He abducted the queen and brought her to Dunbar, ostensibly for her own safety. One rumour suggests that at Dunbar he raped the queen, forcing her to marry him to protect her honour. Another version of events says that the couple put forward the story of rape to legitimise an affair with a man said to be behind her husband's murder. After Mary was forced to abdicate the throne and flee to England Dunbar Castle surrendered to her enemies.
The defences were destroyed once again and the once-proud castle was dismantled. Most of the ruins were pulled down in and used to create the harbour we see today. The Victorian harbour had its own artillery battery, parts of which remain.
The artillery emplacement changed the shape of the harbour and boats now pass directly through the former castle site. Only a few fragmentary masonry walls survive along with remnants of vaulted chambers. In part of the castle ruins collapsed into the sea.
The castle was then closed to the public due to safety concerns. The ruins cannot be explored but you can easily see them from several vantage points around the harbour. Access is very easy. There is a free parking area at the leisure centre on Victoria Street.
Most photos are available for licensing, please contact Britain Express image library. We've 'tagged' this attraction information to help you find related historic attractions and learn more about major time periods mentioned. Heritage Rated from 1- 5 low to exceptional on historic interest. Doonhill Homestead - 2. Biel House - 3.
Preston Mill and Phantassie Doocot - 5. These plans were not realised. The new work was immediately demolished as a provision of the Treaty of Edinburgh. Local landowners were tasked with the demolition of part of a "rampire," a rampart with its ditch and counter scarp , and a great platform for artillery. However, the French captain of the Castle, Corbeyran de Sarlabous refurbished the cavern which was within the area scheduled for demolition. The Castle remained garrisoned by 60 French troops under the command of Sarlabous until September Military Wiki Explore.
Popular pages. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? Dunbar Castle. Edit source History Talk 0. ISBN p. Cancel Save. Fan Feed 1 List of active duty United States four-star officers. Seacliff Tower 8. Ancient sites near Dunbar Castle. Broxmouth site of fort 3. The Chesters fort 5. Kirklandhill standing stone 6. Preston Mains cursus 7. Drylawhill cursus 8. St Baldred's Cave cave 9.
Pencraig Hill standing stone 9. Traprain Law fort Garvald souterrain Pictish stones near Dunbar Castle. The Coves, Caiplie Class I symbols Abercrombie 1 Class III cross slab Abercrombie 2 Class III cross slab Abercrombie 3 Class III cross slab Abercrombie 4 Class III cross slab Crail Class III cross-slab Largo Class II cross slab Scoonie Class II cross slab Sliding Cave Class I rock carving Pictish sites near Dunbar Castle.
Traprain Law silver chain Haddington silver chain Hoardweel silver chain Whitlaw silver chain Norrie's Law hoard Borland silver chain Todholes possible silver chain Whitecleugh silver chain Dunnicaer fort Accommodation near Dunbar Castle.
Rowan Cottage Guest House hotel Dunbar 0. Sawmill Cottage self-catering cottage Tyninghame 6. No12 Quality Street bed and breakfast North Berwick Fenton Tower hotel North Berwick Bell's Bothy Bunkhouse hostel Haddington Nether Abbey hotel North Berwick And so, as the light dawned upon these "rude forefathers" of ours they began to see that man is neither absolutely self-existent, nor existent solely for self. Around the Castles and Towers of their leaders they congregated into little townships and petty estates, espousing the cause of their Lord without question, and laying the foundation of the feudal system which it took centuries to overthrow.
The mere association thus together, with one distinct aim, served to consolidate the Kingdom and make its independence more secure. It is important to remember that the borders of England then extended much further north than they did in later times. The Forth was really the boundary of England instead of the Tweed; and the Wall of Antoninus, which extended from the Forth to the Clyde, was more nearly the margin of the Southern Kingdom than the Cheviots. Indeed, the whole land betwixt the Forth and the Humber was continually changing masters, and the insecurity of the conquests of either party made it doubtful as to where the boundaries of the two kingdoms should be set.
Thus, when David I. The reign of his grandson, William the Lion, however, sufficiently settled the matter, for after his foolish escapade at Alnwick and Carlisle in , when he was taken prisoner and carried to England and France, he was compelled to do homage to Henry II.
It will thus be seen that for a considerable time Dunbar was as much an English as a Scottish stronghold. And the indefiniteness of its nationality made it an object of envy to both parties. So around this ancient Keep, which stood defiantly upon the brink of the Eastern Sea, there clustered many memories of former times, and many hopes for the future of Scotland which could never be fulfilled. The strength of the Castle, which rendered it almost impregnable, and the extent of the accommodation which it afforded, ever made it a coveted point in protracted warfare; and its possessor might easily sway the balance of fortune and decide the fate of either Kingdom.
