While out and about in Dunbar, I took a walk down to the harbour so I could have a wander by the ruins of the old castle that once stood on the rocks there. There is not much left of what once must have been a pretty impressive building, and the grounds of the castle are now closed to the public due to health and safety concerns over the crumbling remains and the steep cliffs beside them. This means though, that they are now an ideal nesting ground for the local colony of Kittiwakes. So called because of their call – kittiwake, kittiwake. A call that dominates the harbour during breeding season as well as the rather pungent, fishy smell of their poo.
The history of Dunbar Castle stretches back nearly two thousand years to when the first fortifications were built on the rocks there by the Votadini people. It was later a stronghold of Bernicia and then Northumbria before coming into possession of Kenneth MacAlpin, the King of the Scots.
The first stone castle built on the site is believed to have been constructed in around 1070 by Gospatric, the Earl of Northumberland. He had fled to Scotland after being exiled by William the Conqueror and was granted the castle at Dunbar and the lands surrounding it by King Malcolm III. The castle remained in his family’s hands for many generations after, with various buildings, extensions and renovations being carried out on it.
In 1338 the castle was the scene of a long drawn out and violent siege by the English army. Led by William Montague, the Earl of Salisbury, English troops had surrounded the castle while Patrick Dunbar, the Earl of Dunbar and owner of the castle, was away on business. Looking after things while he was gone was his wife, Agnes. Also known as Black Agnes for her dark hair and complexion, she was someone not to be messed with, something Montague soon found out.
As this was in the time before canons came into use, the English army had brought with them several trebuchet type engines. These were large wooden machines used to throw huge stones against the castle walls to try to smash them down. As they unleashed a barrage of boulders at the castle, Agnes stood with her ladies and maids at the top of the walls, and they would amble over to the spot where a stone had hit and would rub it down with clean, white cloths as if they were dusting. They would then laugh down at the English troops and ask if all they could do was make a little dust.
Having realised that the trebuchets were not going to take down the walls of the castle, the English army then deployed the ‘Sow’. This was an enormous machine, built of wood, with several levels and a roof on it. It was used to transport men right up to the castle and protect them while they tried to dig under the walls to undermine them and then storm into the fortress. So, the ‘Sow’ was pushed on its creaking wheels up against the wall where, peering down on it, Agnes shouted to Montague that he should take more care of his piglets. She then ordered a huge boulder, that had been fired earlier into the castle, to be pushed over the wall and dropped onto the sow. It crashed through the wooden roof, smashed through the floors and crushed the men below. At the same time the archers within the castle let loose a rain of arrows, one of which struck a knight standing next to Montague, killing him instantly. Montague, who obviously had a rather dark sense of humour, cried out to those by him – ‘Ah, there comes one of my lady’s tire pins; Agnes’s love shafts go straight to the heart.’
Having had no luck by using brute force, Montague decided that a bit of bribery may be called for. Under the cover of night, he had one of his men pay the soldier on guard at the main entrance to leave the gate unlocked so that the English troops could easily make their way in. The guard happily accepted a purse of gold coins and then told Agnes what was planned. She then had her men made ready for the ‘surprise’ attack by Montague. It was not long before Montague led a group of his soldiers to the castle where, as they entered, the portcullis was dropped by Agnes’s men, trapping one of Montague’s men who had pushed past him just as they went in. The plan had been to capture Montague, and on seeing that they had trapped the wrong man, Agnes shouted down to him – ‘Farewell, Montague, I intended that you should have supped with us and assisted us in defending the castle against the English.’ At that, I imagine, Montague gave her the finger and walked off in a bit of a huff.
As the siege went on Montague tried one last ploy. His men captured Agnes’s brother John and brought him to Dunbar. John was then paraded by the castle with Montague telling Agnes that unless she surrendered, he would hang him in front of her and leave his body to rot. Agnes replied to him that she he should go ahead and do that as she would benefit by her brother’s death, as she was his heir. Montague didn’t carry out his threat, though whether Agnes and John’s relationship ever recovered after this I don’t know.
For five months the siege went on and by the end of that time those within the castle were nearing starvation. Then one night a saviour appeared in the guise of Sir Alexander Ramsay. He and forty of his men took some small boats and sneaked past the English ships guarding the seaward way to the castle. With them they brought supplies of food and weapons. With those in the castle feeling renewed and ready to fight again, Montague decided to cut his losses and he and his men packed up and headed off back down South.
Over the following years, Dunbar Castle had many owners and was the scene of various battles and conflicts. It was destroyed a couple of times, then rebuilt and remodelled.
In 1566, after the murder of Rizzio at Holyrood Palace, it was to Dunbar Castle that Mary, Queen of Scots, fled along with her husband Lord Darnley, one of those suspected of Rizzio’s murder. She fled there again after the murder of Darnley, this time with Lord Bothwell who she later married, and who was the suspected murderer of Darnley. And it was from Dunbar Castle that Mary marched to Carberry Hill where she ended up surrendering to her enemies.
In 1567 the castle was the scene of another siege when it was held by supporters of Bothwell. The Regent of Scotland, James Stuart the Earl of Moray, finding them a complete pain in the arse, wanted them out. Bothwell’s supporters held out for a short while but on realising that no help was coming, they surrendered. The guns of the castle were seized and removed. It was then ordered that the castle should be demolished to prevent it from ever falling into the hands of the English. This was partially done, but the cost of carrying out a full demolition was found to be so prohibitive that what remained of the building was just left to fall into ruin. Much of what was left was then demolished in the Nineteenth Century to rebuild the harbour.
As I wandered around the harbour and by the castle ruins, all was busy with fishermen sorting lobster creels and nets. While in the cliffs and the rough, weather worn ruins of the castle, Kittiwakes called out and flew to and from the nests they had built there. Walking round to a quiet place by the cliffs under the castle walls, I left a Skulferatu in a lichen covered gap.
The coordinates for the Skulferatu are -
Latitude 56.005296
Longitude -2.518109
what3words: blame.bulldozer.prospers
I used the following sources for information on Dunbar Castle –
