
closets are formed in the thickness of the walls
at the north-east angle and a cupboard in the
north wall. The panelled ceiling (fig. 173) is well
preserved and is a good example of 17th
century plaster work ; the architraves of the
doors are coeval and are carved with an egg-
and-dart enrichment reminiscent, although the
motif is different, of the woodwork at Pilmuir
House (No. 20) in the parish of Bolton.
Although this apartment has been enlarged by
the inclusion of the servery and otherwise
slightly modernised, it still retains much of its
old time appearance.
The floor above is occupied by estate
employees.
Adjoining the tower on the east are the
remains of 17th century outbuildings with
vaulted ceilings, and further east a raised
garden terrace is reached from stairs on the
north and south.
The tower is in excellent condition.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-Whittinghame was part
of the great historical possessions of the Earls
of March, till in 1372 George Dunbar, 10th
Earl of March, conferred the lands on Sir
James Douglas of Dalkeith,1 who had married

133

his sister Agnes and was the founder of the
Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. His son
became first Lord Dalkeith and his grandson,
on marrying a daughter of James I.,
first Earl of Morton. The fourth Earl was the
Regent Morton (1572-8) and it was at Whitting-
hame that the proposal for the assassination
of Darnley was made to him by Bothwell and
Lethington in January 1567. On his execution
and forfeiture in 1581, title and lands lapsed
to the Crown, but were later returned to the
representative of the family. Whittinghame
passed in 1660 to Alexander Seton first Lord
Kingston (cf. p. 67), who had married
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas
of Whittinghame and heir-

[illustration inserted]
FIG. 177.-Stoneypath
(No. 214).

ess of her brother Archi-
bald, and again by mar-
riage with Kingston's only
surviving daughter to the
Hon. William Hay of
Drummelzier, son of the
first Earl of Tweeddale,
remaining with the Hays
till it was sold in 1817,
along with Stoneypath
to Mr. James Balfour.2

1 Reg. Mag. Sig. i., No. 522 ; 2 Family of
Seton, ii., pp. 717, 721 ; New Stat. Acct. ii.,
p. 64.

xi. N.W. 21 August 1913.

214. Stoneypath Tower.-The ruin of this
tower is situated 1/2 mile to the east-north-east
of Garvald village on the right bank of a ravine
traversed by the Papana Water 200 yards
below its confluence with the Thorter Burn.
The steep escarpment of the glen provides a
natural defence on the north, west and south ;
to the east are traces of an earthen rampart
some 12 feet wide at base.
The building is L-shaped on plan (fig. 177),
measuring 43 feet 4 inches along the south wall
and 50 feet along the east wall. The main
block on the south has an external width of
31 1/2 feet and the wing of some 26 3/4 feet. In the
former, below the first or principal floor there
is a basement with a mezzanine floor within the
vaulted ceiling ; between the first floor and
wall head levels were apparently three storeys,
the uppermost ceiled with a stone vault.

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Douglas Montgomery, Bizzy- Moderator

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