Luffness, more maps and more history.

Luffness the mill, the map and the remains.

The Seventeenth Century

For Scotland the seventeenth century was a time of much tragedy and transformation as it progressed from the medieval to the modern. This period of change is our starting point for a journey through the ages using maps¹ as our guide and the Luffness Mill area as our focus.

The first person we meet in this century is the mysterious Timothy Pont (1564- 1614). He produced the first detailed maps of Scotland². We know very little about his life but his maps went on to form the basis of the fifth volume of Joan Blaeu's first world atlas.

Joan Blaeu (c. 1599-1673) Lothian and Linlitquo published 1654.

The Dutch printers Joan Blaeu and his father Willem set out to beat their rivals by printing a monumental atlas of the world. They were supplied with cartographic and topographic information about particular countries through their many collaberators across Europe. In the case of Scotland, this was Sir John Scot of Scotstarvit who sent Blaeu, Pont's maps of Scotland. However not all were in a good enough state to be printed directly but required further information and more detail to be added. This was done by Robert Gordon of Straloch (1580-1661) and his son James Gordon of Rothiemay (c.1615-1686)³.

Luffness is depicted in the atlas on a map titled 'Lothian and Linlitquo' (illustration 1). Here we can see the old castles of the area depicted with fences or walls around them and although Luffness, Dirleton and Balencrief still have either castles or tower houses the one at 'Ervistoun' no longer exists. Ervistoun is probably Elvingston near Gladsmuir. The house that exists on the site now dates to 1837 but no physical evidence has been found for the earlier building which is thought to have dated to the medieval period⁴.

One odd touch is the row of red buildings stretching along the coast from Luffness.

Illustration 1: Joan Blaeu Lothian and Linlitquo published 1654.

The Hydrographicall mappe of Forth from the entry to ye Queens-ferry

An imprint of a map from 1683 by John Adair (ca. 1650-1722) shows Luffness with the interesting spelling of 'Lovenesse' (illustration 2). This is also the first time that I have seen a map that labels Aberlady Bay as 'hadington port'. Aberlady was indeed the port for the county town of Haddington until the trade moved to road or rail. Another first for this map is the attempt at showing topography of the area in depicting Gullane Hill.

Illustration 2: The Hydrographicall mappe of Forth from the entry to ye Queens-ferry / authore J. Adair. Imprint:[1683]

These 'Hydrographicall' maps were made to encourage foreign trade by reducing the losses to shipping that had often occurred on the Scottish coast. The maps were partly paid for by a tonnage levy placed on shipping although the funds from this proved insufficient for the completion of the maps⁵.

The hand drawn manuscript version of John Adair's 1682 map (illustration 3) shows the presence of mills which are indicated by the star symbol. This is the earliest cartographic evidence for the presence of a mill at Luffness. On an engraved version of 1736 (illustration 4) the mills are named and the word 'Peffer' makes it's first appearance.

Illustration 3: John Adair Map 1682, showing the Port of Haddington. The star symbol represents the location of a mill. This is the earliest evidence for the presence of a mill at Luffness.

Illustration 4: A map of East Lothian survey'd by J. Adair. Imprint: [Edinburgh : Cooper, ca. 1736]

Roads and Roy

Although the previous maps show the basic lay out of the area they would have proved quite limited if they were used as a tool for overland navigation. There just isn't the detail or accuracy required. However this was to change when the requirement for a map of Scotland that could be used by the military to quell any unrest in the hearts of restless natives. This came in the form of Roy's Military Survey of Scotland. The lowlands were surveyed between 1752-55.

Here for the first time are roads and field boundaries (illustration 5).

Illustration 5: Roy's Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-55

William Forrest and the county map.

The county maps were the most detailed portrayal of the landscape prior to the Ordance Survey. They were often at large scales of one and two miles to the inch, showing natural features such as relief, rivers, woodland and coastlines. A range of human settlements are shown and named for the first time, including many isolated farms and hamlets. The map also includes the name and title of the landowner. In the case of Luffness we can see that it is Colonel Hope. The Hope family bought Luffness in 1739⁶.

Illustration 6: William Forrest's Map of Haddingtonshire 1799

On William Forrest's 1799 map of Haddingtonshire (illustration 6) we see for the first time the 'Marle Loch'. The Marl was a calcium rich soil which was dug and spread on the surrounding fields in an attempt to make the soil less acidic and thereby increase fertility. The marl would have been dug in the winter and left for the frost to break it down before being harrowed in come the spring time. The practice ended with the wide spread use of artificial fertilisers. This resulted in the unused pits filling with water.

