Kingston, East Lothian

Kingston is a small hamlet near North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland.

Kingston

Kingston
Kingston
Kingston
Location within Scotland
OS grid referenceNT541823
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNORTH BERWICK
Postcode districtEH39
Dialling code01620
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Fenton Tower

Kingston was once known as Kings Seat, historic maps of the area show this.[1][2]

Fenton Tower

Fenton Tower in Kingston is a refurbished 16th century tower house. It retains the original footprint of the square keep, but now encompasses 7000 sq. ft. of living space over several levels. Fenton Tower was used as the location for Archie's castle in the BBC children's programme Balamory.[3] The tower is depicted as being bright pink in the show, although in reality it is a more traditional off-white to Stone Grey colour, with the hue added in post-production.

Fenton Tower was built on the lands of 'Fentoun'. "During the reign of King David I of Scots (1124-1153) the lands of 'Fentoun' along with the lands of Gullane, Archerfield, Dirleton and Fidra island were all held by the Anglo-Norman De-vaux family who later gifted 'Fentoun' to their English kin the De-vauxs of Lanercost Priory. In the mid 12th century the De-vauxs built a 'castri' on the Fidra, a chapel at Gullane, a tower of 'Eilbote' at Archerfield (which must have been a place of some importance since King David signed a charter for the lands of Carberry witnessed at 'El bottle' ) and finally a stone castle at Dirleton itself during the reign of King Alexander II of Scots (1214-1249)"[4]

James VI of Scotland visited several times, as a guest of Sir John Carmichael, who built the castle, which was described in January 1591 as 'a fair house' when Carmichael was having a dispute over the ownership of the site with the Laird of Innerwick. In May 1592 James stayed with his wife Anne of Denmark attended by his English servant Roger Aston.[5]

Fenton Tower is a Category A listed building.[6]

Notable Persons

References
  1. "Lothian and Linlitquo / Joh. et Cornelius Blaeu exc. - Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  2. "Lothian : contains The Shire of Linlithgow or West Lothian. The Shire of Edinburgh or Midlothian. and Haddington or East Lothian / by H. Moll. - Maps of Scotland". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  3. "A Historic Scottish Castle Becomes a Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  4. "Fenton Tower". www.douglashistory.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  5. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (1936), p. 452, 674: David Moysie, Memoirs of the affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 94.
  6. Historic Environment Scotland. "FENTON TOWER  (Category A Listed Building) (LB14743)". Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  7. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.


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