Tantallon Castle
A
major coastal fortress said to date from the late fourteenth century by the
Douglases, but research into its early history does not support this
assumption.
History
The land on which Tantallon was built was held by the earls of Fife
until at least the late fourteenth century, although the castle is
claimed to
have been built by the Douglases during this time. In 1346
William Douglas (c. 1327–1384) returned from France to Scotland
to claim his inheritance when he came of age. He was the
half-nephew of Robert the Bruce's companion Sir James Douglas
(d.1330). In 1353 William killed his godfather, another William
Douglas, in the Ettrick Forest, thus making himself the undisputed head
of the House of Douglas. In 1356 he escaped from the Black
Prince's defeat of the French at Poitiers, although many of his
Scotsmen were slain or captured there. In 1358 he was created the
first earl of Douglas for his part in negotiating the release of King
David II (d.1371) from the hands of Edward III (d.1377). Later, in 1364, he helped
his king in negotiating the passing of the succession to Scotland on to
Lionel of Antwerp, a son of Edward III. However they were
thwarted in this and Scotland passed to David's nephew, as King Robert
II in 1371. Douglas was soon reconciled to the new regime and it
has always been presumed that Tantallon castle was built by him before
his death in 1384.
The evidence cited for the Douglases building the castle is that
William was holding the castle when first mentioned and that it appears
on Gough's map of Britain, dated to 1355-66, as a castellated site with
the name of Dentaloune.
This work is often said to copy a map of circa 1280, but as it contains
Beaumaris, only founded in 1295 and Sheppy, renamed Queensborough in
the 1340s, this seems unlikely. We also know that on 21 June
1374, Earl William of Douglas and Mar (d.1384) sealed a charter in castro nostro de Temptalon.
Yet as late as 20 February 1388, the earl of Fife, who had inherited
the title, was still the lord of the fortress. In his charter,
Earl Robert Stewart of Menteith (d.1420), granted his cousin, Countess
Margaret Stewart of Mar and Angus (d.1418), who he found living at the castle of
Temtaloun, which was his own
ward, to stay there as long as she wished. From this document we
can see that her lover, Earl William (d.1384), could only have been
castellan for the earls of Fife. One wonders where Earl William's
wife, Margaret (d.1390), the daughter of Earl Donald of Mar (d.1332), was living
while her husband's mistress was in residence.
Notwithstanding the modern claim that Earl Douglas built the castle,
the evidence shows that a castle was standing here in 1366 at the very
latest - that is eight years before Earl William Douglas declared that
the castle was his and eight years after he had been created an
earl. Judging from the size of the castle it is possible that the
fortress was built in about 3 years - this is the time Edward I took to
carry out comparable castle work - viz the upgrade of Harlech
in Wales in 1286-89, or the building of Conway, Flint and Rhuddlan
castles. It is therefore possible that Earl William did build the
castle. It is also possible that William simply took the castle
over from the earls of Fife who actually owned the land it was built
upon and who continued to claim it as their fortress until at least
1437. Considering that there are remains of a building underneath
the current castle it is necessary to take a brief look at the earls of
Fife as quite obviously they were responsible for building something
here.
The first earl of Fife, who may have been responsible for works on the
scale of Tantallon, was Earl Malcolm who died in 1266. He had
married Susannah, the daughter of Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd in 1237
after being precontracted when she was a child in 1228. Harlech,
the original evidence rather than modern speculation shows, had been a
castle of Prince Llywelyn, although it was quite different from the
castle which Edward I finished in 1289. Malcolm left two underage
sons. The elder became Earl Colban when he reached his majority
about 1268. He seems to have died in 1270. It therefore
seems unlikely that he had the time or opportunity to build a major
fortress at Tantallon. His son, Earl Duncan, was only 8 at the
time of his father's death and only inherited the earldom in
1284. He was murdered four years later on 25 September 1288,
leaving a 3 year old son, Duncan, as next earl. Again it seems
unlikely that he built a castle at Tantallon, although the unstable
state of the realm following the death of King Alexander III in 1286 might
have made such building works sensible. Duncan came of age in
1308 and came to support King Robert Bruce against Edward II. He
was taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Dupplin Moor in 1332 and
then assisted in the crowning of King Edward Balliol. In 1341 he
abandoned King Edward's cause and joined with King David (d.1371), being
captured with his king at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346.