It was, therefore, important for the welfare of Scotland that the Castle of Dunbar should be in the hands of a true patriot. Unfortunately this was not always the case, and the history of the Castle alternates between treason and fidelity to the Scottish cause. The incident by which Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, came to Lothian and was possessor of a Castle and a title has been already explained. When King John of England, in reprisal of a Scottish Border raid, marched into the land at the head of his army, and laid siege to the Castle of Dunbar, he was compelled to abandon his purpose, and leave the stronghold in the hands of its owner, Patrick, sixth Earl of Dunbar.
This tenth Earl was a "trimmer," and made his peace with Robert Bruce when he saw that Bruce was to be in the ascendant, and he was made Scottish Governor of Berwick Castle, a post which he held till the defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill in forced him to surrender. While he was away, Dunbar was brought into notice through the persistent bravery of his wife, Agnes Randolph, daughter of the famous Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, the comrade of Robert Bruce, and also a grand-niece of Bruce, known in history as "Black Agnes.
After the death of Robert the Bruce in , Scotland fell again into political difficulties which seemed even more dangerous than those from which that monarch had rescued her.
His son and successor, afterwards David II. For several years the country had suffered from military disquiet, first caused by Edward Balliol, and afterwards by Edward III. The English King had over-run Scotland, partly with the aid of Patrick, tenth Earl of Dunbar, who afterwards abandoned the support of the English in Before he returned to Dunbar Castle, the Countess, who had been left in charge of the place, had bravely defended the Castle against the English Army, and held it for upwards of five months, the date being 13th January , till on 16th June the besiegers had to raise the Siege of Dunbar.
The contemporary chronicler narrates the story thus The English, however, did not wish to put the Earl to death, and sent him back to England to be detained in custody as before. There is a curious incident in this siege which is not widely known. Finding that the methods of attack adopted by him were not proving successful, he descended to a little silent treachery. He had gained the ear of some of the servants in the Castle, who, with the knowledge of the Countess, had planned to give the Earl and a few followers admission at the great gate.
Attended by some of his most daring knights, Salisbury approached the main entrance at midnight. As arranged, he found the drawbridge down and the portcullis raised, so that the entrance to the place was open to him.
But one of his followers, more forward than the rest and eager to be noticed by the leader, pressed forward even before the Earl, and was the first to enter within the precincts. No sooner had he passed the sacred line than the portcullis descended between him and his companions, and the Earl with the remainder of his party had to beat a hasty retreat ere the rising drawbridge should entrap them and prevent their escape. The protracted siege had naturally discouraged the soldiers within the Castle, and the provisions were growing scant when relief came to them from an unexpected quarter.
The brave Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalwolsey Dalhousie , one of the foremost knights of the time whose sad fate is related in the notice of "Hermitage Castle" in this volume , succeeded in breaking the blockade and carrying relief to the well-nigh exhausted garrison. Braving the restless surge and the still more merciless enemy, Ramsay found means of communication with the Castle by the sea-washed caverns beneath the rock of its foundation. Encouraged by this accession of strength, and relieved by the welcome stores which these adventurers had brought, the Scots determined upon breaking the siege by a vigorous sally.
Selecting both the time and the men with the profound instinct that constitutes the successful general, Sir Alexander made a most daring raid upon the English forces, and so discouraged them that the valiant Earl of Salisbury, a man of vast experience in war, had at length to raise the siege, and beat a retreat within the English Border. And thus the prophecy of Black Agnes was fulfilled :—.
Thus ended the Siege of Dunbar, and thus the hand of a feeble woman, when nerved by patriotism and armed with chosen Scottish valour, was sufficient to checkmate the plots and schemes which the English politicians had laid for the overthrow of Scotland.
It is sufficiently evident from the literature of the time that the English army expected that Dunbar would fall an easy prey into their hands. More as a jest than as a serious engagement did they begin the siege. There was, therefore, a little lugubrious humour in the songs which their minstrels sang in the camp before Dunbar; and the laugh was latterly quite against them.
One of these lays, preserved by Wyntoun, gives a glimpse of their elephantine humour But when they returned to their own land, discomfitted, overthrown, and disgraced by the power and endurance of a weak woman, and the grim "heroes of a hundred fights," had to confess that they had found a superior in the Scottish heroine, well might they ponder on the text thus rendered by a modern poet But in the course of time an estrangement arose betwixt these two families after the demise of the leaders, and ere a hundred years had flown the descendants of Douglas and Randolph were deadly enemies.
Doubtless this was largely owing to the rapid increase of power which the Douglases had gained on the Border, and which the Earl of Dunbar and March—descendants of Randolph on the female side—-resented as an encroachment on their own territory. The middle marches of the Border were now under the control of the Douglas faction; and the Earls of Dunbar and March were restricted to the eastern division of this part of the country by their neighbouring compatriots as rigidly as though they had been foreigners in the land.
0コメント