The lime quarry would probably provided lime was for building mortar, limewash, lime plaster or mixed with clay as a binder. However, apart from prestige structures such as churches, castles and bridges, most buildings would not have been of stone but of timber or wattle, reeds, and thatch, and coated or infilled with various combinations of clay and lime⁷.

Let us take a closer look at Luffness Mill which is now detailed on the map for the first time (illustration 7). The map shows us the orrentation of the mill pond and how it was fed by two 'mill lades' and a 'tail race' which allowed the spent water from the mill wheel to flow to the Peffer. The mill dam was constructed to raise the water level in the pond and provide a motive force for the wheel. Sluices would have controled the flow of water into the mill lades.

Illustration 7: Luffness Mill in detail on William Forrest's Map of Haddingtonshire 1799

Ordnance Survey.

The progress towards a more detailed accurate map of Britain was made more of a certainty with the foundation of the Ordnance Survey in 1791. The primary triangulation of Scotland started in 1814 but it wasn't until 1859 that most of the Scottish lowlands were complete⁸. We really get the most detail yet with the production of the first comprehensive topographic survey of Scotland at the six-inch to the mile scale (illustration 8).

Illustration 8: Ordnance Survey Haddingtonshire, Sheet 4 Survey date: 1853 Publication date: 1854

These wind blown bents are not the well manicured fairways of today which are lush in their out of season verdant pop-up-sprinklered pampering. No, these slopes will have to wait another 40 years before the foundation of Luffness Golf Club.

However there is evidence of another sport and that is curling. The rectangular object to the left of the foot brdge is a curling pond. This feature can be seen to this day although any curling has long since ceased. It is described n the Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve Annual Report 2009/10 as '….an old man-made pool that has been colonised by a wide variety of marshland plants. It features a number of scarce species, some of which are rare elsewhere on the Reserve, which contribute towards making the area unique in the context of the rest of the site.'. I suppose that climate change has made outdoor curling a dim and distant memory almost to the point of incrdulity that it ever actually happened.

On the map, we can follow the old path up the hill to the site of many ancient finds that is Gala Law. Here we see that a Whinstone Quarry is in operation. Whinstone is a quarrying name for any hard dark rock such as the igneous rock basalt. Basalt was porved in the past to be chemically identical to lava⁹. It is generally used for road stone or dry stone walls.

If we come down the road the first buildings we come to are Luffness Mill. Let us take a closer look (illustration 9).

Illustration 9: Ordnance Survey Haddingtonshire, Sheet 4 Survey date: 1853 Publication date: 1854

Here we can see the sluices which would have controlled the water level. There are some remains of sluices in the woods to the south of the map and the course of the old 'Mill Lead' can still be seen.

Illustration 10: Some remains of a sluice where the original southern sluice was located.

Illustration 11: The remains of the southern mill lead as photographed in 2013.

The 1854 map labels Luffness Mill as a 'Saw Mill' and given it's location you would believe it to be water driven. At this stage it would look like the mill at Luffness was a water driven saw mill. The round building beside it is listed by Historic Scotland as a 'kiln' and they describe it thus;

'1820-30. Detached circular kiln. Random rubble, walls, circa 10ft high with arched draw vent at ground to W now blocked, window opening close under eaves to E. Inside walls taper to ground. Polygonal pantiles to roof, ventilator missing. Formerly used to dry timber for a sawmill (OS Map 1854) which was probably located to the S. Currently in poor condition. Similar in form to Seton Mill Kiln, Tranent parish.'¹⁰.

Having spent a lot of time in the kiln as a child I find it hard to see how they would have fitted much wood inside, never mind how they would have got it in there in the first place.

What would have been much more use on an estate would have been a kiln to dry grain. It would have been essential to dry the corn before milling it, especially in Scotland's damp climate. The kiln does look very much like those at Seton Mill (illustration 10) or Preston Mill (illustration 11), both of which were corn mills.

Illustration 12: John R Hume View from SW showing part of WNW and SSW fronts of mill with kiln in background SC710583 Copyright RCAHMS

Illustration 13: William Notman View of Seton Mill, East Lothian. DP075659 Copyright

Now have a look an an old postcard image of Luffness Mill (illustration 12). I find the similarities between the corn mill kilns and the wood drying kiln at Luffness to be quite supportive of my theory that Luffness' real purpose was for drying grain.

