east-lothian-1924/05-229

Transcription

WHITTINGHAME.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [WHITTINGHAME.

The walls are built of roughly coursed rubble
with dressed corners and at ground are 9 feet
in thickness. On a quoin at the south-west
angle is a shield rudely incised with the arms
of the Lyle family-fretty of six pieces. On
the west wall of the main block there is a
projection with a window to the south and
a machicolated opening beneath, which could
hardly have been defensive and probably was
a garderobe.
The entrance was in the south wall at the
first floor level, where a breach in the wall
has been built up and a modern doorway
inserted.
The basement of the main block contains
one apartment 26 feet by 14 1/2 feet, with a
chamber of similar dimensions in the mezza-
nine floor above. Mural chambers are placed
in the lateral walls and a narrow window in
the east wall. The greater portion of the
vaulted ceiling has fallen, filling the chamber
with its debris. The wing contains at this
level two chambers, but the more northerly
is now inaccessible.
The Hall occupied the full extent of the
first floor of the main block. It had a large
fireplace in the east wall with a sink and drain
on the south lighted by a small window. A
window on the north has stone seats
and a cupboard in the western jamb. On
crossing the Hall the wheel-stair, somewhat
unusually situated in the north wall of the
main wing, is reached. It communicates with
the basement and the upper floors. The upper
floors are completely ruined.
The tower dates from the 15th century and
is now in an exceedingly bad state of repair.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-In 1494 " David Lile of
Stanepeth " was pursuing the free tenants of
Duns in a case of multure to the mill of Duns,
which he had feued.1 The Lisles continued
there for more than a century thereafter.
In 1609 George " Lyell " was of Stanypeth "
and had a charter of novodamus to himself,
his wife Agnes Hamilton and their son and
heir George, which included also their estates
in Berwickshire, but this is followed, in the
same year, by a resignation of the property
and its transference to Alexander Hamilton of
Innerwick.2 These grants included the castrum
or fortalicium of Stoneypath, meaning simply
the tower. Later (1616) the property was

134

conferred upon Archibald Douglas of Whittinge-
ham, when it is specified as having been part
of the earldom of March,3 and in 1628 was in
possession of William Douglas of " Stanypeth."
whose daughter married Arthur Douglas,
nephew of the 8th Earl of Morton, and to this
Arthur and his wife Stoneypath was conveyed
with the barony of Whittinghame.4 In this
way Stoneypath came ultimately to the Setons5
from whom in time it passed by purchase.

1 Records of the Parliament of Scotland (1804)
p. 447 ; 2 Reg. Mag. Sig. s.a. Nos. 73, 183 ;
3 Ibid. s.a. No. 1460 ; 4 Ibid. s.a. No. 1315 ;
5 cf. Art. 213 ; R.M.S. 1668, No. 1154.

xi. S.W. 21 May 1913.

215. Penshiel.-On a plateau under the
east shoulder of Penshiel Hill and on the left
bank of the Faseny Water, 3/4 of a mile south-
west of its confluence with the Whitadder, are
the ruins of a grange which was attached to
Melrose Abbey.
The main building measures exteriorly 82
feet by 25 feet and is built of large boulders of
greywacke and granite. The ground floor is
vaulted transversely and is lit by two small
windows in each gable. The entrance is in
the north wall, and the doorway has been
secured by three cross-bars, as indicated by
the bar-holes. The walls are 4 to 5 feet thick
at base and 2 feet 6 inches thick at first floor
level. There are traces of a forestair at the
south-east angle, and the presence of beam
holes in the exterior face of the south wall,
7 feet from the ground, may indicate that a
hoarding or stage ran along that wall. The
ruin is 10 feet high and is in a bad state of
repair. Only 5 feet of the vaulting remains,
and its condition is precarious.
To the south of this building is a courtyard
61 feet by 90 feet enclosed by a wall some
3 feet thick. To the north are foundations of
two buildings, probably of later date. These
measure respectively 49 feet by 19 feet and
49 feet by 24 feet 6 inches. The walls are 3 feet
in thickness.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-Penshiel is referred to
in a charter granted by the Earl of Dunbar to
the monks of the Isle of May in 1200. Later it
belonged to the monks of Melrose. The main