Narrowly escaping execution as a traitor to King Edward Balliol, he was
allowed home to raise his ransom in 1340. He died 3 years later
leaving only a daughter as heiress. Over the next 18 years she
married several times and was widowed on each occasion. Finally she
resigned her earldom of Fife to one of her brothers-in-law, Earl Robert
of Menteith (d.1420), saving her mother's dower, on 30 March 1371, as she found
herself unable to withstand the encroachments of others. It
therefore seems most unlikely that under her troubled leadership a
castle was built at Tantallon. The evidence would therefore tend
to suggest that the great remains of Tantallon castle were built by
Earl Duncan of Fife, sometime after 1318, when the Scottish wars died
down and his death in 1353. This would leave the next few years
for the Douglas clan to turn their constableship of the castle into de
facto ownership - even if it did take nearly 100 years for them to
acquire undisputed control of the castle. If this scenario is
correct the castle was probably built only a decade or two before its
traditional founding date by the Douglases.
Earl William Douglas' legitimate son and heir, Earl James, was killed
at the
battle of Otterburn in 1388. As a consequence, in 1389, Countess
Margaret of Angus and Mar (d.1418), resigned her earldom in favour of
George (d.1403),
her illegitimate son by Earl William. Thus George became the
first Douglas earl of Angus and Mar as well as lord of Tantallon
castle. From this time onwards the titular ownership of the earls
of Fife to Tantallon seems to have been removed. Despite this,
the earls of Fife continued to hold the surrounding barony of North
Berwick and often pressed their claim to the castle, even though it had
passed initially to Earl James (d.1388) and then his sister. At
this
time the house of Douglas was again divided. The head to the main
line was now Archibald, the illegitimate son of James (d.1330).
This line became known as the ‘Black Douglases'. George of
Angus became head of the ‘Red Douglasses'. The history of
the castle itself appears obscure at this time for the fortress seems
to have passed from James (d.1388) to Isabella (d.1408) - the daughter
of Earl William (d.1374) and her husband, Malcolm Drummond
(d.1402). After the death of James, the new regent, who was also
earl of Fife, Robert Stewart (d.1420), wrote to the constable of the
castle, Alan Lauder, ordering him to deliver the castle to his custody.
Alan obviously refused and Stewart's brother, King Robert II
(d.1390) had to command Lauder again to turn the fortress over the earl
of Fife. It was only on 20 January 1389, Countess Margaret of Mar
(d.1390), the mother of Isabella (d.1408), agreed to allow Fife into
the castle in his position as superior of the barony of North Berwick
and exercise his right of wardship. In return Fife agreed to
protect the countess from all comers and maintain her and her men
there. Later a special protection was given to Malcolm
Drummond (d.1402) on
19 June 1389 which included his castle of Teintalon. Malcolm and
his lady also played a part in the history of Kildrummy castle.
Meanwhile Fife had taken control of Tantallon and was issuing orders, witnessed by Drummond, from there in his position as Guardian of Scotland.
After the death of the second earl of Angus and Mar in 1437, the earl of
Fife claimed the castle and the king wrote to the inhabitants of the
barony of North Berwick as well as to Alan Lauder, the keeper and
constable of Tantallon castle, directing them to obey the earl of Fife
in all things and to render up the fortress to him. Presumably
this was not done as the earls of Angus remained firmly in control of
Tantallon and Earl James (1437-46) made the castle his main
stronghold. It was around this time that the main castle ditch
was said to have been widened and a barbican built directly in front of
the gatehouse. The castle was now used as a secure prison.
From 1425 to 1433, Countess Isabella of Lennox (d.1456), the widow of the
executed Duke Murdoch of Albany (d.1425), was held at Tantallon. During this
period, from 1429 to 1431, another royal enemy, Alexander, Lord of the
Isles (d.1449), was held here until his reconciliation with King James I (d.1437).
