Elphinstone Tower (East Lothian)

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Elphinstone Tower is a ruined medieval keep in East Lothian, Scotland. It sits about 4 miles southeast of Tranent and half a mile west of the village of Elphinstone. The Elphinstone family owned the lands from the 13th century. Construction began in the 1200s and was completed in the 1400s. After Sir Alexander Elphinstone was killed in 1435, the property seems to have passed to the Johnstones by marriage. This is the place where the Protestant reformer George Wishart was brought from Ormiston to be handed over to Cardinal Beaton, and then taken to St Andrews for trial and execution by burning. James Johnstone, laird of Elphinstone, was involved in the murder of David Rizzio at Holyrood Palace in 1566. A mansion next to the castle was built in 1600 but demolished in 1865. Because coal mining caused the ground to sink, much of the tower was demolished in 1955, and more has fallen away since. The tower had three storeys and a stone parapet, with a vaulted basement. The first floor housed the hall and the original kitchen, separated by a partition, while the upper floors contained private chambers. The thick walls held many rooms and stairs, and a peephole let the hall be watched in secret. By 1975 only the north wall remained to about 4 metres high, with one doorway; the south wall had disappeared.