Barnes Castle is an unfinished

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, with a number of defensive banks, located north-east of Haddington in

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It is close to

Athelstaneford Athelstaneford () is a village in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies almost 6 kilometres (3.5 mi) north-east of the market town of Haddington and about 28 kilometres (17 mi) east of Edinburgh. Battle of Athelstaneford According to popula ...

on the slopes of the Garleton Hills. The remains, also known as Barney Vaults or The Vaults, are protected as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

History

The Barnes estate was granted to Alexander de Seyton by King

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventuall ...

in 1321–1322; by the late 16th century it had passed to Sir John Seton of Barnes (died 1594), diplomat at the court of King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

and later King

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Treasurer of the Household The Treasurer of the Household is a member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The position is usually held by one of the government deputy Chief Whips in the House of Commons. The current holder of the office is Mar ...

and an

Extraordinary Lord of Session Extraordinary Lords of Session were lay members of the Court of Session in Scotland from 1532 to 1762, and were part of the historical judiciary of Scotland. When the Court of Session was founded in 1532, it consisted of the Lord President, 14 ...

. The property was sold out of the family by George Seaton, the Jacobite

Earl of Dunfermline Earl of Dunfermline was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1605 for Alexander Seton, 1st Lord Fyvie, fourth son of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton (see Earl of Winton for earlier history of the family). Seton had already been cre ...

, in 1713.

Description

The rubble-built

quadrangular castle A quadrangular castle or courtyard castle is a type of castle characterised by ranges of buildings which are integral with the curtain walls, enclosing a central ward or quadrangle, and typically with angle towers. There is no keep and frequent ...

measures and runs along an axis from north-east to south-west. Square towers project from each corner with two intermediate square towers on the north-west, one on the south-west and another on the south-eastern walls. The residence occupies the north-eastern portion of the interior and there are remnants of a domestic range against the north-western wall. All of the towers are provided with

gun loops An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions ( merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed ou ...

to cover the sides of the walls. The entrance gate was in the centre of the south-west wall and led into a large courtyard. The residence has a symmetrical front with the doorway leading into a vestibule connected to a long hallway that stretches the width of the structure that leads to vaulted chambers. Two of these on the south-eastern side project into the courtyard, flanking the doorway, together with the adjacent stair towers. The chamber on the left side is identified as the kitchen by its large fireplace. The building is generally complete up to the level of the vaulted ground floor, but only some of the walls reach a height of . There are no other documentary records to the building and it appears that construction apparently ceased on Sir John's death. It is currently used to store agricultural equipment. For its time it was of a modern and symmetrical design.

References

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History

Description

References

See also