Illustration 14: Old postcard of Luffness Mill

Illustration 15: The kiln at Luffness Mill in 1985

Illustration 16: The kiln in 1989 showing a blocked vent at the bottom between the logs

In fact by 1854 water powered 34 corn and meal mills in East Lothian¹¹. The vassals held the land by feudal tenure and as such had to bring their corn to the mill of the landowner in an act called 'thirling'. Here the grain would be ground and measured for taxation purposes with a cut going to the landowner and some to the miller. Practically every landowner had a mill and I suggest that perhaps the purpose of the mill was changed to a saw mill when the act of thirling was abolished in 1799.

Into the 20^th Century

The finely detailed maps of 1892 (illustration 13) and 1907 (illustration 14) show the mill pond as no longer being fed from the Peffer and the only label on the buildings of what is now called Luffness Mill Cottages is 'Saw Mill'.

A saw mill, with a large circular saw was in existence up until the end of the 20^th century. This was in one of the single story buildings adjoining the cottages and not in a separate building as is depicted on the map. The saw was powered by diesel which would have been more economic to run then the up keep of the water mill complex. Perhaps it was partly for this reason that the water driven mill was demolished.

Illustration 17: OS 25 inch survey 1892 Haddingtonshire sheet 4 detail of Luffness mill race no longer shown at the Peffer.

Illustration 18: OS 25 inch survey 1907 Haddingtonshire sheet 4 Detail Luffness Saw Mill

We can see from an aerial photograph of 1945 (illustration 15) that the mill pond looks like it is overgrown but there is not enough resolution to make out distinct buildings. However, by 1965 the mill pond is distinctly overgrown and the mill demolished (illustration 16).

Illustration 19: Air Photo Mosaics of Scotland, 1944-1950

Illustration 20: 1965 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map

The area of the mill pond that was nearest the cottages was used as a dump for waste from Luffness estate during the latter half of the twentieth century. The water that flowed into the hollow that was the pond still had to drain out over the road and into the Peffer through what was left of the tail race. This was eventually piped under the gardens of the cottages. However when the tide was high the brackish water would flow up the pipe and flood the cottage front garden.

LUFFNESS MILL, EVENING

Patrick William Adam RSA (1854-1929)

Adam was born in Edinburgh. He settled in North Berwick in 1908 and spent the rest of his life there recording the interiors of local society households. Adam died at North Berwick on 27th December 1929, aged 75.

1All of the maps come from the National Library of Scotland unless otherwise stated.

2 http://maps.nls.uk/pont/history/history-over.html

3 http://maps.nls.uk/pont/bio/elusive

4http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/290622/details/tranent+elvingston/

5 Geography, Science and National Identity: Scotland Since 1520 By Charles W. J. Withers. Page 91

6http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/55029/details/luffness+house/

7 http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mendips/aggregates/history/limeburning.html

8Fleet, C. and Withers, C.,Ordnance Survey Maps - Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882: A Scottish paper landscape. National Library of Scotland.(http://maps.nls.uk/os/6inch/os_info1.html).

9 http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/vulcan/56_large.shtml

10 http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2200:15:0::::BUILDING:6559

11 http://www.eastlothianmuseums.org/exhibitions/tranent/houses/Ai280.htm

Prehistoric burials of the East Lothian coast

Prehistoric Burials

Scotland’s prehistory stretched for some 9500 years from the earliest settlers to around AD 1000. There was some written history during the last thousand years of that period, but so little that it was effectively still a prehistoric era, and we rely upon archaeology to provide details of how people treated their dead. I should note at this point that these are not the normal everyday people but people whose remains for some reason were treated in an exceptional way; in a way that provides us archaeological evidence. The majority of the people are not archaeologically visible. Their remains used in a way that rendered their decomposition complete. We will only be concerned here with the sites that have left physical evidence.

So let us now go in search of what remains of the prehistoric burials of the coast of East Lothian.

Barrows: Ancient burial mounds.

