Skulferatu #147 - Balgone Barns Windmill, North Berwick

 

In a field outside of North Berwick there is an old and ruined stone tower.  It stands in an island of rough grass looking out over the ever-changing crops being grown and harvested around it.  I have often cycled by on the narrow country road that takes you past it and had thought that while it looked a bit like the remains of some fairytale tower fallen into disrepair, it was probably just one of the many dovecotes scattered around East Lothian.  However, though it was latterly used as that, it turns out that it was originally built as a windmill.

 

 

Balgone Barns Windmill

 

 

Balgone Barns Windmill

 

 

Balgone Barns Windmill

 

The windmill was built in the late 17th century for milling barley and is constructed of rubble and freestone.  It has an underground vault that extends out from the tower and about twenty feet into the field, which I assume was probably some sort of storage area.  The windmill carried on in its original industrious purpose up until the 18^th century when it fell into disuse and was then more than likely abandoned for a while.  Its working life over, someone, probably the local landowner, thought it would make a good doocot, so had it heightened by about ten feet and converted into that.  The building was recorded in 1799 on a map of Haddingtonshire by William Forrest as being a ‘Pidgeon Cot’.  How long it carried on in this function I have no idea, but at some point, a big chunk of the tower collapsed, and it fell out of use again.

 

 

Vault entrance to Balgone Barns Windmill

 

 

Vault entrance to Balgone Barns Windmill

 

 

Windmill tower and vault

 

 

View of the windmill tower

 

I had hoped to have a look around this building for a while but thought it best to wait until the crops around it had been harvested. Then they were and it rained for what seemed like weeks afterwards leaving the field a muddy mire.  So, after a few days of autumn sunshine I took a trip out and trudged through the field to the ruin.  The field was not quite as dry as I hoped, and the mud was a sticky clay that stuck and balled around my feet turning my stride into a boot heavy drag.

 

 

Silhouette and shadow

 

Wanting to get into the building I walked first of all to the doorway only to find that there was a ten-foot drop to the ground below.  Having no intention of being thwarted I then followed the line of the vault round to where there was another way in.  Ducking through into the short tunnel there, I got through and into the structure of the windmill itself.

 

 

Inside the vault

 

 

Looking out from the vault

 

Like in so many other earth floored ruins I’ve wandered around I found that I was quickly surrounded by little biting flies who nipped at my balding head in a frenzy of blood lust.  Unfortunately for them, a few swipes over of my hand and their feeding frenzy was over.  Well, until the next lot appeared.

 

Inside the tower of the windmill, it was quiet and warm, with the sunlight from above spiralling down.  I watched the clouds above scudding past in the sky and thought how relaxing it would be, if the nasty, little biting flies weren’t around, to sit there in a comfy armchair and spend an hour or two just looking up.  Maybe one day I’ll dig a deep hole to lie in and watch the sky.

 

 

Looking up to the sky

 

Before leaving, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, in a gap in the tower wall of the old windmill.

 

 

Skulferatu #147

 

 

Skulferatu #147 in a gap in the tower wall

 

 

Skulferatu #147 in a gap in the tower wall

 

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #147

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.035724

Longitude -2.718919

 

what3words: flagging.copiers.legend

 

I used the following sources for information on Balgone Barns Windmill –

 

Canmore - Balgone Barns Windmill, North Berwick

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Balgone Farm, Old Windmill

 

National Library of Scotland – William Forrest, Mapmaker

 

 

 

Skulferatu #139 - Macduff's Castle, East Wemyss, Kirkcaldy, Fife

 

After taking a trip to the Wemyss Caves, I made my way around and up to the hill above them. On top of this hill, there sits a ruinous and crumbling tower, this is all that remains of Macduff’s Castle.  This Castle has traditionally been associated with the Eleventh Century Thane of Fife, Macduff, and was the setting of a very famous fictional murder.  It was here that Shakespeare had the evil assassins, sent by Macbeth, brutally murder Macduff’s wife and children. Of course, Shakespeare made all of this up and none of it actually happened, and though it was believed the Thane of Fife had a fortification somewhere around the area, it is not known where.  