In 1443 Earl James rebelled and raided the Black Douglas lands of
Abercorn. This led to inevitable retaliation and the forfeiture
of the fortress to the Crown in 1446 - just a few months before James'
death. In 1452 King James II (d.1460) granted Tantallon to the fourth earl,
George Douglas, brother of the third earl. He led a royal army
which defeated the Black Douglases at the Battle of Arkinholm in May
1455. He was also standing next to the king in 1460 when he was
wounded and the king killed by an exploding cannon.
In 1482 the fifth earl, Archibald 'Bell-the-Cat' (1453–1514), the
son of Earl George, turned against the king. Eventually, on 11
October 1491, the castle was besieged by King James IV (d.1513). Guns were
sent from Edinburgh and Linlithgow, and
crossbows and culverins from Leith. Despite this the castle does
not seem to have suffered much damage. Angus soon submitted and
by 1493 he was chancellor to King James. The rehabilitation was
so strong that in 1514 Archibald's grandson, another Archibald, the 6th
earl (1490–1557), married James IV's widow, Margaret (d.1541). She
was the sister of the ‘Tudor' king, Henry VIII (d.1547). As such
Archibald became regent of Scotland for her infant son, James V (1512-42).
The couple unsuccessfully conspired to take the young king to England,
sparking off yet another civil war. The regency was then handed
to Duke John Stewart of Albany (d.1536) who seized Tantallon in 1515. It
was returned the following year when Archibald made his peace with
Albany on 28 March 1516. The terms of the peace make it plain
that Temptalloun was now the earl's main castle.
In 1525, Archibald, with support of his brother-in-law, Henry VIII of
England, staged a virtual coup d'état, taking custody of the
young King James and becoming chancellor. Three years later in
1528, the 16 year old James V escaped. With his mother at Stirling
he pronounced Angus attainted and banished him to north of the River
Spey. Instead Archibald moved first to Tantallon and then to
England after burying his muniments in a large beef pot under a little
bridge near the farthest gate of the castle. Again this shows
that the castle contained the main muniments of the earls of Angus and
so was their primary fortress.
On 23 October 1528, King James in person laid siege to Tantallon which
was defended by Archibald's servant Simon Penango. James V
borrowed French guns from Dunbar castle which was held by the French
garrison of the duke of Albany. According to Robert Lindsay of
Pitscottie's chronicle (written 1565-80), the guns supplied by Captain
Maurice of Dunbar were ‘Thrawinmouth, Mow and her marrow
(partner), two great botcards, two moyanes, two double falcons, four
quarter falcons, with powder, gunners and bullets'. James left
three hostages with Maurice in pledge of returning the guns. The
castle was then ineffectively bombarded for 20 days. The trouble
was the guns could not be brought close enough to the walls to do
substantive damage due to the deep outer ditch and defensive
works. Consequently the king lifted the siege and returned to
Edinburgh 16 miles from Temtalloune.
This proved a mistake for Archibald promptly counterattacked the
remaining royal forces and captured the artillery and killed the
principal royal gunner David Falconer. In May 1529, Archibald
again left for England and the castle became a royal fortress until
James V's death in 1542. Archibald then returned to Scotland and
recovered the castle and his muniments from the safe resting place
under the little bridge.
After the 1528-29 siege, the king's secretary, Sir Thomas Erskine of
Brechin, was made keeper and then the castle was given to the king's
eldest illegitimate son, James. Accounts for the period
1537–1539 record that George Sempill, the master mason, was
carrying out repairs under the direction of John Scrimgeour, the royal
Master of Works. At this time the front of the gatehouse was
rebuilt and the E tower strengthened. Originally it consisted of
five floors, but now the bottom three floors were reduced to two by
inserting stone vaults, improving resistance to artillery
bombardment. Wide-mouthed gun ports were cut through the landward
walls of the tower. Finally a new crenellated parapet was added
to the curtain wall. It was probably around this time that
several of the earlier mural chambers and passages within the great
curtain wall were filled with masonry. The Pitscottie Chronicle
stated that: ‘the king caused masons come and ranforce the
wallis, quhilkis war left waste before as transis (passages), and
through-passages; and maid all massie work, to mak it the more
strang'. It seems possible that the gun tower beside the outer
gate and possibly the ravelin (an earthen gun emplacement) beyond were
also built around this time.
