Waughton Castle (3)
I would like to be able to write extensively about the form and style of this old fortress, but there isn't enough known about if for me to be able to do so! It needs a team of what Billy Connolly would call 'learned men in anoraks' to spend a few summers excavating it! I will make a few observations as we go, but most of what I can write about, is the story of the people that lived here.
From this angle, we can see all of the area that the castle once covered - a roughly oblong platform measuring 175 feet from east to west by 118 feet from north to south. The far left (south-west) corner contains the highest remaining tower. The prominent tree stands on the long north side of the enclosure, which appears to have been defended by a ditch. I imagine that stone for the castle was quarried from all around the platform, so as to leave ditches and vertical faces. There were clearly buildings of significant size extending along the north edge, to the north-east corner. The line of the east facing wall appears to be visible and there must almost certainly have been a gatehouse here, probably with a drawbridge crossing the east side ditch.
Unfortunately, not only is most of the design of Waughton difficult to determine, the history and genealogy of the occupants is hard to unravel too. This is surprising, due to the proximity of East Lothian to the capital and the relative importance of the castle and the families that owned it. The records of confirmations of land grants to landed families in Scotland go back many centuries, but I have found it a tangled web of conflicting stories with regard to Waughton. I have put several days of work into what follows and while I certainly don't guarantee there are no errors, this may be the most comprehensive history of the owners of Waughton Castle ever put together!
The earliest 'fact' we know about the castle is that there was a 'Hall of Walchtoun’ here in 1395. But who were its 14th century owners?
There is a fair amount of 'chatter' on the interwebs surrounding the death of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn, which took place in August 1388. For example, let me quote Mr. Andrew Spratt:
In 1384 William 1st Earl of Douglas died and was succeeded as 2nd Earl by his legitimate son James. Who in 1388 was assassinated at the battle of Otterburn by his own armour bearer Bickerton of Luffness. Though the real mastermind behind the murder was probably Archibald "the Grim" since he seized the title 3rd Earl of Douglas, despite the claim to the Earldom by James's illegitimate half brother George the "Red" Douglas. Also Bickerton was himself murdered outside Luffness before he could be arrested and questioned. Then his assassin Ramsay of Waughton castle mysteriously disappeared leaving no loose ends to link James's murder back to Archibald, who as Earl of Douglas seized the remaining lands in Liddesdale originally held by his cousin William the 1st Earl.
Nigel Tranter wrote an excellent novel called 'Lords of Misrule', and what Mr Spratt has written as 'history', is clearly taken directly from Tranter's novel. There is no pre-Tranter record I have been able to discover that states or even suggests the possibility, that Douglas was assassinated at Otterburn, and records of the battle go right back to Jean Froissart's Chronicles, who claims to have interviewed veterans from both sides of the battle. The histories I have looked at simply state that Douglas was killed fighting in the confusion of a battle that was fought at night.
The point of all this is to try to clear up who was NOT 'of Waughton' in the 14th century. Wonderful though the internet is a spreading information in the 21st century, it is equally good and spreading disinformation! So as far as my research has been able to discover, there was no Ramsay of Waughton living in the 'hall of Waughton' at that time.
Waughton Castle (3)
I would like to be able to write extensively about the form and style of this old fortress, but there isn't enough known about if for me to be able to do so! It needs a team of what Billy Connolly would call 'learned men in anoraks' to spend a few summers excavating it! I will make a few observations as we go, but most of what I can write about, is the story of the people that lived here.
From this angle, we can see all of the area that the castle once covered - a roughly oblong platform measuring 175 feet from east to west by 118 feet from north to south. The far left (south-west) corner contains the highest remaining tower. The prominent tree stands on the long north side of the enclosure, which appears to have been defended by a ditch. I imagine that stone for the castle was quarried from all around the platform, so as to leave ditches and vertical faces. There were clearly buildings of significant size extending along the north edge, to the north-east corner. The line of the east facing wall appears to be visible and there must almost certainly have been a gatehouse here, probably with a drawbridge crossing the east side ditch.
Unfortunately, not only is most of the design of Waughton difficult to determine, the history and genealogy of the occupants is hard to unravel too. This is surprising, due to the proximity of East Lothian to the capital and the relative importance of the castle and the families that owned it. The records of confirmations of land grants to landed families in Scotland go back many centuries, but I have found it a tangled web of conflicting stories with regard to Waughton. I have put several days of work into what follows and while I certainly don't guarantee there are no errors, this may be the most comprehensive history of the owners of Waughton Castle ever put together!
The earliest 'fact' we know about the castle is that there was a 'Hall of Walchtoun’ here in 1395. But who were its 14th century owners?
There is a fair amount of 'chatter' on the interwebs surrounding the death of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn, which took place in August 1388. For example, let me quote Mr. Andrew Spratt:
In 1384 William 1st Earl of Douglas died and was succeeded as 2nd Earl by his legitimate son James. Who in 1388 was assassinated at the battle of Otterburn by his own armour bearer Bickerton of Luffness. Though the real mastermind behind the murder was probably Archibald "the Grim" since he seized the title 3rd Earl of Douglas, despite the claim to the Earldom by James's illegitimate half brother George the "Red" Douglas. Also Bickerton was himself murdered outside Luffness before he could be arrested and questioned. Then his assassin Ramsay of Waughton castle mysteriously disappeared leaving no loose ends to link James's murder back to Archibald, who as Earl of Douglas seized the remaining lands in Liddesdale originally held by his cousin William the 1st Earl.
Nigel Tranter wrote an excellent novel called 'Lords of Misrule', and what Mr Spratt has written as 'history', is clearly taken directly from Tranter's novel. There is no pre-Tranter record I have been able to discover that states or even suggests the possibility, that Douglas was assassinated at Otterburn, and records of the battle go right back to Jean Froissart's Chronicles, who claims to have interviewed veterans from both sides of the battle. The histories I have looked at simply state that Douglas was killed fighting in the confusion of a battle that was fought at night.
The point of all this is to try to clear up who was NOT 'of Waughton' in the 14th century. Wonderful though the internet is a spreading information in the 21st century, it is equally good and spreading disinformation! So as far as my research has been able to discover, there was no Ramsay of Waughton living in the 'hall of Waughton' at that time.