The earliest formal burials in Scotland that we know about, and which involved any kind of grave structure, took place after about 4000 BC. These took the form of a chambered tomb which were often constructed form large stones or as was the case in lowland Scotland, timber, turf and earthⁱ. Into these tombs would be placed the decomposed and disarticulated remains of the deceased. The chambered tomb was then covered with a mound of earth or a stone cairn. The later mounds were often round in shape but the earliest were long and rectangular. Evidence for such long barrows in our area of interest can be found (Table 1) near Luffness Mains (NE47 NE5) (illustration 1)and Aberlady (NT47 NE1).

RCAHMS SITE NUMBER	LOCATION OF FIND	SITE TYPE
NT47NW 1	Aberlady Parish	BARROW(S), CIST, LONG CIST(S)
NT47NE 1	Aberlady, St Mary's Chapel	BURIAL GROUND, CHAPEL, CIST(S), CROSS SLAB
NT48SE 1.01	Luffness House	CIST(S)
NT48SE 4	Luffness House	CIST
NT48NE 1	Gullane Links	CAIRN(S)
NT48SE 21	Gullane Sands	CINERARY URN, MOULD (CLAY)
NT48NE 6	Gullane Links	LONG CIST
NT48SE 19	Gullane Golf Course	LONG CIST(S)
NT48SE 24	Gala Law	CINERARY URN
NT48SE 53	Gala Law	BURIAL
NT48SE 5	Kilspindie Golf Course	CIST(S)
NT47NW 7	Longniddry Golf Course	CIST(S), BEAKER, CINERARY URN(S)
NT48SE 14	Park Hills (West Fenton)	CIST
NT58NW 6	West Links (not far from the Eel Burn)	CIST(S), CINERARY URN(S)
NT77NW 16	Broxmouth (Dunbar)	BURIAL(S), CIST(S)

Table 1: Prehistoric burials of the East Lothian coast

Illustration 1: Luffness Mains: RCAHMS Aerial Photography Digital Oblique aerial view of the cropmarks of the settlement and barrows, taken from the E. DP070181 Copyright RCAHMSImage


However, these sites have not been explored in any detail. For a well excavated site we have to go to Eweford near Dunbar, which was thoroughly excavated and revealed evidence of burial practice relating to this time period. Archaeological excavations were carried out between 2001 and 2004, in preparation for the upgrading of the A1 to dual carriageway between Haddington and Dunbar. At Eweford they found evidence that suggested people started to bring human remains to the site about six thousand years ago. Here they built and rebuilt a large mound and capped it with a stone cairn. Their funereal practices also involved the construction of a timber enclosure and successive mortuary structures; mortuary enclosures are considered to have been used for the exposure of human remains prior to secondary burial. These wooden constructions were eventually destroyed by fireⁱⁱ.

The long barrows are also considered to have had some sort of territorial symbolism; perhaps signifying that the area adjacent to the barrow is owned by the group whose ancestors are entombed insideⁱⁱⁱ. The burial mounds are very prone to erosion by the elements and stone cairns have often vanished due to the stone being robbed out for another purpose. The mounds that were in the fertile land of East Lothian are vulnerable to damage by ploughing; often it is just aerial photography that reveals where they once were.

On the other hand, the act of ploughing has revealed to us hidden graves, especially the stone lined box grave we know as a 'cist' and it is to this form of burial that we now turn.

Cists

The cist burial can be separated into two distinct types: the short cist and the long cist. The one main thing that they have in common is that they are basically a hole lined with stone slabs, into which was put human remains and sometimes artefacts. The trend towards placing remains in cists started in the late third millennium BC. The earliest form was the short cist, which was used for the burial of single, multiple, articulated, cremated and mixed cremated remains^iv. The Bronze Age short cist does not tend to have grave-goods^v but some have been found to contain cinerary urns (for it was at this time that the use of cinerary urns was being adopted in Scotland^vi) into which the cremated remains would be placed and then inhumed in the cist. Usually only the remains of one person would be placed in the urn but sometimes there would be two or more. However, at one site near Dunbar the remains of at least 21 individuals were found in one massive cist that dates to the Iron Age^vii. What is not known is whether these people died at the same time or were they kept aside until a specific person died and their remains would join the first?

The next phase of cist burial was the long cist. This was as the name suggests, a full length stone lined burial. These graves appear more frequently in the archaeological record from the first few centuries AD onwards^viii.

Cist burials are the most numerous of prehistoric burial types that are found in the Luffness and surrounding area and we should now take a look at the cist burials that have been recorded.

