Elphinstone Tower

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Elphinstone, a collier village in Tranent parish, W Haddingtonshire, 2 miles S by W of Tranent town. It has a public school and a Primitive Methodist chapel (1867). Elphinstone Tower, 5 furlongs WSW, is a square three-storied pile of the 14th or 15th century, a ruin, but well preserved, the two lower stories retaining their stone vaulting, and the uppermost having been re-roofed with slate. In the hall, on the second story, eight carved escutcheons are over the fireplace. A mansion, built on to the tower in 1600, was demolished in 1865. The lands of Elphinstone were held in the 13th and 14th centuries by Lord Elphinstone's ancestors, and passed from them by marriage to the Johnstons. On a December night of vehement frost, 1545, George Wishart was brought from Ormiston by the Earl of Bothwell to Elphinstone Tower, where was Cardinal Beaton; and thence he was taken to St Andrews for trial and execution. Pop. of village (1861) 388, (1871) 488, (1881) 597.—Ord. Sur., sh. 33, 1863.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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