The History of Dirleton Castle

Ownership of Dirleton Castle passed back and forth between the Scots and the English during the wars of independence of the 1200s and 1300s, and it was finally denigrated by Robert the Bruce after the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 to prevent its future use by the English.

The remains of the castle passed from the De Vaux family to the Halyburton family by marriage in the mid 1300s. They spent a good part of the following hundred years rebuilding and redeveloping Dirleton Castle. Much of its east side can be traced back to this period, including the great hall and the huge vaults below it.

The Halyburtons also filled in the ditch at the north end of the castle, partially building over it a range of buildings including a chapel and the withdrawing room above it. Below the chapel is the dank and gloomy prison: though this must have seemed pretty idyllic to the unfortunates who inhabited the 11ft square pit below the prison, where the truly unpopular prisoners were dumped.

In 1515 the estate passed, again by marriage, to the Ruthven family. Between efforts to gain power by kidnapping Scottish royalty they turned their medieval castle into a semblance of a grand renaissance house. Their main surviving contribution to today's castle was the range of buildings to the south of the close.

The End of Dirleton Castle

Dirleton Castle's end came with Oliver Cromwell. It was used as a base by moss-troopers attacking his supply routes during his invasion of Scotland. Retribution, armed with cannon, arrived in 1651.

In 1663 the ruins of the castle were acquired by the Nisbet family, who built a modern mansion house at Archerfield, nearer the coast to the north west of the castle. During the 1700s and 1800s Dirleton Castle featured largely as a very grand garden ornament, passing into state care in 1923.