Nunraw is an estate 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 histo ...
,
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 the ...
. It includes the White Castle, a
hillfort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
, situated on the edge of the
Lammermuir Hills
The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs".
Geology
The Lammer ...
, two miles south of the village of
Garvald, (, ,
OS Landranger No.67.) Nunraw House was formerly used as the Guesthouse for retreatants at
Sancta Maria Abbey the Cistercian monastery on the hillside nearby.
Sir James Balfour Paul,
Lord Lyon King of Arms
The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grant ...
, writing in 1905 stated that Whitecastle and Nunraw are the same place and that the lairds there were often referred to by one or the other of these territorial designations.
White Castle
It is likely that the White Castle was first settled by the ancestors of the
Votadini
The Votadini, also known as the ''Uotadini'', ''Wotādīni'', ''Votādīni'', or ''Otadini'' were a Brittonic people of the Iron Age in Great Britain. Their territory was in what is now south-east Scotland and north-east England, extending fro ...
tribe, whose main eastern capital was
Dunpender, due north. The fort is ideally placed to strategically control the northern end of one of the main passes through the Lammermuirs, along the
Whiteadder Water
Whiteadder Water is a river in East Lothian and Berwickshire, Scotland. It also flows for a very short distance through Northumberland before joining the River Tweed. In common with the headwaters of the Biel Water it rises on the low hillside ...
. With the further fortifications three miles further east at
Blackcastle and
Greencastle it would have been ideally placed for a beacon to alert the tribe in case of an invasion from the south.
The hillfort was excavated over four years between 2010 and 2013 by Murray Cook and David Connolly of Rampart Scotland http://www.rampartscotland.co.uk/, and dates to the second half of the 1st millennium BC, though there was also evidence of limited Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity.
Nunraw
It is thought that the first 'modern' feudal superior of the lands of Nunraw was the Church. The name Nunraw denotes the nuns' row or hamlet, and Martine adds that "old nuns came from Italy and settled down at Nunraw". The Lauder of The Bass family appear to have later held it as a feu. ''Acta Dominorum Concilii'', July 1501, records a dispute between Jonet, prioress of the Convent of Haddington, (represented by David Balfour of Caraldstone) and
Robert Lauder of The Bass, knight, regarding the lands and chapellany of
Garvald, and also damage made to Sir Robert Lauder's house at Whitecastle. The case was remitted to
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell (died 18 October 1508) was Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He rose to political prominence after supporting James IV against his father, and was proxy at the King's marriage.
Career
Patrick was the son of Adam ...
, for his consideration and adjourned until 15 October 1501.
The conflict seemed to continue, however, as the Justiciary Records, under date 25 February 1510, narrate how "Thomas Dicsoune (Dickson) at the Monastery of Hethingtoune (Haddington) and others, came in the King's will for oppression done to Robert Lauder of The Basse, knight, coming under silence of night to the lands of Whitecastle, and casting down the house built there by the said Robert" (presumably the Pele Tower there). His father having died in the interval, the son Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass (d.1517) was present in person at his hearing. The offender was fined 15 merks.
In July 1547, during the war of the
Rough Wooing
The Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Roman Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the ...
, Elizabeth, prioress of Haddington was made keeper of the 'place and fortalice of Nunraw.' She undertook to keep it 'surlie fra our auld of Ingland and all uthairis.' She agreed only to render the house to
Regent Arran
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...
or if necessary, demolish it and make it uninhabitable.
By the middle of the sixteenth-century Patrick Hepburn of Beanston was in possession of this estate and Tower. In ''The
Great Seal of Scotland
The Great Seal of Scotland ( gd, Seala Mòr na h-Alba) is a principal national symbol of Scotland that allows the monarch to authorise official documents without having to sign each document individually. Wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix ...
'' a charter (number 1753) confirmed at
Craigmillar Castle
Craigmillar Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is south-east of the city centre, on a low hill to the south of the modern suburb of Craigmillar. The Preston family of Craigmillar, the local feudal barons, began build ...
on 3 December 1566 by
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
(but originally written and signed at the Monastery at Haddington on 6 August 1556) mentions that following his father's death, Patrick Hepburn and his affairs were placed in the hands of his tutorix, Lady Elizabeth Hepburn, Prioress of the Monastery at Haddington. In this charter Patrick is referred to as "of Whitecastle" but he is clearly mentioned as the son of his father John Hepburn of Beanston; and he is granted the lands of Slaid,
oday spelt Slednear
Garvald, in
Haddingtonshire
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 histo ...
