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Andrew
Spratt contributes:
Just
off the B1361 road through the East Lothian village of Prestonpans,
within the bounds of the ancient Preston village, sits the
surprisingly intact and unusual remains of the L-plan keep of
Preston Tower raised by the Hamilton family in the 1450's. The
name Preston means 'Priest town' since originally the land was
owned by the monks of Newbattle Abbey in Dalkeith. Preston Tower
seems a lone, minor keep. However, it is but one in a chain of
some ten Hamilton strongholds running from Brodick Castle on the
Isle of Arran in the west over to Innerwick Castle near Dunbar in
the east.
The
tower is surprisingly intact considering it was burnt on three
occasions. First in 1544 by the English during the wars of the
'Rough Wooing' where by use of castle burning they hoped to force
the marriage of the infant Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1567) to the
English Prince Edward. Secondly, it was burnt by Oliver Cromwell
in 1650 during his systematic destruction of Lothian castles after
his victory over the Scots at the battle of Dunbar. Finally, the
tower was accidentally set ablaze in 1663.
Preston
has also survived the ravages of stone robbers who in the 1700's
viewed such monuments as ready made quarries. Perhaps its
proximity to the alternative Hamilton residence of the
white-washed, crow-stepped, gabled Hamilton House built 1626 saved
the tower from such robbers. Certainly the buildings outer
enclosing barmkin wall is missing, though this may have been
removed by the Hamiltons themselves cannibalising parts for use in
the construction of the nearby Lectern doocot which dates from the
mid-1600's,after Cromwell's sacking of the tower.
The
tower's unusual appearance is due to the fact that a two storey
L-plan addition was built on top of the upper battlements in 1626
with Renaissance windows bearing the initials SIDKH for Sir John
and Dame Katherine Hamilton. This gives the structure a bizarre
folly like appearance.
The
earliest recorded ancestor of the Hamiltons was Gilbert, the
father of 'Walter Fitz Gilbert Hameldone', the English paid
governor of Bothwell Castle near Glasgow. In 1314 he shrewdly
allowed defeated English knights to flee to his castle after the
battle of Bannockburn, then promptly surrendered the castle and
its fugitives to King Robert (1306-1329) the Bruce's forces. The
Scottish King then traded these knights for his wife, daughter and
other Scots nobles, held captive since the fall of Kildrummy
Castle in Grampian in 1306. The King rewarded 'Hameldone' with a
grant to the lands of Cadzow.
In
1454/55,during the reign of King James II of Scots (1437-1460),the
'Black' Douglases revolted with their allies, the Hamiltons,
burning castles throughout the kingdom. In reply the king
destroyed several Douglas castles including Hamilton of Cadzow's
Strathaven Castle near Glasgow. However, when the King's army
besieged the key Douglas castle of Abercorn near Linlithgow, and
the King himself was about to be encircled by an even larger
Douglas/Hamilton army, the Hamiltons refused to attack and
switched sides. The 'Black' Douglas with his forces split,
retreated south and was later driven into exile by his kin the
'Red ' Douglas of Tantallon castle near North Berwick, who like
the Hamiltons had joined forces with the King.
Preston
Tower was built around this time by the Hamiltons who like their
rivals the 'Red' Douglases rose to prominence on the ashes of the
'Black' Douglas castles and estates seized by King James then
gifted to more 'loyal' Lords. In fact the Hamilton stronghold of
Craignethan was built on the site of the ancient 'Black' Douglas
towerhouse destroyed by the King. The 'haughty Hamiltons' rose to
become Earls of Arran in 1503. But taken that the 1st Earl of
Arran had nineteen children, only three of whom were legitimate,
and that the names James and John were repeatedly used,it becomes
confused as to who was descended from whom. Branches of the family
were Dukes of Abercorn, others Earls of Haddington who were from
the ancient line of the Hamiltons of Innerwick, kinsmen of the
Hamiltons of Preston Tower.
The
entrance to Preston Tower had a unique double defensive feature.
Directly above the doorway was a wooden lean-to hoarding, its
outline can still be traced today. From here items could be
dropped and if the hoarding itself was damaged it was simply
unbolted and dropped to block the entrance and then the second
defensive overhang at battlement level was used. Anything could be
used, from boiling oil and boulders, to incendiary pig carcasses
packed with goosegrease which exploded on impact-a kind of
medieval napalm. Even something as basic as sand could be
superheated until white hot and then dropped on besiegers. It
didn't kill the knights but got into their helmets and chain mail
joints thus distracting them to either fall off their siege
ladders or attempt to pull off their burning helmets leaving their
heads vunerable to attack.
However,
these medieval defences proved useless against the assault in
1544. The entry, the hoarding and battlements were all battered
from beyond arms length bt the Earl of Hertford's mercenary
hakbutters (riflemen). Gunpowder and cannon had dispensed with the
immediate need for hand to hand combat with castle garrisons.
Targets could be softened up first before infantry engagements
were required. Also, the days of knights and chivalry were over.
Soldiers were motivated by money and valued their lives above
honour, so rather than a headlong dash up siege ladders, such
minor keeps as Preston were simply bombarded while brushwood and
greased faggots were piled around its walls and set ablaze to
smoke out the garrison.
In
1545 the Hamiltons and 'Red' Douglases set aside their differences
to join forces and defeat an invading Engilsh army led by Sir
Ralph Evers at the battle of Ancrum moor near Melrose. Evers was
then skinned and his skin used to make purses for the Scots
men-at-arms. In 1547 Innerwick castle near Dunbar was attacked by
the re-invading English. While one force attacked Thornton Castle,
a Home stronghold, directly across the ravine from Innerwick. A
separate English unit of hakbutters besieged Innerwick itself. The
Master of Hamilton and eight other gentlemen barricaded the doors
and defended from the battlements. Part of the castle was set
ablaze and the hakbutters entered by storm, killing eight of the
defenders on the spot; the ninth jumped from the castle
battlements falling some 60 to 70ft into the ravine and river
below. The English commander conducting the siege of Innerwick was
so impressed by this feat of daring that he called for the man's
life to be spared. However, he was shot dead in the water by the
other English force attacking Thornton Castle.
The
English army then marched to the battle of Pinkie where they
routed the Scot army including the forces of the Hamiltons and
'Red' Douglases by combined use of land and ship based
bombardment. Preston Tower appears to have been left a burnt out
shell while the wars of the 'Rough Wooing' continued to rage on.
Eventually, after Cromwell's assault in 1650 and the accidental
fire of 1663 Preston Tower was abandoned by the Hamiltons but
unlike other Lothian castles it did not fall into any real decay
and has remained reasonably intact.
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