Coastal Cists

We can see from the excavations and finds that have been recorded that the coastal plain of East Lothian has numerous prehistoric inhumations of the short cist type. All along the coast from Dunbar to Longniddry, on the elevated spots of Kingston common (NT58SW 152) and around North Berwick Law (NT58SE 13) can be found short cist burials. In fact the site at Kingston has evidence of burials spanning the Neolithic to the early second millennium AD^ix.

If we move down the coast a little from North Berwick onto the West Links,there is an area near the Eel Burn (NT58NW 6) where Bronze Age cists were found. A total of twenty three cists, three of which had urns. Human bones without cists were also found at the burn side.

There is no evidence of burials from the Eel Burn to Marine Villa but a little further along the coast there is another site that was popular for cist burials in the Iron Age (NT48NE 1). The site was visited in 1902 and the investigators^x found bones protruding from the dunes and the remains of small cairns. Some of the cairns had cists underneath them (illustration 2).

Illustration 2: One of the cists was described as being of a different type from the others and had a 'circular flattish mound of sand and stones, about two yards in diameter and one and a half feet high.' This grave contained the well preserved skeletons of three adults.Proc Soc Antiq Scot May 12 1902. Page 654- 658

This site in 1902 was around 200m South of Eyebroughy, in a windswept valley between two sand dunes. In 1962 the cairns had vanished, believed to have been covered in wind blown sand. However, they were rediscovered (NT48NE 1) forty years later when the cairns became visible again. This just goes to show you the changing nature of this wind blown landscape.

Now we continue along the coast to the other side of Gullane where we find Gullane Golf Club. Here in 1968 there was discovered the site of a long cist cemetery (NT48SE 19).It is described thus:

'A group of long cists was discovered on the 26th December 1968 during the removal of sand on Gullane No 3 Golf Course. Four adult graves, each containing a well-preserved skeleton, aligned roughly ENE-WSW, were arranged in a row side by side, about 2ft 9 ins apart, and a fifth cist, 2ft 3 ins long, containing the inhumation of a baby, lay to the N. An exploratory trench to the W of these cists revealed the capstones of a sixth long cist, which was not fully excavated. The total number of cists at this site is unknown, but the fact that at least a second row of graves exists suggests that there is a well organised cemetery. There is no record of a chapel. Following the excavation, the cists were left intact, and covered over with sand and turf.'

It seems that the land under what is now the sacred turf of many a championship links course, once provided the community with a hallowed site to conceal the remains of their dead; or to put it another way – we have gone from burials to bunkers!

The Gullane burials could well have been visible from the vantage point of Gala Law, which is a place that has drawn people to it over the ages. Here was also found evidence of burial activity. Finds here have included several pieces of cinerary urn (NT48SE 24) which were found in 1880 and in April 1984 (NT48SE 53) two incomplete male skeletons were found by some children playing by the erosion face of a sandy bank. However, inspection of the site revealed no traces of a cist or pit, nor were there any artefacts.

Further down the hill we find the site (NT48SE 1.01) of the supposed Viking graves; these we discussed in the previous chapter. These were not the only graves found at Luffness as another skeleton was found in a long cist in a field between the house and the Avenue (NT48SE 4)though no claims are made about its origin. A little further inland at (NT48SE 14) Park Hills near West Fenton a cist was discovered in December 1943 when ploughing a field. This cist was about 1m deep and 50cm wide and contained the inhumation of a child, accompanied by a beaker. The beaker was thought to be from the Early Bronze Age.^xi

The practice of placing of beakers into graves is thought to have arrived from Scandinavia with the so called 'Beaker People' who it is suggested introduced metal working to Britain 4000 years ago. Beakers were fancy pots for drink or food. Another example from a cist containing a child's grave was found at Thornton at Innerwick^xii. It is thought to date from sometime between 2300 and 1800 BC. We can only surmise at the reasons why beakers were placed in graves.

I can't find any evidence for burials in the Nature Reserve area but I suppose that this isn't surprising given the changing nature of this landscape. Once over the Peffer Burn this all changes, as the coast from Aberlady to Longniddry was once a very popular place for burial. It was (NT47NW 1) described in 1792^xiii as having:

'…...a great many stone graves, all of them that have been opened containing human bones; particularly in Gosford Links, they are laid almost as thick as in a churchyard; many of them lie nearly south and north.'

