Smeaton House, also known as Smeaton Castle, and now as Dalkeith Home Farm, is a

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

dating from the fifteenth century, about north of

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...

, and south of

Inveresk Inveresk (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Inbhir Easg'') is a village in East Lothian, Scotland situated to the south of Musselburgh. It has been designated a Conservation area (United Kingdom), conservation area since 1969. It is situated on s ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

.Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.379

History

In 1450 the lands on which Smeaton Castle are built were the property of the

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

. Thereafter they passed to the Richardsons. The buildings now form part of a farm. Robert Richardson (d. 1578) was

treasurer of Scotland The Treasurer was a senior post in the pre-Act of Union 1707, Union government of Scotland, the Privy Council of Scotland. Lord Treasurer The full title of the post was ''Lord High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collector-General and Treasurer of the Ne ...

, and was said to have built a new house at Smeaton in 1577. He raised money for

Regent Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his ...

by pawning the personal jewellery of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

. These items included a gold chain belt of pearl knots and a hair garnishing with 57 diamonds which his son James Richardson returned to

Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinbu ...

on 18 March 1580. The inhabitants of Smeaton, Inveresk, and Monktonhall complained about the Richardsons in 1581 to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. By long tradition they were tenants of

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Refor ...

and they objected to the new "feu" of the lands obtained by the Richardsons from Mary, Queen of Scots. The villagers claimed that the Richardsons had undertaken not to disturb their rights and tenancies, but in fact had exacted higher rents.

Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus and 5th Earl of Morton (15554 August 1588) was the son of David, 7th Earl of Angus. He succeeded to the title and estates in 1558, being brought up by his uncle, James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, a Presby ...

died at Smeaton on 4 August 1588. His illness was attributed to witchcraft and

Barbara Napier The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick on Halloween night. They ran for two years, and implicated over seventy ...

and

Euphame MacCalzean Euphame MacCalzean (born before 1558, died 25 June 1591 in Edinburgh) was a victim of the North Berwick witch trials of 1590–1591. Early life She was born at Clifton Hall, west of Edinburgh, the only child of Thomas McCalzean (Lord Cliftonhal ...

were accused. In the 1590s

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

frequently stayed nearby at

Dalkeith Palace Dalkeith Palace is a country house in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It was the seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch from 1642 until 1914, and is owned by the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. The present palace was built 1701–1711 on the site of the ...

, and Anne sometimes dined at Smeaton, as she did on 8 August 1598.''HMC Report on the Manuscripts of Colonel David Milne Home of Wedderburn Castle'', (London, 1902), p. 71.
/ref>

Structure

The castle courtyard had rounded towers, but only two remain standing, with the curtain wall between them. These are the two western towers. While one tower has been reduced in height the other remains at four storeys, with an adjoining square stair-tower. One range of buildings also survives, but considerably changed. It has a vaulted basement. There are traces of a moat.

References

External links

Smeaton House, HES/RCAHMS Canmore

Letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Laird of Smeaton, 1568, with audio: NMS
{{coord, 55.9159, -3.0451, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Castles in East Lothian Musselburgh Witchcraft in Scotland