Garleton Castle

Garleton Castle, East Lothian
Photo © Lisa Jarvis, 29 April 2006

The remains of the 16th century Garleton Castle built by the Seton family can be seen at the foot of the Garleton Hills. A small section of a curtain wall and parts of one of its round towers survive. Cottages were built into the castle in the 19th century.

Garleton Castle is a courtyard castle, dating from the sixteenth century, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Haddington, just north of the Garleton Hills in East Lothian, Scotland.

Structure

Garleton Castle once comprised three blocks within a curtain wall, but the main L-plan tower, which had two wings, is mostly demolished. While the second block has been converted to a farm cottage, the rectangular third block is still nearly complete. This block has two storeys, and a garret with crowstepped gables. Other features are the round stair-tower, and the gunloops piercing the walls. The gunloops are of the splayed variety, characteristic of the 16th century. The castle is rubble-built. Some of the curtain wall survives, and a round tower.

The interior, which has been altered considerably, includes a vaulted kitchen, equipped with a wide-arched fireplace, and another room with a canopied fireplace. The remains of the castle are protected as a category B listed building and as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

History

Garleton Castle belonged to the Lindsay family. It subsequently passed to the Towers of Innerleithen, and was sold by them to the Setons. Sir John Seton of Garleton was given the property by his father George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton. By 1885 it could be described as a fragmentary ruin.

Tradition

It is said the building was haunted by an apparition of a man at one stage, while the sound of heavy footsteps is said to have been heard. It is possible that Sir David Lyndsay, who wrote Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis was born in an earlier building at this site, in 1486.

Garleton, a range of porphyrite hills in the North of Haddington parish, at an altitude of 590 feet above sea-level. A western spur is crowned by a conspicuous column, a monument to John, fourth Earl of Hopetouu (1766-1823), the Peninsular hero. Garleton Castle, at the North base of the range, was once a superb mansion, a seat of the Earls of Winton, but is now a fragmentary ruin.

Reference

Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland
Coventry,Martin (2001) The Castles of Scotland. Goblinshead. ISBN 1899874 26 7 p.224