Tantallon Castle

This is Tantallon Castle near North Berwick in East Lothian.

As a lover of ruinous castles, I had admired a picture my mother had hanging in her living room for many years. A holiday to Seton Sands Holiday Village gave us the perfect opportunity to visit this incredible place.

Tantallon Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle, built by William Douglas the 1st Earl of Douglas. The steep cliffs on several sides made it the perfect location for a fortress.

It sits on the mainland opposite Bass Rock on the Firth of Forth. Bass Rock is visible even on a misty day, as when we visited.

Before entering the main castle, I noticed a small building not far from the entrance to the castle.

On investigation, it turned out to be a 17th-century Doocot. It appears they enjoyed a tasty pigeon for dinner.

In 1346, William Douglas returned from France to claim his inheritance as the chief of Douglas.

He murdered his godfather Sir William Douglas of Liddesdale, to become the undisputed head of the House of Douglas, a bit extreme! In 1358, he was made the Earl of Douglas.

I was going to give a history run down of Tantallon Castle. It is safe to say that after the murder, there was an illegitimate son with the sister-in-law (Margaret Stewart, 3rd Countess of Angus) and much bickering and switching sides to support the English King. However, the castle remained mainly in the hands of the Douglas/Steward, Earls of Angus family for some considerable time.

Unfortunately, after many battles, the castle sustained severe damage, however, the restoration work is incredible.

The main gatehouse was protected by a drawbridge, three pairs of doors, a portcullis (strong heavy grating), and machicolations (an area between gates, where projectiles can be thrown at intruders). Yes, my google goggles were required to investigate these terms.

It isn't until you are inside the courtyard, that you can appreciate how vast the castle would have been.

In total, the buildings of the castle would have provided around 1,100 square metres of accommodation. The curtain wall was over 15m high, 3.6m thick and 90m long.

The curtain wall was built of the local red sandstone with a tower at each end and a heavily fortified square gatehouse in the centre, all of which would have provided residential accommodation.

The most north-westerly tower (Douglas Tower) is an incredible seven stories high and would have provided accommodation. I think I would have just slept downstairs!

Below is the outside view of the Douglas Tower.

You can no longer go up the staircase of the Douglas Tower, which is probably just as well!

Below is a picture of the Great Hall, with the Douglas Tower behind. The basement of the Douglas Tower was a pit prison and a chamber with privies.

A 16th-century section containing a bakehouse and further privies has partially collapsed into the sea.

From the Great Hall window, there is a view of what would have been a busy harbour. A healthy diet of fresh pigeon and fish, very nice indeed!

In the courtyard is a well which is over 32m deep, I couldn't even see the bottom.

The East Tower originally consisted of seven storeys. After a siege in 1528, stone vaults were inserted and large gun ports added to the basement.

The central square gatehouse tower is 13m across and up to 24m high.

It contained four storeys of chambers, some with canopied fireplaces. Although the internal walls and floors are now missing, there is a staircase allowing access to viewing platforms to have a look.

There are further narrow spiral steps that allow access to the upper floors. Please be aware, you need to have a head for heights.

If you do make it to the top platforms, your effort it greatly rewarded.

In 1924, the castle was handed over to the UK Government's Office of Works.

In 1944, the castle was used in preparation for the Normandy invasion. A few weeks before D-Day, some captured German radars were moved to the castle. They were then used to training the RAF bomber crews, including the renowned 'Dambusters' of 617 Squadron.

The castle is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

After visiting the castle, we continued along the road a short distance to Seacliff Beach, where we enjoyed the views back to Tantallon Castle.