Waughton Castle is a ruined

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 ...

, dating from the fourteenth century, about north of

East Linton East Linton is a village and former police burgh in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the River Tyne and A199 road (former A1 road) five miles east of Haddington, with an estimated population of in . During the 19th century the populatio ...

, and west of

Whitekirk Whitekirk is a small settlement in East Lothian, Scotland. Together with the nearby settlement of Tyninghame, it gives its name to the parish of Whitekirk and Tyninghame. Whitekirk Whitekirk is from North Berwick, from Dunbar and east of Ed ...

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 ...

.Coventry,Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.408 It is 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 d ...

Structure

Waughton Castle was a castle with a courtyard, but only part of one wing remains. The ruins are on a rock terrace, which is about 15 feet higher than the surrounding ground to the west and south. The remains of a small tower, at the south-west angle, and which is built of rubble with freestone dressing, stand up to 25 feet in height. Features of a narrow window in the south wall suggest that this is a 16th-century structure. A wall has been built to east and north of the rock, with a structure at the angle, but they are believed to date from later. There is a partially artificial stairway up the rock. There is a

doocot A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or ba ...

in the grounds.

History

There is a mention of a hall at ‘Walchtoun’ in a document from 1395. The castle was the property of the Hepburn family. It was sacked by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in 1547. In January 1570, when it was in the keeping of the Laird of Carmichael, the castle was raided by a dispossessed Hepburn. The Hepburns acquired the castle again by legal means, and retained it until Alexander Cockburn purchased the castle from John Hepburn. By the 18th century the castle was being used as material for building walls and cottages in the area.

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 ...

made a hunting trip to the area in February 1595, planning to visit

Dunglass Dunglass is a hamlet in East Lothian, Scotland, lying east of the Lammermuir Hills on the North Sea coast, within the parish of Oldhamstocks. It has a 15th-century collegiate church, now in the care of Historic Scotland. Dunglass is the birthpla ...

, Spott, Beil, Waughton, and Seton.

Annie Cameron Annie Isabella Cameron (1897-1973) was a Scottish historian. Biography She was the daughter of Mary Sinclair, and James Cameron, a Glasgow engineer. She studied history at the University of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews. She wrote a doc ...

, ''Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595'', vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 529 nos. 464-5.

References

External links

* * Reconstruction of Waughton Castle http://www.maybole.org/history/castles/garleton.htm {{coord , 56.0189, N, 2.6962, W, display=title Castles in East Lothian Ruined castles in Scotland Scheduled Ancient Monuments in East Lothian