Dirleton Castle
13th century castle built by the De Vaux family around 1225, it was one of the most formidable castles of its time. However, it was captured by an English army under Bishop Anthony Bek of Durham and was only recovered by Robert the Bruce in 1311. Bruce pulled down much of the castle to ensure the English armies could not make future use of it. Rebuilt by the Halyburton family in the 14th C., who added a new gatehouse, kitchen and Great Hall, and further augmented by the Ruthven family (15th C), but destroyed once again by General Monk (1650). It passed to the Nisbet family (1663), but was quickly abandoned as a residence in favour their new and more comfortable house at Archerfield. Stone was looted from the site to build houses and walls in the local area.