Saltcoats Castle is a courtyard castle dating from the sixteenth century, about south of

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twel ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

.Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.372 It is designated a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History

Saltcoats Castle was a property of the Livingstones. Thereafter it passed to the Hamiltons of

Pencaitland Pencaitland is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, about south-east of Edinburgh, south-west of Haddington, and east of Ormiston. The land where the village lies is said to have been granted by William the Lion to Calum Cormack in 1169, ...

in the 18th century. It was occupied until after 1800, but it was partly demolished in 1820. 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.

Structure

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

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led out to square above the level of the basement. An arch, once carrying a parapet, joins the towers. There are gunloops in the walls and a vaulted basement. 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. There is a lectern type dovecot, , 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. A surviving oak bed at Biggar Museum, was made for Margaret Fawside of

Fa'side Castle Fa'side Castle (also Fawside or Falside) is a 15th-century keep located in East Lothian in Scotland. The castle is approximately southwest of Tranent, and southeast of Musselburgh. The building was restored in the 1980s and is now protected as ...

, who married Patrick Levingstoun of Saltcoats in 1598, and is carved with their heraldry.Stephen Jackson, ''Scottish Furniture, 1500–1914'' (National Museums of Scotland, 2024), pp. 39–41.

References

External links

* {{coord , 56.027014, N, 2.827232, W, display=title Castles in East Lothian Ruined castles in Scotland Scheduled monuments in East Lothian Tower houses in Scotland 16th-century establishments in Scotland