skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
    • ancient sites
      • Dark Age sites
      • megalithic sites
      • other carved stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Roman sites
    • buildings
    • miscellaneous
    • places in Scotland
  • Offers
  • Home
  • blog
A beach and castles on May Day

Although it wasn’t really the weather for it – slightly grey, and quite windy – today we headed to the beach.

East Lothian has a multitude of beaches, but the one we chose was the aptly-named Broad Sands, just outside North Berwick. Parking at the car park in the Yellow Craig Plantation, we made our way through the sand dunes onto the wide golden sands.

To the north west of the beach, just off the shore, is the island of Fidra. Here in the 12th century the de Vaux family built Castle Tarbet (which would later be superseded by Dirleton Castle), although now only a small section of the castle’s walls are visible on the rocky eminence. A lone wall is all that remains of St Nicholas’ Church, through to have been founded in the early 13th century.

To the east, rising out of the water is the great mass of the Bass Rock, which appears white due to the number of birds living on it.

Despite it being the start of May there was quite a chill in the wind, so we walked back to the car and drove the short distance to Redhouse Castle, just outside Longniddry. We’d passed this castle several times before but never been in to have a look at it. From the road all you can see are the top of the ruined walls, but up close it’s far more impressive than that.

Situated next to a market garden, the 16th to 17th century castle is still surrounded by its courtyard wall, and access is through the original gateway.

At the corner of the courtyard is a doocot, and along the wall are a range of (presumably later) outbuildings.

Above the doorway are the arms of John Laing, and the initials of himself and his wife, Rebecca Dennsitoun.

Laing bought Redhouse Castle in 1607 and was responsible for extending it to its present form. The castle still stands to its original height, although there are no longer any floors or a roof.

Redhouse Castle was incorporated into the Earl of Wemyss’ Gosford Estate, and it was to another property associated with the Earl of Wemyss that we travelled next. Seton Collegiate Church dates back to the 12th century, and between the 15th and 18th centuries was the private chapel and burial vault of the Earls of Seton.

Next to the church was Seton Castle, a huge and luxurious fortified palace belonging to the Seton family. In the late 18th century the old castle was demolished, and a new house built to a design by Robert Adam.

The estate later passed to the Earl of Wemyss, who restored the church. It is now cared for by Historic Scotland, while the new Seton Castle is a private residence. In the grounds of the church can be seen several heraldic panels from the original
Seton Castle.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Latest blog posts

The three castles of Tolibothwell
7th of April 2020 •
Where to buy beer in Scotland during the Coronavirus lockdown
26th of March 2020 •
Cherry blossom in Edinburgh
23rd of April 2019 •
A dreich day of Dumfriesshire castles
13th of March 2019 •
Tweed Valley walks and Elibank Castle
30th of April 2018 •
Red squirrels at Eskrigg Reserve (and some castles)
6th of April 2018 •
Old and new Comiston Houses
29th of March 2016 •
Quintinshill rail disaster parade
23rd of May 2015 •
Cycling along Silverknowes Esplanade in Edinburgh
5th of April 2015 •
Solar eclipse in Edinburgh
21st of March 2015 •
more blog posts....

Blog categories

art & design

15 posts

castles

87 posts

cycling

24 posts

Edinburgh

67 posts

Edinburgh Festival

7 posts

food & drink

4 posts

general

41 posts

history

142 posts

music

2 posts

sport

4 posts

walking

57 posts

whisky

1 posts

wildlife

41 posts

Follow us on bloglovin'

Stravaiging around Scotland Stravaiging around Scotland

Most popular posts

Yester Castle and the Goblin Ha’
19th of June 2011 •
West Highland Way 2006 – Day 1
16th of July 2006 •
Ancient sites on Lewis
15th of June 2006 •
Calton Hill and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
19th of May 2013 •
Loch Turret and Ben Chonzie
21st of October 2006 •
Standing stones in Edinburgh
28th of August 2010 •
Doors Open Day Edinburgh 2012
24th of September 2012 •
Castles and Pictish stones in the north of Scotland
13th of April 2013 •
Hot air ballooning over Scotland
2nd of April 2009 •
Walking around Gosford House and gardens
20th of June 2014 •
more blog posts....

Blogroll

Ailish Sinclair

BikELove Scotland

Edinburgh Drift

From Hill to Sea

isleofronalog

Jardine's Book of Martyrs

Kelsey Jackson Williams

Krystyna Hayes Wildlife Photography

Marc Calhoun

one hundred weeks of scotland

Scotland with The Wee White Dug

Scottish Crannogs

Senchus

The Hazel Tree

The History Girls Frae Scotland

The Urban Prehistorian

Walkhighlands

Related pages

A trek to the top of Schiehallion
A trek to the top of Schiehallion
Walking in the woods above Pitlochry
Walking in the woods above Pitlochry
Stormy Portobello and birdlife on the River Tyne
Stormy Portobello and birdlife on the River Tyne
An underground adventure in southern Midlothian
An underground adventure in southern Midlothian
Baby squirrels at Callendar House
Baby squirrels at Callendar House
Exploring the Carmichael estate
Exploring the Carmichael estate
Published on the 1st of May 2010 at 10:03 pm. Updated on the 9th of June 2019 at 6:05 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
read more....

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.
© 2003 - 2021 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.
%d bloggers like this: