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Whittingehame is a parish with a small village 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, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. The area is on the slopes 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 ...
.
Whittingehame Tower Whittingehame Tower, or Whittingehame Castle, is a fifteenth-century tower house about south of East Linton, on the west bank of Whittinghame Water in East Lothian, Scotland.Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.41 ...
dates from the 15th century and remains a residence. The village is the birthplace of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour.


Barony

The barony was anciently the possession of the Dunbar
Earls of March Earl of March is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales ( Welsh Marches) or Scotland (Scottish Mar ...
family, and Chalmers' ''Caledonia'' records that they held their baronial court there. In 1372
George de Dunbar, 10th Earl of March George de Dunbar, 10th Earl of Dunbar and March (1338–1422), 12th Lord of Annandale and Lord of the Isle of Man, was "one of the most powerful nobles in Scotland of his time, and the rival of the Douglases."Anderson (1867), vol.iv:74 Family ...
, gave in marriage with his sister Agnes to James Douglas of
Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...
, the manor of Whittingehame, with the patronage of the chapel. The Douglases remained in possession for over 200 years: about 1537 Elizabeth (d. after August 1557), daughter of Sir Robert Lauder of
The Bass The Bass Rock, or simply the Bass (), ( gd, Creag nam Bathais or gd, Am Bas) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volcani ...
(d. 1517/18), married William Douglas of Whittingehame, and in October 1564 Mary, Queen of Scots, confirmed to their son, William Douglas of Whittinghame (d. 17 December 1595), a Senator of the College of Justice, the barony of Whittingham, the castle, mills, and the avowson of the Church there, ratified by parliament on 19 April 1567. This William Douglas had married in 1566 Elizabeth (d. after 6 August 1608), daughter of Sir
Richard Maitland Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlstane (1496 – 1 August 1586) was a Senator of the College of Justice, an Ordinary Lord of Session from 1561 until 1584, and notable Scottish poet. He was served heir to his father, Sir William Maitl ...
of Lethington, a Senator of the College of Justice.


Darnley and Riccio

It is said that the plot to murder Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, was discussed at length at Whittingehame castle in 1566, and in March of that year "William Douglas of Whittingehame, brother to Master Archibald Douglas parson of Douglas", is cited as one of those in the conspiracy to murder
David Riccio David Rizzio ( ; it, Davide Rizzio ; – 9 March 1566) or Riccio ( , ) was an Italian courtier, born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito ...
. On 26 August 1582 William Douglas of Whittingehame is cited as 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 ...
. On 28 December 1630, Sir Archibald Douglas, 5th of Whittingehame, son and heir of the previous couple, was a witness to the baptism of Archibald Sydserf at Whittingehame Church, but by 1640 Sir Archibald was dead with no issue. Whittingehame passed to his brother Sir William Douglas of Stoneypath, near Garvald, whose daughter Isobel married, in 1628, Sir Arthur Douglas of the Kellour family, and their daughter Elizabeth (1632–1668) married, in 1652, Alexander Seton, 1st Viscount of Kingston and carried Whittingehame to him (Elizabeth's brother Archibald having died unmarried). Their youngest daughter Elizabeth, carried Whittingehame to her husband William Hay of
Duns Duns may refer to: * Duns, Scottish Borders, a town in Berwickshire, Scotland ** Duns railway station ** Duns F.C., a football club ** Duns RFC, a rugby football club ** Battle of Duns, an engagement fought in 1372 * Duns Scotus ( 1265/66–1308) ...
and Drumelzier, Peebleshire, upon their marriage in 1695. The Hays, as proprietors, were highly esteemed by their tenants. In 1817 they sold Whittingehame and Stoneypath, near Garvald, to James Balfour, second son of John Balfour, 5th of Balbirnie in
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
, who had made a large fortune in India. James Balfour subsequently enlarged his estate by buying up a great many adjoining properties. By 1900 there were about 25 farms on the Whittingehame estate. The coal mines on their Fife lands greatly increased their prosperity throughout the 19th century.


Whittingehame House

James Balfour engaged James Dorward, from Haddington, to build a new neo-classical mansion and offices to designs by Sir Robert Smirke, Whittingehame House, completed about 1817, with additions and alterations by architect William Burn ten years later. This became the family home of the Balfours and the birthplace of the Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and the scientist Francis Maitland Balfour. Between 1939 and 1941, Whittingehame was converted into a school for Jewish refugee children coming to Britain through the Kindertransport. The school, known as the
Whittingehame Farm School Whittingehame Farm School operated from 1939 to 1941, and was located at Whittingehame, near the village of Stenton, in East Lothian, Scotland. The school was a shelter for Jewish children seeking refuge in Britain, as part of the ''Kindertranspor ...
, sheltered 160 children between the ages of 7 and 17. This building, a huge country house and A-listed, still stands, albeit now divided into private apartments. It is not open to the public. Having passed through various hands after the Balfours (at one time it was a private school - Holt School, but it closed and the property lay dormant) there is still much of interest to see, including a spectacular ceiling to the dining room.


Church and hamlet

A parochial school, of which the laird was patron, was long established at Whittingehame, and Mr James Hogg was appointed schoolmaster there in 1742; having transferred from neighbouring Morham. In 1820, James Balfour rebuilt the church, supplanting the previous rebuild of 1722, and then established, in 1840, a new model village to the north-west of the former medieval settlement. It consists of a schoolhouse and a string of cottages, all in red sandstone. From 1950 to 1955, it was a boarding school called "Whittingehame House School For Boys", then a few years later, it was used as a school called Holts Academy; which only lasted a few years. After that, it was sold off and converted to 3 or 4 apartments.


Ghost legend

There is a folk legend that Whittinghame was once home to the ghost of an unbaptised child, who could not enter the afterlife because he had no name. One night the ghost was encountered by a drunk, who addressed him as 'Short-Hoggers'. The ghost, overjoyed at being given a name, was never seen again.


See also

* List of places in East Lothian


References

* ''Privy Council Registers for Scotland'', pages 436-437/507. * ''Reminiscence & Notices of Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington'' by John Martine, edited by E J Wilson, Haddington, 1894, 'Whittinghame' pps: 38–57. * ''The Seven Ages of an East Lothian Parish - Whittingehame'', by the Rev. Marshall B Lang, T.D., B.D., Minister of Whittingehame, with a foreword by Lady Frances Balfour, (1858–1931), Edinburgh, 1929.


External links


Undiscovered Scotland - Whittingehame ChurchWhittingehame - The Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian
{{Arthur Balfour, state=collapsed Villages in East Lothian
Whittingehame House Whittingehame is a parish with a small village in East Lothian, Scotland, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. The area is on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills. Whittingehame Tower dates from the 15th century a ...
Civil parishes of Scotland