. Attached to this is a further charter, a regrant of the same properties, which mentions that Patrick has now married Margaret, daughter of James Cockburn, of Langton in
Berwickshire
Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...
. It also states that Patrick has a younger brother James and that they have an elder brother William.
Patrick Hepburn of Whitecastle (d. November 1583.) was one of the '
Ruthven Raiders
The Raid of Ruthven was a political conspiracy in Scotland which took place on 22 August 1582. It was composed of several Presbyterian nobles, led by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, who abducted King James VI of Scotland. The nobles intended ...
' and signed the 'secret band' of 26 August 1582 at Perth after
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 ...
was detained at
Ruthven Castle.
[D. Masson, ed., ''Register of the Privy Council of Scotland'', vol. 3 (1880), p. 507 fn.] His last Testament and Will gives his designation as "Hepburn of Whitecastle, knight, Laird of Benestoun"
The Hepburns were still in possession in the 18th century. On 23 December 1735 the Garvald Kirk Session elected Francis Hepburn of Nunraw as an Elder, and as Deacon, for the united parishes of Garvald & Bara,(NAS). He was dead by 15 January 1747 when a Sasine registered on that date referred to "Christian Anderson, relict of Francis Hepburn of Nunraw" (NAS:RS27/132/279). Of their known children are two sons, Patrick and Francis.
Nunraw House
Colin McWilliam states that today's baronial mansion at Nunraw, built in 1860 in a castellated deep red sandstone, "incorporates the Hepburns' 16th-century tower house" although it would appear that the tower almost certainly dates from much earlier. Martine states that the fortalice was originally connected with the monastery at Haddington and cites Keith's ''Scottish History''. The possession by the Lauder of The Bass family has already been noted. The old building consisted of a long block running east to west, with two square towers to the north-east and south-west, and round stair-turrets in the two north-west angles. Only the north-east tower is externally unaltered. There also remain vaulted cellars to the two turnpike staircases. Robert Hay carried out alterations and additions between 1860 and 1864 which were decidedly antiquarian in intent, and with a zeal for a kind of authenticity. During the alterations in 1864 to the first floor room at the east end of the main block a
tempera-painted board-and-joist ceiling was discovered. It bears the joint monogram of Patrick Hepburn and Helen Cockburn (see above). After 1880 Walter Wingate Gray installed much oak panelling, and also made the painted room into a chapel. Mr. Wingate Gray was still in possession of the estate in 1890, and is buried with his wife Mary Stephenson J.P. in the grounds.
Present day, Sancta Maria Abbey
In 1946 the building was acquired by the
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
brothers of
Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea in
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, their intention being to found a daughter-house. By 1948 the community of Nunraw had been allowed the dignity of calling itself an
Abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
. The first
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
Dom Columban Mulcahy was elected and invested as the first Cistercian Abbot in Scotland since the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. In 1962 the community commenced building a new Abbey and church to the south west of Nunraw House, moving into the partially completed building in 1969. Nunraw House itself was sold by the abbey and is once again a private residence.
References
*National Archives of Scotland, Garvald Kirk Session Books, CH2/167/p/69.
*''The Royal Families of England Scotland and Wales, with their descendants'', etc., by John and John Bernard Burke, London, 1851, volume 2, pedigree XXV, for mention of Patrick Hepburn's (d.1583) daughter Jean's marriage with Robert Swinton of that Ilk.
*''Fourteen Parishes of the County of Haddington'', by John Martine, Edinburgh, 1890.
*''Acta Dominorum Concilii'', edited by James Clyde, LL.D., for The Stair Society, Edinburgh 1943, numbers 230, 233 and 326.
*''The Buildings of Scotland - Lothian (except Edinburgh)'', by Colin McWilliam, London, 1978, {{ISBN, 0-14-071066-3
Whitecastle
Nunraw
Nunraw is an estate in East Lothian, Scotland. It includes the White Castle, a hillfort, situated on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills, two miles south of the village of Garvald, (, , OS Landranger No.67.) Nunraw House was formerly used as the ...
Archaeological sites in East Lothian
Scheduled monuments in Scotland