Whittingehame Tower

Whittingehame Tower stands beside the Whittinghame Water in East Lothian. Built in the fifteenth century, it is a tall L-plan keep with a rectangular main block and a small stair-wing. The parapet projects on corbels and has rounded corners, and a cap-house once served as a dovecote. Inside, a vaulted basement supports a panelled hall on the first floor with fine plasterwork. The entrance is reached through the stair-wing, and some windows have been enlarged over time. The tower is listed at the highest grade in Scotland. The tower has links to several historic figures. In the fourteenth century the Douglases acquired the lands, and in the sixteenth century James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, owned the property. Morton entertained Mary, Queen of Scots’ husband Lord Darnley and her secretary William Maitland at Whittingehame. Tradition says they met under a yew tree to plan Darnley’s murder. Morton later received Mary’s half-brother, the Earl of Moray, at the tower. Visitors find a collection of documents and old prints displayed in the hall. Outside, the grounds once contained the first cider gum planted in Britain in 1853. A raised terrace near the tower overlooked the famous yew tree until the early twentieth century. The tower’s stonework and plaster ceilings remain largely as they were centuries ago.