Coordinates: 56°01′37″N 2°49′38″W / 56.027014°N 2.827232°W / 56.027014; -2.827232

Saltcoats Castle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Saltcoats Castle
File:Saltcoats Castle - geograph.org.uk - 213838.jpg
Ruins of Saltcoats Castle
Lua error in Module:Infobox_mapframe at line 197: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
General information
LocationEast Lothian, Gullane, Scotland
Completed16th century

Saltcoats Castle is a courtyard castle dating from the sixteenth century, about .5 miles (0.80 km) south of Gullane in East Lothian, Scotland.[1] It is designated a scheduled monument.[2]

History

[edit | edit source]

Saltcoats Castle was a property of the Livingstones. Thereafter it passed to the Hamiltons of Pencaitland in the 18th century. It was occupied until after 1800, but it was partly demolished in 1820.[1]

On 26 January 1601 Jean Douglas, Lady Saltcoats, wrote to her brother Archibald Douglas for fine London cloth for gowns for her daughters, who were of age to marry.[3]

Structure

[edit | edit source]
File:Saltcoats Castle Aerial.jpg
Aerial view of the castle and grounds

The castle construction was unusual. Three sides of the courtyard were ranges of buildings two storeys high, with attics. The western side comprises two towers, rounded at the bases but corbelled out to square above the level of the basement.[1][4] An arch, once carrying a parapet, joins the towers. There are gunloops in the walls and a vaulted basement.[1]

The armorial stone of the builder, Patrick Levingstoun of Saltcoats, is now mounted over the door of a cottage nearby. The date appears to be 1592.[4]

There is a lectern type dovecot, 17 by 15 feet (5.2 by 4.6 m), in the boundary wall of the castle. It is now roofless. The partly buttressed walls are built of rubble, with dressings and one setback course. It has crow-stepped gables. In the south gable there are six entry holes in a grid; around 200 nests remain.[5]

A surviving oak bed at Biggar Museum, was made for Margaret Fawside of Fa'side Castle, who married Patrick Levingstoun of Saltcoats in 1598, and is carved with their heraldry.[6]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ a b c d Coventry, Martin (2001) The Castles of Scotland. Goblinshead. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). p.372
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 14 (London, 1923), p. 161.
  4. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Stephen Jackson, Scottish Furniture, 1500–1914 (National Museums of Scotland, 2024), pp. 39–41.
[edit | edit source]
  • Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons

Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).