Three miles east of North Berwick and about two miles
north of Whitekirk sits the little known coastal ruin of Auldhame or
'Old-ham' castle, hidden by trees above Seacliff bay just south of
Tantallon
castle.
The background history to Auldhame is non-existent,
unlike the ruin which is substantial, being a long L-plan building with
corner turrets and square towers. Unfortunately the south wing is missing.
The building has, or rather had, an orchard and a graveyard of sorts
nearby, though lacking gravestones. This is puzzling, as it appears to be
a late-16th century tower house and not a church or priory as some
historians have suggested, though the site may well have been of religious
significance before the castle's construction. It has been speculated that
the first Whitekirk church, which was a simple oblong building, was on or
near the site. Some historians claim the original kirk was further down
the coast beside 'old' Scoughall village. When this ancient church was
abandoned, likely due to the raids, allegedly made first by Vikings then
by the English in the 13th century, the church was moved inland to the
present safer location of Whitekirk village, which carried the name of the
original white whinstone building, since the present kirk is bright red.
The castle of Auldhame was erected by the Otterburn
family, incorporating material from an earlier building, some time after
1550. Since they had such wild, flamboyant neighbours in the 'Red'
Douglases of Tantallon castle, it is understandable why historians have
neglected to cover the history of the Otterburns of Auldhame in any
detail.
The crow-stepped, gabled building had a yellow harling
wash over its mixed rubble construction, which would have given it a
bright yellow appearance against the steel grey waters of the North sea
below. There was an outer barmkin-type wall which keyed into the east end
of the castle and wrapped round towards the west side. Since the cliff has
collapsed beside this wall and because of later quarrying, little remains
to trace its bounds accurately.
Likely, as with its grander neighbour Tantallon, a
small village sprung up beside Auldhame but because these buildings were
made of wood they quickly disappeared after the castle was abandoned in
the 1700's.'Castle-town' before the walls of Tantallon, for example, was a
substantial walled settlement with barns, stables and brewhouses. In 1651
Cromwell's army of 3,000 men spent two days fighting through the streets
of 'Castle-town' before bombarding Tantallon itself. Today only the name
Castleton farm survives as a reminder of what was once there.
It is possible Auldhame was occupied and damaged by
Cromwell's army during their 12 day bombardment
of Tantallon. This was after Cromwell's defeat of the Scots army at
Dunbar in 1650 and during his systematic destruction of Lothian castles
held by Scots loyal to King Charles II (1660-1685). Auldhame is not
mentioned in written reports to Cromwell as it was probably regarded as an
unimportant house. Certainly Dirleton, Hailes, Innerwick and
Tantallam
are all noted in reports. Even Whitekirk church was used as a stable for
General Monk's horses during the Tantallon siege. It could well be that
the bodies beside Auldhame were Cromwell's dead from this siege, since it
was impractical to carry their dead up and down the country. After the
fall of Tantallon it was dismantled. Auldhame likely fell to a similar
fate as Cromwell's men moved north. By the late 1700's Auldhame, like
Tantallon, became the local quarry and was used to build cottages and
walls nearby. Fortunately, something remains today of Auldhame to remind
us of its past glory.
Andrew Spratt Jan 1999
|
|