Hailes Castle

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Hailes Castle is a mainly 14th century castle about a mile and a half south west of East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland. This castle, which has a fine riverside setting, belonged to the Hepburn family during the most important centuries of its existence. It has been owned by the state since 1926, and it is administered by Historic Scotland. It is open to the public without charge at all reasonable times.

[edit] History

The castle was originally founded as a fortified residence by Hugo de Gourlay before 1300, making it one of the oldest constructions among in Scotland. The de Gourlays, a Northumbrian family, supported the English in the Wars of Independence, and their land was forfeited. King Robert the Bruce then granted the castle and lordship of Hailes to Sir Adam de Hepburn. The Heburns, particularly, it is believed, Sir Patrick Hepburn, dramatically extended the castle during the 1300s and 1400s. A massive tower of at least four storeys was built to the west of the original construction, and a lower tower to the East to form a long north range, looming above the river Tyne. The thick curtain wall of the castle dates back to the thirteenth century.

In 1400 it successfully withstood an attack from Harry Percy, known as Hotspur, in league with the earl of March. The attackers were defeated afterwards in a counter-attack. A successful attack by Archibald Dunbar in 1443 was followed by a massacre of the castle’s inhabitants. In 1547 Lord Grey of Wilton occupied it for the English in 1547 during the War of the Rough Wooing. in 1567 James Hepburn, fourth Earl of Bothwell, and Mary Queen of Scots met each other again, and he entertained her, at Hailes Castle. The castle was forfeited to the Scottish government after this. Oliver Cromwell partly slighted the buiding in 1650 after the battle of Dunbar. It passed, in due course, into the hands of the Stewarts, the Setons, and finally, in 1700, the Dalrymples of Hailes. By the mid-nineteenth century the castle was being used as a granary, Sir David Dalrymple having taken advantage of the more settled times to move his family to the mansion of New Hailes.

[edit] Description

The castle stands on a promontory on the Scottish river Tyne, blocking its strategic route, and preying on the route to Edinburgh. Within the 13th century curtain wall is the fourteenth century keep, to which ranges were added in the next two centuries. The major remaining works is the West Tower, a square donjon, which dwarfs the remains of the central tower that the Gourlay’s built, probably a rebuilding on the sixteenth century. Fifteenth century work includes a roofless chamber in which the remains of what appear to be an ambry and a piscina suggest it was a chapel rather than a hall. There is also vaulted basement bakehouse and brewhouse from this period. The original tower was used as a dovecot after is ceased to be occupied. Of the East Tower only a finger of stonework remains.