east-lothian-1924/05-173

Transcription

[Marginal notes]
7 Aug. 1548 :- Iron gates of Hailes Castle taken away by Arran's order - see Hamilton Papers, vol.
Hailes Castle, near Haddington , resieged by Henry Hotspur , and battle there, 1399 -- II p. 616.
Liber Pluscardensiss , vol I , p.340.
Siege of Hailes Castle . 1445 , see Pitscottie , ed . Dalyell , vol I. p.56.
Attacked in
1401 see
Introduction p xxvii.
PRESTONKIRK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [PRESTONKIRK.

untouched on the lower portion at least, the
remainder of the north curtain and the north-
west tower have been extensively rebuilt. The
later building (fig. 99), three storeys and an attic
in height, which lies between the towers, was
apparently erected in the 15th century and
altered in the 16th century. The basement is
barrel-vaulted, and windows are inserted where
required in the curtain and in the southern
wall. The upper floor, which does not communi-
cate internally with the basement, was entered
through a wide semicircular arched doorway,
subsequently contracted, in the south wall, and
was reached from a wooden forestair against
the south wall as evidenced by the projecting
corbels for the landing, which are still in situ.
The windows have splayed jambs and lintels,
the scoinson arches are semicircular and the
arrises are chamfered off ; the north windows
are provided with seats. Internally in the
south wall, west of the doorway, there is a
recess 12 inches deep and 1 foot 10 inches wide.
The head is ogival and is formed in one stone ;
the sill is hollowed and may originally have
projected as a basin, as there is an outlet.
This feature is not in situ, and the sill has
afterwards been roughly rebated to receive a
wooden door, thus forming a little cupboard.
There is a precisely similar feature with ogival
head, basin and outlet in the 15th century
tower of Sauchie near Alva, Clackmannanshire.
In the Antiquities of Scotland (vol. i., p. 88)
by Francis Grose there is given a view of the
Castle, drawn in 1787, showing the latest
portion roofed and entire, and the upper
portions of the towers, which are now destroyed,
in a fairly complete state. The mid tower has
a parapet and walk and on the north wall of
the north-west tower near the north-west angle
there is shown a projection borne on four
heavy machicolated corbels, which was pro-
bably not defensive in purpose but merely
an outlet from garderobes.
Since the illustration in Grose was drawn,
large masses of masonry have fallen, and the
unrestricted growth of vegetation on the walls,
coupled with the elements, is slowly dis-
integrating the remains of this castle, one of
a type gradually disappearing through neglect
and misuse.
The walls of the north-west tower and curtain
have a maximum thickness of 10 and 9 feet

94
[marginal note]
Dunpender Law. beacon on, 1523 , see Acts of Lands Council
in Public Affairs. Scotland , 1501-54, p. 170.

respectively. The mid tower on the north-east
measures 43 feet by 24 3/4 feet over walls 6 and
7 1/2 feet thick. The later wing, 53 feet by 23 3/4
feet, has walls 2 feet 10 inches thick, except
on the north at the basement level where the
curtain is embodied.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-The writer of the
account of The Expedicion into Scotlande by
the Duke of Somerset in 1547 speaks of " a
proper house and of sum strengthe bylyke, they
call it Hayles Castell, and perteyneth to the
Erle Bothwell."1 In February 1548 Lord Gray
of Wilton2 had the place delivered to him and
wrote " The house is for the bignes, of suche
excellent bewtie within, as I have seldom sene
any in Englande except the Kinges Majesties,
and of verie good stregthe."3 Thereafter
Hugh Douglas with fifty men held it for the
English invaders.4 This was apparently Hugh
Douglas of Longniddry.5
On the Hepburns of Hailes and Earls of
Bothwell, see Introd. p. xxiv.

1 W. Patten in Fragments of Scottish History,
Dalyell, p. 38 ; 2 cf. Introd. p. xxix ; 3 Cal.
Scott. Papers i., p. 81 ; 4 Ib. p. 85 ; 5 Ibid.
cf. Nos. 190, 299.

vi. S.W. 3 July 1913.

DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTION.

148. Fort, Traprain Law.-Traprain Law,
or Dumpender Law* (fig. 135), lies 1 1/2 miles to
the south-south-west of the small town of East
Linton in the parish of Prestonkirk. It is situ-
ated in an undulating terrain, which swells
gradually upwards from the East Lothian sea-
board to the Lammermuirs. Its summit-710
feet above sea-level and 360 feet above its base-
commands a wide prospect ranging from the
Pentland Hills round Gullane Hill and North
Berwick to Dunbar, while to the southward
the Lammermuirs fill the horizon.
From the earliest times, owing to its com-
manding position at the edge of a rich cham-
paign and its strong natural defences, the hill
must have been periodically under occupation.
On plan it is oval, lying with its main axis

*Given in a charter ante 1368 as Dumpelder
(tenementum de Trepprane etc. unacum monte de
Dumpelder. R.M.S. i, p. 483) : in 1455 as
Dunpender Law. (Acta. Parl. Scot. ii, p. 44).

Transcriber's notes

The feint note at the mid right margin of the page is the reverse impression of the marginal note on the previous page.