Field Visit
Date June 1919 - September 1924
Event ID 1087195
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1087195
This imposing ruin is situated immediately east of the village green of Dirleton within a walled pleasaunce and is built on the crest of an outcrop of rock, which rises sheer on the north, west and south to an elevation of 100 feet above ordnance datum and within 25 feet at most above the immediate level but has a more gradual inclination on the east. The rock summit is roughly quadrilateral, measuring 135 feet from north to south by 115 feet from east to west, and has been entirely enclosed by the building of a wall of enceinte incorporated in structures on the north, south and east (fig. 55).
OUTWORKS. The southern face of the site, in which is set the main entrance, is strengthened by a dry ditch 45 feet wide and in places 15 feet deep cut in part through the rock (fig. 56). This was spanned by a bridge, probably of wood, supported on stone piers, which still remain in the ditch. Traces of a ditch some 30 feet wide are seen also at the north-eastern angle of the site. On the west the rock is sufficiently steep to make a further obstacle unnecessary. On the east, where the rock has an easy gradient, there is no trace of any outwork, but it should be noted that the lower 27 feet of the eastern wall contains no openings except a small entrance built up in the 15th century, if not earlier.
ENCLOSURE. West of the castle there is an area some 80 to go yards square, which is enclosed by an earthen mound planted with old yew trees-apparently a bowling green, as in the similar case at Dunnottar Castle.
GATEWAY. Immediately east of the dovecot is a contemporary gateway with a semicircular head. It is 9 ¼ feet wide by 11 feet high; a quirked edge-roll returns round the head and jambs; the east jamb contains the usual bar-hole.
BUILDING PERIODS. Three main periods may be traced in the castle buildings c.13th, 15th and 16th centuries. In the 13th century the castle appears to have consisted of an enclosure formed by walls of enceinte following the perimeter of the site very much on the line of the walls now standing. The south-western angle contains the main building, which has towers semicircular and oblong, projecting outwardly (fig. 57). East of this the south wall is penetrated by the main entrance (fig. 58) and originally terminated at the southeast angle in a circular tower, of which only the lower portion remains. The lowest courses of another similar tower, which originally occupied the N.N.E. angle, have now (1924) been exposed. Later work overlies these, and a small circular tower has left foundations in the south. The existing ranges of building against the east. and south curtains were erected in the 15th century, but, as these structures appear to incorporate older buildings, particularly at the south-eastern angle, it is difficult to determine the exact chronology of the parts. The 16th century building comprises a structure- now forming the northern boundary of a court at the south-west angle with adjoining towers containing the staircases.
HISTORICAL NOTE. The lands of Dirleton and Gullane were possessed from about the middle of the 12th century by the family of De Vaux (Vallibus) (1). Their castle (castellum de Dyrlton) is specifically mentioned c. 1225 (2). In the summer of 1298, when Edward I was lying at 'Templehyston' (Kirkliston in Linlithgowshire), his foraging parties were being harassed by the Scots from Dirleton Castle, which the King had passed by on his march. He therefore sent the Bishop of Durham to capture the place. The first attacks were a failure owing to a deficiency of siege machines and of food. On the receipt of fresh supplies a further attack July 14-15 was successful, the garrison being allowed to go with their lives and property (3). In 1299 Robert de Maudlee was governor of ‘Driltone’ for Edward I (4) and in 1311 the place was still in English hands (5). Within the first half of the 14th century the castle and lands passed by marriage to the family of Halyburton, and in 1389 Sir John Halyburton had a protection from Richard II. of England for the castle and barony of ‘Drylton’ (6).
While in ward in the King's hands in 1363 it was seized by William, Earl of Douglas, as the first step in a revolt against David II. For misappropriation of public money (7). In 1505 James IV was at Dirleton and gave 28/ to the masons and workmen there - so that building was then going on (8). Early in the 16th century the Halyburton line in its turn ended in heiresses, of whom the eldest conveyed Dirleton to her husband's family, the Ruthvens, afterwards (1581) Earls of Gowrie (9). Robert Logan made Dirleton, which he esteemed ‘the pleasantest dwelling in Scotland’, the price of his co-operation in the ‘Gowrie Conspiracy’ in 1600. For the later history of the ownership see [RCAHMS 1924] Introd. p.xxi.
In 1650 ‘Derlingtoun (i.e. Dirleton) House’ was a nest of the moss-troopers who killed many soldiers of the army. Major-General Lambert and Colonel Monk with 1600 men came before the castle on November 7 and next morning opened fire from their batteries. The fourth shot (i.e. shell) of their mortar piece ‘tore the inner gate, beat down the draw bridge, and killed the lieutenant of the moss troopers’, whereupon the garrison surrendered ‘upon reverence’, being the governor, the captain of the moss-troopers and sixty soldiers. The captors ‘took in it many arms, sixty horses which they had taken from the English, and released ten English prisoners, and demolished the House’ (10).
[For further architectural description see the original publication].
RCAHMS 1924, visited June 1919; September 1924.
(1) Lib. de Dryburgh, Nos. 23, 29, 31, &c.;(2) Ibid, No. 37; (3) Hemingburgh's Chronicon in Annales Monastici (R.S.) iv., pp. 536-7; (4) Stevenson, Hist. Docts., ii., p. 401; (5) Bain's Calendar iii., No. 218; (6) Ibid, iv , p. 86; (7) Scalacronica, p. 203; Fordun, Gesta Annalia,clxxxiv.; (8) Accts. of L.H. Treas., iii., p. 161 ;(9) cf. R.M.S. s.a. 1529, No. 772, 1535-6 No.1553; (10) Whitelocke's Memorials (1732) p. 478.
