At last, a
warm day and a chance to do a bit of aimless stravaiging about the countryside to see what
turns up. A toss of a coin to decide
north or south, a quick scan of the local map and a short car journey through the
back roads of East Lothian had me at Crowhill above the Thornton nature reserve, a steep ravine of
very ancient woodland.
Apparently, there are indicator species that give some
idea of the age of a wood, as they spread at a fairly steady rate year on
year. Two are ransomes or wild garlic
and dog’s mercury. They flourish in
abundance in Thornton Dean so the woods must be very old.
 |
| Dog's mercury |
 |
| Ransomes |
The crows
still dominate the skies around Crowhill, nothing changes for them. The rooks cawed with proprietoral indignation as I followed the path up the glen beneath their nests
Two castles once stood on either side of the ravine. Innerwick, a Stewart and later, Hamilton, stronghold and Thornton occupied by who else in this part of the world but the Homes. It must have been like a scene out of a Grimm fairy tale or Gulliver’s Travels, two castles, within shouting distance of each other, separated by a deep gully and a burn
Both were attacked by Harry “Hotspur” Percy and his erstwhile prisoner and subsequent confederate, Archibald, Earl of Douglas in a scenario straight out of Shakespeare’s Henry IV as they tried to lure the king’s forces north while they slipped south to ally themselves with the Welsh forces of Owen Glendower. All came to naught at the battle of Shrewsbury.
A hundred
and forty odd years later, the redoubts were attacked again in “the Rough Wooing” of Henry VII and Thornton was completely razed. There is now not a trace to be seen. Some of the stones may have been used to
repair Innerwick, though it never achieved any significance again. The rest probably went to build dykes and
cottages.
Standing on
a rocky crag, there is still an air of romance around the ruins of the
castle with vaulted chambers,
tunnel -like entrance passages with little guard rooms off.,the remains of a tower that has a few of the
spiral steps remaining...
It is a
pity it has been allowed to deteriorate so far and no effort made to restrict
the dense ivy threatening to envelope the whole edifice.
Just as I
was leaving, I notice a fragment of oyster shell. Part of a medieval banquet? Possibly it came from the shells burnt to
produce lime for mortar or, more likely, it had been used as packing in a line
of masonry in the same way that a modern kitchen fitter will use a sliver of wood
to get the units aligned..
A castle
well worth a visit.
I will never be able to hear Henry IV compare
the bold Henry Hotspur favourably to his own son, the wastrel prince Henry, pal
of Falstaff., yet, in the same speech, wonder why Hotspur hasn’t given up his
Scots prisoner to his king, without thinking of the ruse the pair had tried at
Innerwick.
“ ..In envy that my Lord Northumberland
should be the father to so blest a son….
….Then I would have his Harry and he mine
… What think you, coz
Of this young Percy’s pride? The prisoners
To his
own use he keeps; and sends me word
I shall
have none…..”
Hotspur was
busy hatching rebellion and the feint attack on Innerwick castle was to be his
first move
The
prodigal Prince Hal made his father proud by defeating the rebels and killing
Hotspur but the wily Douglas managed live to fight another day
.
“Go to the Douglas
and deliver him
up to
his pleasure ransomeless and free”
Ever the canny Scot.
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