East Lothian Area Guide

What to see and do in East of Edinburgh & Lothian's

Maitlandfield house Hotel is ideally placed to allow you to maximise your leisure time and just get away from it all!

Maitlandfield House is situated in the must sought after area of East Lothian in the picturesque town of Haddington, once the Royal Burgh. The Capital Town of East Lothian is set in the midst of magical landscapes, safe and stunning sandy beaches, spectacular coastline, picturesque fishing villages, quaint historical towns, like Dunbar home to Belhaven Best Beer, North Berwick home to Scotland’s Seabird Center, Aberlady with its Nature Reserve, East Linton home to Bramble and Whisky Liquor, Markle Fisheries. Prestonpans with its historic battlefield where the Hanoverian government troops were defeated in 1745 by the Jacobites giving them control of most of Scotland, Famous Musselburgh with the oldest Racecourse in Scotland and to Musselburgh Links “ The cradle of Golf” the Oldest playing golf course in the World. Also the home to Scotland’s Concorde in the Scottish National Museum of Flight, Great attractions, dramatic castles with one of the most famous being Direlton with its largest Herbaceous border in Europe, many stately homes, Glenkinchie Distillery, and with the bright lights of Edinburgh itself are all within 20 minutes reach of this special house.

..or you could simply sit back, take tea in our gardens and - enjoy!

Oh, we nearly forgot to mention – East Lothian is also the Home of John Knox and of John Muir.

Some of East Lothian Castles

Dirleton Castle
In the 12th century, the Anglo-Norman William de Vaux built a castle at Dirleton, probably of wood, on a stretch of rising ground some way back from the Lothian shore.

In the 13th century, a stone-built castle replaced deVaux's stronghold, and over the next 400 years it was the centre of many sieges and intrigues. The last notable event was its capture by Cromwell's troops in 1650
Soon after that a new mansion house was built at Archerfield on the far side of the village, and the old castle fell into disuse. It is now in the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland, and has been preserved, complete with its prison, 'murder hole'.

Tantallon Castle
William died in 1384 and his heir, James, the second Earl, was killed four years later at the Battle of Otterburn. This unhappy turn of events prompted the countess of Angus to promote the claim of her son, George, to her share of the Douglas inheritance. Thus the Battle of Otterburn resulted in the division into two of the mighty House of Douglas.

The head of the main line now was Archibald, illegitimate son of the 'Good Sir James', Known to the English as the 'Black Douglas' because of his grim countenance in warfare. His descendants became the 'Black' Douglases, while the Douglases of Angus became known as the 'Red' Douglases.
In 1491, Archibald, the 5th Earl, entered into a treasonable act with Henry VII of England to deliver James IV into English hands. When this became known, Archibald was ordered to confine himself to his castle at Tantallon, here he prepared for a lengthy siege.

In 1528 King James V besieged Tantallon for 20 days but failed to take it by force but in 1529, while Archibald the 6th Earl was in England, King James V bribed the garrison into surrender and Tantallon was delivered to the king.

In 1651 Cromwell ordered General Monk to take Tantallon Castle, so with a force numbering between 2,000 and 3,000 men he besieged Tantallon for 12 days. Finally with the castle almost in ruin it was taken.

Hailes Castle
Two miles south west of East Linton on a rocky promontory on the south bank of the river Tyne lies the ruins of Hailes Castle, a 13th-14th century castle of enclosure probably built by one of the Earls of Dunbar.

Later a Gourlay stronghold Hailes Castle then passed to the Hepburns who extended the curtain wall and added a square tower; James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell brought Queen Mary here on their flight from Borthwick in 1567.

Forfeited by the Hepburns and granted by James VI to Hercules Stewart, a natural son of Lord John Stewart (himself a natural son of James V), Hailes belonged to the Seton family for most of the 17th century and was damaged by Cromwell's troops in 1650.

In c1700 it was sold by the Setons to David Dalrymple, later Lord Hailes, and in 1926 was given into state care by its then owner, the Earl of Balfour (the former Prime Minister, A J Balfour).

Hailes Castle is overlooked by Traprain Law, the site of the 1919 discovery of a hoard of 4th century Roman silver.

Dunbar Castle near to the Harbour this was where the story of “Black Agnes” originated. In 1337 The Earl of Dunbar was campaining to secure Scottish Independence, his wife “ Black Agnes” was left in charged of the Castle. The English under the Earl of Salisbury laid siege, but Agnes led a tough defence. The English gave up their attempt to take the Castle by force but blockaded the harbour in an attempt to stave the defenders into submission.

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