The orientation of these graves indicates that they were Pagan due to the fact that Christian graves are usually orientated east west. The author also described the presence of two large tumuli close to the graves.

This abundance of ancient burials continues into the area that is now home to Longniddry golf course and into the private gardens of the residents of Longniddry (NT47NW 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 39). Excavations at Longniddry have unearthed at least forty different cist burials. The largest of these was in the garden of a house called Four Winds^xiv, where a cemetery was found containing at least twenty seven graves. It is likely that the cemetery was in use from the first half of the fifth to the beginning of the eighth century AD. This time span shows a continuity of use into the Christian period and I wonder if it ceased perhaps when they moved to a burial site close to a chapel?

Continuity and conclusion

One of the most captivating elements of this subject is the continuity that can be found at different sites. A site such as the burial mound at Eweford was intermittently used for thousands of years; remaining significant throughout many different burial practices and belief systems. Archaeologists found evidence that when the mound at Eweford was two thousand years old, people started digging pits around the base of the mound and depositing burnt human remains in them. This practice is thought to have continued for about six hundred years. Then later generations covered these pits with stone cairns and into the cairn material they incorporated bone and other artefacts. A later generation then started removing stones from the cairn so that they could create hollows into which they placed human remains. By the time this was happening the mound was an ancient monument which had been the focus point for ceremony for millennia. It was to this site that the people came in 700 BC to start a new phase; they cut into the mound and placed a cist to hold the remains of a funeral pyre. Evidence for similar activity was found at a site close by called Pencraig Hill. This was the site of an ancient mortuary into which the people inserted a cist precisely in relation to the earlier monument, which had been built and burned a millennia earlier^xv.

However, the enthusiasm for such burials did not continue into subsequent generations. Burials in the Christian period moved into the churchyard in what was becoming the medieval world. Therefore, we must end our tour through the burial sites of time and place, even though we have just scratched the surface of this fascinating subject.

References

iHistoric Scotland Leaflet: Prehistoric Burials, 2011

iiThe Lands of Ancient Lothian, O. Lelong and G. MacGregor 2008. ISBN13: 978 0903903 417: Page xxi

iiiThe countryside Encyclopaedia. R. Muir. 1988. ISBN. 0-333-43621-0:)Page 118

ivThe Lands of Ancient Lothian, O. Lelong and G. MacGregor 2008. ISBN13: 978 0903903 417: Page 230

vThe Lands of Ancient Lothian, O. Lelong and G. MacGregor 2008. ISBN13: 978 0903903 417: Page 110

viHistoric Scotland Leaflet: Prehistoric Burials, 2011

viiBrothwell and Powers, D R and R (1967) 'A massive cist with multiple Burials of Iron Age date, Lochend, Dunbar, Part II:The Iron Age people of Dunbar', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.98

viii Historic Scotland Leaflet: Prehistoric Burials, 2011

ix SAIR34Two prehistoric short-cists and an early medieval long-cist cemetery with dug graves on Kingston Common, North Berwick, East Lothian by Ian Suddaby: http://www.sair.org.uk/sair34/

xJ T Richardson and J S Richardson Proc Soc Antiq Scot May 12 1902. Page 654- 658

xi http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_078/78_106_119.pdf

xii http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-035-072-C&scache=2f0361o2ki&searchdb=scra

xiii Roy, N (1792) 'Topographical description of the parish of Aberlady', Archaeol Scot, vol.1 Page 517

xiv Long cist burials at Four Winds, Longniddry,East Lothian: Magnar Dalland, Proc SocAntiq Scot, 122 (1992), 197-206

xv The Lands of Ancient Lothian, O. Lelong and G. MacGregor 2008. ISBN13: 978 0903903 417: Pages 115 - 124

Luffness: Chapter 7

Medieval Luffness: Part Two

The Rough Wooing

Let us start this section with a 'Rough Guide' to Rough Wooing.

James V was succeed in 1542 by his infant daughter, Mary (1542-67). Henry VIII of England sought, the marriage of Mary to his young son, who later become Edward VI. Edward was the last Tudor child and his marriage to Mary would secure the Scottish crown and isolate the French from alliance with Scotland. This marriage would also stop a Catholic Stewart claim on the English throne if the Tudor line was to die out. It was agreed in the treatise of Greenwich in July 1543ⁱ that Mary would be betrothed before she was 10 and thereafter brought up in England. The Scottish Parliament in December 1543 rejected this and. Henry resorted to military pressure. He began a series of bloody raids into Scotland, which became known as the 'Rough Wooing'. These only drove the Scots into a closer alliance with France. Henry VIII died in January 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI. Edward was still a young boy and therefore his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st duke of Somerset(c. 1500–52) was made Lord Protector of England during the the King's minority.