 

A model of how Macduff’s Castle may have looked

 

Illustration of the ruins of Macduff’s Castle circa 1892

 

The earliest part of the castle that stands here now was built in the Fourteenth Century by the Wemyss family, who were descendants of the Macduff’s.  Later buildings were added in the fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries and the castle ended up consisting of two towers connected by a gatehouse sitting between them.  As with many castles, Macduff’s castle was owned over time by several families who added some buildings and modified others. Then in 1630 it was bought back by the Wemyss family.  The last records of it being in use was in 1666 when Lady Jean Wemyss, Countess of Sutherland, sent her children to live there as she was worried that the plague ravaging parts of England would reach Edinburgh.  It didn’t.  At some point after this the castle was abandoned and fell into decay and ruin.  Up until 1967, two of the castle’s towers still stood, but then fearing for the safety of children playing around the ruins, Fife Council had the eastern tower demolished.  Then, in the 1970s a Dovecote that had stood on the shore down from the castle was destroyed by the sea. What remains of the castle is crumbling and cracked with much hidden in deep undergrowth.  It is however now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

 

The ruins of Macduff’s Castle

 

The ruins of Macduff’s Castle

 

Macduff’s Castle, like all good castles, has tales of a ghost wandering its empty ruins.  Known locally as the Grey Lady, she is said to be the ghost of Mary Sibbald.  The story goes that she was a servant girl at the castle who was accused of theft.  At her trial she vehemently denied the charges, but was found guilty and sentenced to be publicly flogged.  The executioner who carried out the flogging was a cruel man, and so severely did he strike her that she died a few days later of her injuries.  Ever since, she has wandered the castle and its grounds silently protesting her innocence to anyone who may see her.

 

* * *

 

Ignoring the danger to life signs, I pushed myself through bushes and undergrowth and made my way around the castle. 

 

Ruins of Macduff’s Castle

 

Macduff’s Castle rising up from the undergrowth

 

Tower at MacDuff’s Castle

 

View from Macduff’s Castle

 

At the back there was an entrance of crumbling stone into what I assume was a cellar.  Inside it was damp and dank with a floor littered with cans, bottles and a condom or two.  Lovely.  Leaving the cellar and cutting around, I made my way to the main part of the remaining tower and clambered up onto the crumbling stage like floor. 

 

The crumbling ruins of the castle

 

The tower stairwell

 

A fireplace, maybe?

 

Weather worn stones of the castle

 

Inside Macduff’s Castle

 

The place was a perfect setting for a performance of Macbeth, and I could almost imagine the arrival of the assassins –

 

Lady Macduff: (On being told by a messenger she should flee the castle)

Whither should I fly?

I have done no harm. But I remember now

I am in this earthly world, where to do harmed

Is often laudable, to do good sometime

Accounted dangerous folly. Why then, alas,

Do I put up that womanly defence

To say I have done no harm?

 

(Enter Murderers)

 

Lady Macduff:

What are these faces?

 

Murderer: 

Where is your husband?

 

Lady Macduff:

I hope in no place so unsanctified

Where such as thou mayst find him.

 

Murderer:

He’s a traitor.

 

Macduff’s Son:

Thou liest, thou shag-eared villain!

 

Murderer:

What, you egg?

(Stabbing him) Young fry of treachery!

 

Macduff’s Son:

He has killed

me, mother.

Run away, I pray you.  (Dies)

 

(Exit Lady Macduff crying - Murder!)

 

* * *

 

Before leaving the castle, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me in a hole in the wall of the tower.

 

Skulferatu #139

 

Skulferatu #139 in a hole in the wall of the castle tower

 

Skulferatu #139 in a hole in the wall of the castle tower

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #139

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.162476

Longitude -3.058048

 

what3words: chuck.steep.womb

 

I used the following sources for information on MacDuff’s Castle –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, Volume 4

by David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1892

 

The Complete Works of Shakespeare

The Alexander Text

1951

 

Leven Mail - Wednesday 19 July 1967

 

East Wemyss, Macduff's Castle | Canmore

 

 

Skulferatu #133 - Lincluden Collegiate Church, Lincluden, Dumfries

On a recent trip down to Dumfries, I ventured away from the main thoroughfares and into a large housing estate where I cut through to a peaceful bit of land sitting just outside it.  On this bit of land, that sits on a curve where the River Nith and the waters of the Cluden meet, are the ruins of an ancient abbey and church by the name of Lincluden. Once a hive of religious activity, and a bit of scandal, the ruins are now mainly a hangout for bored kids, where in the evening and away from disapproving eyes, they go to drink cheap booze and smoke and vape.  During the day however, the ruins also attract the occasional tourist like me.

