Dunglass
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|---|---|
 Dunglass Bridge and Viaduct above Dunglass Burn | |
  Dunglass | |
| OS grid reference | NT765721 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | COCKBURNSPATH |
| Postcode district | TD13 |
| Dialling code | 01368 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| 55°56′31″N2°22′34″W / 55.942°N 2.376°W /55.942; -2.376 | |
Dunglass is a hamlet inEast Lothian, Scotland, lying east of theLammermuir Hills on theNorth Sea coast, within the parish ofOldhamstocks. It has a 15th-centurycollegiate church, now in the care ofHistoric Scotland. Dunglass is the birthplace ofSir James Hall, an 18th-century Scottishgeologist andgeophysicist. The nameDunglass comes from theBrittonic for "grey-green hill".[1]
Dunglass is a small settlement about 1 km (0.5 mi) north-west ofCockburnspath and 11 km (7 mi) south-east ofDunbar. The whole of Dunglass lies in an area of 2.47 km2. It lies to the east of the Lammermuir Hills on the North Sea coast at the point where the oldGreat North Road and modernA1 as well as the London-Edinburgh railway cross the gorge of the Dunglass Burn. The burn forms the boundary between the shires of East Lothian andBerwick. Other settlements nearby includeCove,Pease Bay, andPease Dean.
Dunglass Castle was built by the Pepdies of Dunglass in the 14th century. On the marriage of Nicola Pepdie to Sir Thomas Home of Home, the castle and lands passed to theHome family.James IV of Scotland stayed in December 1496, and played cards. He gave a tip to masons working on the building and enjoyed a banquet including spices bought from Edinburgh.[2]
The Home family were forfeited in 1516, and the castle passed toArchibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. It was besieged and slighted by the English under the command ofEarl Henry of Northumberland in the winter of 1532.
In 1547, during the war now known as theRough Wooing, Dunglass was captured by the forces of theDuke of Somerset fromGeorge Douglas of Pittendreich, and was fortified and garrisoned by the English. A new artillery fortification was built overlooking the old castle of the Home family.[3][4] In January 1549 the French landed two boat loads of ladders at Dunbar, intending to assault the fort.[5]
The English soldiers were entertained by two Irish minstrels on 9 July 1549.[6] On 31 January 1550 English soldiers raidedKeith Marischal, burning two barn yards at the Place of Nether Keith and houses in the village. They were chased back to Dunglas.Regent Arran gave orders for cannon to be shipped to re-take the fort on 11 April 1550.[7] TheEarl of Rutland was at Dunglass in May 1550 and took the opportunity to have hismail armour scoured in a bag of bran and had his pistol mended. He bought white fabric in the camp at Dunglass to modify hishose for the hot weather in July.[8]
The fort at Dunglass was surrendered to the French in March 1550.[9] In June, the remaining cannon were taken toDunbar Castle and the villagers in the area were summoned to slight the fort.[10]
In October 1595 Christian Douglas, Lady Home moved her best household goods from Dunglass to Fife, sparking rumours of a marital separation.[11]James VI of Scotland stayed with her husbandLord Home at Dunglass Castle on 13 March 1596, for his "sports".[12] He alarmed the English garrison by coming to hunt nearBerwick-upon-Tweed, staying a night the house of the laird of 'Beelleys' (Billie Castle), six miles from Berwick, and then returning to Dunglass.[13]
The castle was rebuilt, in an enlarged and improved form, and gave accommodation on 5 April 1603 toKing James VI, and all his retinue, when on his journey to London to take up the English throne.[4] It was improved byMary, Countess of Home and her husband,Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home, who escorted King James from Berwick to Dunglass, and then to Pencraig byEast Linton Bridge in 1617.[14]
The castle was destroyed again on 30 August 1640 when held by a party of Covenanters underThomas, Earl of Haddington. An English page, according toScotstarvet, vexed by a taunt against his countrymen, thrust a red-hot iron into a powder barrel, and himself was killed, with the Earl, his half-brother, Richard, and many others.[4] A pamphlet with a verse account of the explosion and a list of casualties was published by the author and poetWilliam Lithgow. He named thirty nine dead including five women, and John White, an English plasterer working for Lady Home.[15]
The Hall family occupied Dunglass for 232 years from 1687. Francis James Usher bought the Estate from Sir John Richard Hall, 9th Bart in 1919, and the estate remains in the Usher family.[16] TheEarl of Home continues to hold the title "Lord of Dunglass", despite the fact his family have not held Dunglass for several centuries.
In the Spring of 1788, the geologistSir James Hall together withJohn Playfair andJames Hutton set off from Dunglass Burn in a boat heading east along the coast looking for evidence to support Hutton's theory that rock formations were laid down in an unending cycle over immense periods of time. They found examples ofHutton's Unconformity at several places, particularly an outcrop atSiccar Point sketched by Sir James Hall. As Playfair later recalled, "The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far back into the abyss of time".[17]