Somerset pursued the claim that Mary would marry Edward and this pursuit of alliance saw the English and Scottish armies meeting at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh on September 10^th 1547. Somerset led the English to victory in the last major battle between England and Scotland. This was the first time in Britain that gunpowder weapons proved decisive in the outcome of a battle; it was also the first time that artillery, infantry, cavalry and naval support had combined in an actionⁱⁱ.

Haddington

The English could not consolidate their victory at Pinkie and retreated. However, in the spring of 1548 they returned to Scotland with an army under Lord Grey of Wilton, Governor of Berwick. The English seized strong points in southern Scotland and began a very expensive scheme of building fortifications through out the south from which they could control the area. As part of this tactic they took the strategic town of Haddington and immediately fortified it.

We should remember that this would have been a horrific period of time to live in the south of Scotland with the English and assured Scots terrorising the area. Evidence of this campaign of intimidation can be found in the letters that were sent between Grey of Wilton and Somerset. At this time it was thought that the French invasion was imminent and Grey of Wilton was destroying any place that could prove useful to them; as he reported to Somerset on June 4^th 1548 ⁱⁱⁱ:

'....minding this night to destroy some places which might serve the Frenchmen on their coming...'^iv.

On the 9^th Grey wrote to Somerset to report the destruction that was being carried out along the coast from Musselburgh:

'As we left Muskulborough unburnt when Dalkeith was taken, I sent thither Francis Aslaby on the 7th, who burned the town and mills, and all the fisher villages near the sea, leaving untouched only the church upon the hill, driving also many beasts, to the utter ruin of that country'^v.

It was probably at this time that Luffness castle was slighted.

Aberlady: The Port of Haddington

At this point the English were able to resupply the fort at Haddington from the port at Aberlady. Thomas Fisher the Secretary to Somerset gave instructions for the English ships in the Firth of Forth to intercept ships in the Firth of Forth and to bring food or provisions to the port at Aberlady^vi. This was obviously happening as Grey of Wilton reported to Somerset that they were:

'...bringing victuals from Aberlady, biscuits and faggots on horseback..'^vii.

Therefore if the English were able to resupply from Aberlady then it must have meant that Luffness castle was either in their possession and protecting their landings or that it had already been put out of action and could form no threat to them. I think the latter is probably the case. However, Luffness castle was soon to see a new period of occupation and building work but this time it would be by the French.

The French and fort building

The Scots turned to their old ally France to counteract the English aggression. The French king, Henri II, demanded various strongholds including Dunbar, in return for sending troops. This was agreed at the Treaty of Haddington in 1548. It was agreed that the infant Mary would be sent to France to marry the Dauphin. Up to 10 000 French troops landed at Leith and a garrison of French took over Dunbar^viii.

Central to the French military campaign was the strengthening of existining Scottish strongholds and the construction of new ones in an attempt to counteract the effects of Somerset's own fort building policy. The French knew the significance of controling Aberlady Bay and how it could be used to land their ordnance or to hinder supplies to the English at Haddington^ix. They set about fortifying and modernising existing strongholds at Leith, Millhaven, Inchgarvie and the castles at Blackness and Stirling, while constructing new ones at Inveresk, Inchkeith, and Luffness^x. The French commander de Thermes was sent to Luffness castle in 1549 to built fortifications^xi.

When the Franco-Scottish force arrived in Haddington in June 1548 and assembled batteries around the town the English in the fort now faced being besieged. They fought on but were in hostile territory and found it more difficult to resupply the fort. This was partly due to the seige and partly due to what was happening in England and France. War in France and Scotland was draining the finances of England and a rebellion closer to home meant that Somerset the victor of the Battle of Pinkie was removed from his position as Protector; he would eventually be executed. The fort at Haddington held out until September 1549 but with increasing disease and starvation it had to be abandoned^xii.

The treaty of Boulogne in 1550 finally saw England and France make peace. The French also insisted that England would cease hostilities in Scotland. The terms for peace between Scotland and England were concluded in the Treaty of Norham in 1551, where England agreed to abandon it's position in Scotland^xiii.