On King James' death in 1542, Archibald reclaimed his lands and allowed
Sir Ralph Sadler, the English ambassador for Henry VIII to Scotland, to
reside at Tantallon during the attempts to negotiate a marriage between
Mary Queen of Scots, and Prince Edward of Wales during
1542–43. On 25 October 1543 Sadler reported that the house
of Temptallon was unfurnished as the lodgings had been taken down to be
built anew. Despite not initially being able to find
‘bedding or household stuff' for either purchase or hire, Sadler
had moved in by 6 November and though it was ‘a slender lodging'
the strength of the castle made him feel safe.
The failure of the negotiations led to the War of the Rough Wooing in
1544 when Henry attempted to force the marriage of his son on the
Scottish princess. During this the earl of Hertford invaded
Scotland unsuccessfully. Archibald by this time was imprisoned in
Hamilton castle and Tantallon was held by his son, the Master of
Morton. The castle was initially bypassed by the English army,
though when the army fell back, and Angus had abandoned his English
alliance, the castle of Oliver Sinclair, presumably Tantallon, is
listed amongst places burned. In August 1548 the gunners of
Tantallon were rewarded after firing on English ships during an
engagement in the Firth of Forth. Archibald finally died in his
castle of Tantallon in January 1557. On the death of his heir,
his nephew, David, soon afterwards, the castle was seized by Queen Mary
of Guise, who was regent for her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.
It was again repaired the following year with timber being sent from
Leith and barrowmen cleared out the well.
In 1558, George Drummond of Blair was keeper of Tantallon with a
garrison of 7 horsemen and 22 soldiers. The castle then seems to
have become something of a backwater until it saw action again during
the Bishops' Wars. The Douglas family tended to remain Catholic
after the Scottish Reformation, so incurring the wrath of the
Presbyterian Covenanters, who opposed Charles I's attempts to interfere
with the Scottish church. In 1639, the Covenanters captured
Tantallon while William, newly created Marquess of Douglas, was staying
in Edinburgh.
In 1650, during the Third English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell's
Parliamentarian forces invaded Scotland, taking control of the south of
the country after their victory at Dunbar in September. In
February 1651, Cromwell found his lines of communication under attack
from a small group of Royalists based around North Berwick. One
group, led by Alexander Seton, comprised 91 men in Tantallon
castle. In reply Cromwell sent over 2,000 troops under General
Monck, together with much of the artillery he had in Scotland to negate
the problems. On 14 February Seton was made viscount of Kingston
by Charles II, but after 12 days of bombardment a breach was made in
the Douglas tower to the W, while the E tower was largely
collapsed. To achieve this it is possible that the heavy guns
were mounted on the promontories to either side of the castle.
The defenders were then compelled to surrender on offer of quarter
before the breaches were forced. They left within the castle 15
or 16 great guns and 120 spare arms. After the siege Tantallon
was garrisoned by a small force of 35 men which were split with the
Bass rock. In 1670 an inventory mentioned the drawbridge
(drawling), a wooden portcullis shod with iron and an iron yett at the
‘tumbler'. Within the castle and still apparently
functional were the well chamber, the garden chamber, the dining room,
the lady's chamber, the long hall, the chamber in the Douglas tower,
the red and the blue chambers and finally the long loft. After
this the castle was soon allowed to go to ruin.
Description
Tantallon's plan is dictated by its situation at the edge of a rocky
promontory with its back to the sea. The main fortress consists
of a largely sea-girt courtyard around 230' long by 144' wide, set at
the summit of cliffs some 100' high. Although a curtain wall
enclosed the entire site, the castle only needed formidable defences
along its single landward front towards the west. The other sides
were protected largely by the sea except for a short section to the east
where a sea wall and postern or sea gate were constructed and gave access to the
coast through a cleft in the rock face. Other sea gates are discussed under Dunvegan. On the landward side a
great curtain wall of a reddish brown sandstone still stands remarkably
complete, as do parts of the three connected towers in which the mighty
earls of Angus once lived. Behind the main defences the hall and
service buildings inhabit the inner ward or courtyard.
The curtain wall is some 50' high and 12' thick. Set within it
are several small chambers and stairs with arched ceilings accessing
the wallwalk that connects the entire front together. The
Romanesque arched ceilings of these are a distinctive architectural
feature of the castle. These were all filled in as a precaution
against artillery and have only in the last 100 years been largely
cleared out again. The overhanging battlements on the curtain
date to a later phase as the masonry appears of a slightly darker
hue. To the north the Douglas Tower, first called such in 1556, was
of a similar size to that of Dirleton keep, being just 2' larger at 39'
diameter. However it was much taller, being six storeys high
rather than just three. This gave it a height of over 80'.
Internally the rooms were square, with the lowest floor forming a
subterranean prison, while higher levels were obviously for
accommodation as the attached vaulted garderobes show. The
smaller south tower was D shaped and of five storeys before its sixteenth century
renovation to house artillery. Notice the third floor doorway
which once led to the destroyed or unfinished south curtain wall as well as
the fireplaces and garderobes on each floor.
The main feature of the castle is and always was the square central
gatetower, 43' across and 80' high. It was four storeys high
above the gate passageway, while some of the internal rooms had
canopied fireplaces. Round arched doorways and fireplaces also
abound. The main entrance ran through a central passageway,
protected by a drawbridge, three pairs of gates, a portcullis and
murder holes. There are two projecting bartizans, or corner
turrets, facing in towards the courtyard. This is the opposite of
the design at Dalhousie and Dirleton
and most other castles where the bartizans face outwards.
Externally two impressive bartizans rose out of the rectangular turrets
that flanked the original gateway. The main gate had a fine
pointed arch which is still mostly intact and looking remarkably unworn
for its great age.
Originally
access to the upper floors of the gatehouse was reached by an internal
spiral stair set in the thickness of the north curtain wall. However
this was filled in during the sixteenth century
and a new internal spiral stair turret was added to give access to the
summit. The gatehouse was further protected by a barbican, or
outer gate, which was probably added in the early fifteenth century
and destroyed in the 1528 siege. Some fragments of this can still
be seen. After the siege the outer face of the gatehouse was
rebuilt in a curved form for greater strength against artillery, while
gun ports were added at ground level and the main entrance
narrowed.
Within the enceinte a range of buildings, containing a hall, lay
against the north curtain. This range was around 33' wide by 130'
long and joined with the Douglas Tower. Within the range was an
upper and a lower hall, the latter eventually being abandoned and
divided into store rooms. Note the ghost of the upper hall's roof
etched into the walling of the Douglas Tower. In the sixteenth century
an east section was added containing a brewhouse, bakehouse and kitchen -
part of this has since collapsed into the sea. A further suite of
probably fourteenth century
buildings lay along the south-west wall of the enceinte as can be ascertained
from the timber holes and roof line between the gatehouse and the south
tower. The well near the gatehouse is 105' deep.
In front of the curtain wall is a deep, rock-cut ditch. South-west of
this is a large outer, bow shaped enclosure about 330' across.
This is the outer ward of the castle. It was originally enclosed
by a wall which is now mostly just a grassy hummock. The ward was
later modified to mount artillery. At the southern extremity of the
bailey is a rectangular projecting section of walling forming an
outwork covering the outer gate. The surviving wall of this
contains several gun ports and ends in a 2 storey round tower.
This appears to be of 2 phases with the upper section of a noticeably
different stone. Within a sharp inturn, protected by the gun
positions, are the remains of a hole in wall type gateway, which, like
the main gatehouse, originally had a sharply pointed archway.
Quite possibly this and the stone wall around the ward, date to the
time of the original construction of the castle. Within the outer
ditch are two mounds, which may conceal sixteenth century caponiers - defensive positions allowing covering fire along the ditch. A seventeenth century
'lectern' type dovecot is the only building still standing within the
outer ward. Beyond the outer ditch is a seventeenth century ravelin, a triangular earthen artillery defence, and the remains of a third, smaller, ditch.
Why not join me at Tantallon and other Great Scottish Castles this Spring? Information on tours at Scholarly Sojourns.
Copyright©2016
Paul Martin Remfry