 

Lincluden Collegiate Church

 

College Tower

 

The history of Lincluden Abbey goes way, way back to 1164 when it was founded by Uchtred, Lord of Galloway.  It was originally a Benedictine nunnery and though small, it was endowed with various gifts from Uchtred such as farmsteads and land from which it could benefit and derive wealth.     It was probably just as well that Uchtred had given them land rather than cash, as his life ended suddenly and brutally. From 1161 to 1174 he had ruled Galloway along with his half-brother, Gilbert.  In 1174 both Uchtred and Gilbert took part, along with William I of Scotland, in an invasion of Northumberland.  This ended in disaster and King William was captured.  The brothers, seeing a way to be free of William, seized his properties in Galloway and then petitioned King Henry I of England to ‘take them from the authority of the King of Scots, and govern them himself.’  Before this could happen, the brothers fell out and things between them got quite heated.  So much so, that Gilbert and his son Malcolm, seized Uchtred at his home, tortured him horribly and then killed him.  King Henry, on hearing of Uchtred’s murder decided that Gilbert was not a man to be trusted and refused the request to remove Galloway from King William.  Gilbert then had to apologise to both kings, promise not to get up to any mischief again, and pay out a wodge of cash to make amends for killing his brother.

 

College Tower at Lincluden

 

Inside the College Tower

 

Inside the College Tower

 

In the late 14^th Century, the abbey and its lands became part of the fiefdom of another Lord of Galloway, Archibald Douglas.  He was known as Archibald the Grim, a nickname given to him because of his sinister looks and evil deeds.  As you may guess, his arrival did not bode well for the nuns at Lincluden.  Archibald decided he didn’t want a nunnery there, he wanted monks praying for his soul, proper blokes, not woosie women.  So, he started some rumours that the nuns were all a bit naughty.  He spread round lies that they weren’t virgins and rather than praying they were bonking their brains out with any man who would have them, the abbey was no longer a house of God, but rather a nursery full of the nuns’ illegitimate children.  Turning the local populace against the nuns, he then had them expelled, rebuilt the abbey and also had a large church built there.  Amongst the clergymen who resided there, Archibald paid for twenty-four bedesmen, men whose soul purpose was to pray for Archibald’s soul.

 

When Archibald died, his son, also called Archibald, took over his lands.   He married Princess Margaret, the daughter of King Robert III of Scotland, and the pair spent a great deal of money on the church at Lincluden.  They had various heraldic symbols relating to their families carved into the stone there, some of which can be seen around the buildings today.  In 1424, Archibald left for France with a large force of troops to assist Charles VII of France in his war against England.  There the King made him Marshal of France and Duke of Touraine. Unfortunately for Archibald, despite being given these grand titles, he was killed a few months later during the Battle of Verneuil when the Franco-Scottish force was heavily defeated by the English army. 

 

After Archibald’s death, Margaret bestowed even more wealth on the church at Lincluden and had carvings of the heraldic symbols showing Archibald’s French titles added.  On her death, Margaret was buried in the church, her tomb still a prominent feature there.

 

Tomb of Princess Margaret

 

Doorway to the Sacristy

 

The Sacristy

 

A view to the heavens above

 

Looking up

 

Windows in the wall of the Nave

 

Window in the wall of the Nave

 

Lincluden stayed with the Douglas family and survived the Reformation.  In 1585 the last Mass was held there, this being organised by a Catholic nobleman, John Maxwell, the Earl of Morton.  This did not go down well with Protestant authorities who had him summoned before the Privy Council and imprisoned for several months.  On his release Maxwell promptly travelled off to Spain to help plot the Spanish Armada.

 

The Abbey passed through various owners, and at one time part of it was converted into a house.  It was eventually abandoned in the early 1700s and quickly fell into disrepair.

 

View of the abbey from the motte and gardens

 

View of the abbey from the motte and gardens

 

In 1775 Lincluden was visited by the traveller and writer Thomas Pennant.  He described the buildings as looking desolate with much of the roofs gone.  Inside the church he found that the figure on Princess Margaret’s tomb had been mutilated and wrote that – ‘the bones of the deceased had been scattered about the floor of the choir by some wretches who broke open the repository in search of treasure.’

 

Lincluden Abbey and College by William McDowall - 1886

 

Princess Margaret's Tomb by William McDowall - 1886

 

The ruins were later cleaned up and a caretaker installed to look after them.  Then in 1922 they were taken into state care and are now looked after by Historic Environment Scotland.

 

After wandering around the ruins in the afternoon sunshine, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels.

 

Skulferatu #133

 

One of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Skulferatu #133 on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Skulferatu #133 on a mossy stone in one of the old, vaulted chapels

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #133

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.084991

Longitude -3.620781

 

what3words: analogy.sprouted.wolf

 

I used the following sources for information on Lincluden Collegiate Church –

 

Chronicles of Lincluden

William McDowall

1886

 

Scotland's Ruined Abbeys

Howard Crosby Butler

1900

 

The Scots Peerage

David Douglas

1907

 

National Art Survey Of Scotland

Examples of Scottish Architecture from the 12^th to the 17^th Century

Volume II

Thomas Ross & Robert Lorimer

1923

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Lincluden Collegiate Church