Treaty

The treaties of Boulogne and Norham made England give up her strongholds in Scotland. Now that peace reigned in Scotland (although under a French Kings authority) Henri of France sought to reduce his expenditure^xiv.

As part of the cost saving exercise the Privy Council of Scotland proposed that certain forts be demolished Luffness being one of them:

'With a view to “sparing the King's expense in tyme of pece”, the Privy Council proposed that the forts at Inchcolm, Inchgarvie, Broughty(Balgillo), Montrose and Luffness (Aberlady) also be demolished.'^xv.

I think it is important that there is no confusion between the term 'castle' and 'fort' so that we do not infer that the Privy Council is suggesting that Luffness castle be demolished. I believe at this point in time it already was in a reduced state. I take the opinion that when they say 'fort' they mean the defensive structures that had been built or strengthened in the recent years. Take for example the other two forts then are mentioned here; Montrose and Broughty. Both of these had castles but Montrose was in ruins in 1488^xvi and Broughty didn't fall into decay until the 17^th century^xvii, so they could not be meaning the castles but the forts that had been built near or around them.

Thus the fort at Luffness was proably removed at this time as part of a cost saving exercise.

Some detail of this can be found in a historical report on Aberlady in which the author describes the end of the fort thus:

'In 1552 was ordained by the council that “the said fort of Aberlady [was] to be randerit and deliverit to Patrik Hepburne of Wauchtoun” so that it could be destroyed. The houses and mansion were not to be pulled down, and were instead to remain in Hepburn’s hands in the same manner as his forbears had held the same. Hepburn was charged with delivering the artillery and munitions which were in the fort to Dunbar.'^xviii.

Conclusion

I have laid out a story of the medieval castle of Luffness from the begining to it's destruction in the 16^th century. This I beleive occurred at some point between 1547 and the 1550s. As a medieval castle it had survived through the main castle building period but it was now a technology which was being surpassed by greater fire power and a new European approach to fort building.

Patrick Hepburn built the present tower house in the late 16th century to reflect the change in circumstances and and fashion in archietecture^{xix xx}.

References

i The Oxford Companion to British History (1 rev ed.), John Cannon

Publisher:Oxford University Press. Published to Oxford Reference: 2009. Current Online Version:2009 eISBN: 97801995676

ii Inventory of Historic Battlefields

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/battleofpinkie.pdf

iii The following letters can be found at: Edward VI: June 1548, Calendar of State Papers, Scotland: volume 1: 1547-63, Joseph Bain (editor), in British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43992&strquery=Haddington (accessed 17 June 2013).

iv 236. Grey of Wilton to Somerset. [June 4. 1548.]

v240. Grey of Wilton to Somerset. [June 9. 1548.]

vi262. Memorial for Thomas Fisher. [June 27. 1548.]

vii 251. Grey of Wilton to Somerset. [June 19.]

viii Castle Park, Dunbar: Two Thousand Years On A Fortified Headland, David Perry. Society of Antiquaries Of Scotland Monograph series: Number 16. ISBN 0 903903 14 8. Page 13.

ix 267. Grey of Wilton to Somerset. [June 30. 1548.]

x Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548 – 1560: A Political Career, Pamela E. Ritchie, 2002, ISBN: 1 86232 184 1. Page 27.

xi http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/55031/details/luffness+house/

xii Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548 – 1560: A Political Career, Pamela E. Ritchie, 2002, ISBN: 1 86232 184 1. Page 28.

xiii Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548 – 1560: A Political Career, Pamela E. Ritchie, 2002, ISBN: 1 86232 184 1. Page 59.

xiv Potter (1984). II Documents concerning the Negotiation of the Anglo-French Treaty of March 1550. Camden Fourth Series, 29, pp 58-180. doi:10.1017/S0068690500001392.

xv Register of The Privy Council, I, pp. 90, 119

Quoted in Mary Of Guise in Scotland, 1548-1560, Pamela Ritchie, 2002,: page 39.

ISBN 1 86232 184 1

xvi http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36242/details/montrose+fort+hill/

xvii http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/33391/details/dundee+broughty+ferry+broughty+castle/

xviii Historical report on Aberlady, Prepared by History Tomorrow (University of Stirling) for CFA Archaeology Ltd

xix http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/55029/details/luffness+house/

xx http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-6551-luffness-house-with-east-wing-stables-and-