White Castle

White Castle stands on a hilltop in East Lothian, two miles south of Garvald village. It overlooks the northern end of a main pass through the Lammermuir Hills, close to the Whiteadder Water. The site includes a hillfort built in the 1st millennium BC, with traces of earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age use. Three miles east, Blackcastle and Greencastle formed a line of beacons to warn of southern invasions. Excavations between 2010 and 2013 by Murray Cook and David Connolly uncovered its Iron Age defences. The fort once controlled a strategic route used by the Votadini tribe, whose eastern capital was Dunpender to the north. Later, the Lauder of The Bass family held the lands and built a pele tower at Whitecastle. In 1501, Jonet, prioress of Haddington, disputed ownership with Robert Lauder, leading to a legal case before the Earl of Bothwell. By the 16th century, Patrick Hepburn of Whitecastle became a noted figure in Scottish politics. His family retained the estate into the 18th century, with Francis Hepburn of Nunraw serving as an elder in Garvald Kirk Session. Nunraw House, built in 1860, incorporates a 16th-century tower once linked to Haddington monastery. The baronial mansion’s deep red sandstone walls enclose vaulted cellars and two square towers, one still unaltered. Inside, a tempera-painted ceiling bearing Patrick Hepburn’s monogram was discovered during 19th-century alterations. The estate later became Sancta Maria Abbey, founded by Cistercian monks in 1946. A new abbey church was completed in 1969, while Nunraw House returned to private use. The surrounding hills and the old fort’s earthworks remain visible today.