Whittingehame

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Whittingehame is a parish with a small village in East Lothian, about halfway between Haddington and Dunbar, and near East Linton. It is an attractive corner of a very agreeable part of Scotland, on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills.

The barony was anciently the possession of the Earls of Dunbar and March, and Chalmers' Caledonia recordes that they held their baronial court there. In 1372 George Dunbar, Earl of March, gave in marriage with his sister Agnes to James Douglas of Dalkeith, the manor of Whittingham, with the patronage of the Chapel. The Douglases remained in possession for over 200 years: about 1537 Elizabeth (d.After August 1557), daughter of Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass, married William Douglas of Whittingehame, and in October 1564 Mary Queen of Scots confirmed to their son, William Douglas (d.17 Dec 1595), a Senator of the College of Justice, the barony of Whittingham, the castle, mills, and the avowson of the Church there, ratified by parliament on 19 April 1567. This William Douglas had married in 1566 Elizabeth (d. after 6 August 1608), daughter of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, a Senator of the College of Justice.

It is said that the plot to murder Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, was discussed at length at Whittingham castle in 1566, and in March of that year "William Douglas of Whittinghame, brother to Master Archibald Douglas parson of Douglas", is cited as one of the Riccio conspirators. On the 26 August 1582 William Douglas of Whittinghame is cited as one of the 'Ruthven Raiders'. The old castle, or Pele Tower of Whittingehame, circa 15th century, is a grand specimen of an old and massive baronial building and remains a residence to this day.

On the 28 December, 1630, Sir Archibald Douglas of Whittingehame was a witness to the baptism of Archibald Sydserf at Whittingehame Church, but by 1665 Archibald & his wife were both dead. His sister Elizabeth (1632-1668) married, in 1652, Alexander Seton, 1st Viscount Kingston and carried Whittingehame to him. Their youngest daughter Elizabeth, carried Whittingehame to her husband William Hay of Drummelzier, upon their marriage in 1695. The Hays, as proprietors, were highly esteemed by their tenants. In 1817 they sold Whittingehame and Stoneypath to James Balfour, second son of John Balfour of Balbirnie in [[Fife, who had made a large fortune in India. James Balfour subsequently enlarged his estate by buying up a great many adjoining properties. By 1900 there were about 25 farms on the Whittingehame estate. The coal mines on their Fife lands greatly increased their prosperity throughout the 19th century.

James Balfour engaged James Dorward, from Haddington, to build a new neo-classical mansion and offices to designs by Sir Robert Smirke,Whittingehame House, completed about 1817, with additions and alterations by architect William Burn ten years later. This became the family home of the Balfours (as in Prime Minister Arthur Balfour). This building, a huge country house and A-listed, still stands, albeit now divided into private apartments, is not open to the public. Having passed through various hands after the Balfours (at one time it was a private school), there is still much of interest to see, including a spectacular ceiling to the dining room.

James Balfour also rebuilt the church in 1820, supplanting the previous rebuild of 1722, and then established, in 1840, a new model village to the north-west of the former medieaval settlement. It consist of a schoolhouse and a string of cottages, all in red standstone.

[edit] References

• Privy Council Registers for Scotland, pages 436-437/507.
• Reminiscence & Notices of Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington by John Martine, edited by E J Wilson, Haddington, 1894, 'Whittinghame' pps: 38-57.
• The Seven Ages of an East Lothian Parish - Whittingehame, by the Rev. Marshall B Lang, T.D., B.D., Minister of Whittingehame, with a Foreword by Lady Frances Balfour, Edinburgh, 1929.