1886-87.] Faivside or Falsidc Castle. 73 



the Young Pretender. Not far from its borders were two battles 

 fought of the greatest interest and importance to Scotland. 



Musselburgh, then, is ancient, and much could be written 

 about it and its surroundings, the difficulty being to condense 

 the material in hand so as to form a concise sketch. It is my 

 intention to submit from time to time short notices, giving 

 what particulars I may be able to lay my hands on regarding 

 such names as Loretto, Elphinston, Piukie, Inveresk Church, 

 the Town Hall, and, if I may include within its pale the neigh- 

 bouring parish of Tranent, the names of Fawside or Falside 

 Castle and Morrison's Haven. 



To-night, then, my subject will be Falside, or more properly 

 Ffauside or Fawside Castle. It stands seven and a half miles 

 from Edinburgh Castle as the crow flies, two from Tranent in a 

 westerly direction, the same from the Forth or Musselburgh on 

 the south, and one from Elphinston Tower on the north-east. 

 Standing as it does on an eminence, it can be seen from a great 

 distance, and for the same reason those who used to inhabit it 

 could descry friends or foes long before they reached its pre- 

 cincts. I have long desired to learn who were its occupants 

 and what was its history, but not till lately have I been able to 

 get any information except what is to be found in any school 

 history — viz., that here, or on the brae below, was fought the 

 famous battle of Pinkie, and from here also Mary Queen of 

 Scots watched the progress of the battle of Carberry Hill, which 

 proved so disastrous for her. Little, then, is known of those 

 who in earlier times defended its walls, but what is known leads 

 one to the belief that they were hard, brave men— inclined to 

 live peaceably with all around them, but if once roused it 

 would be difficult to say what the consequences would be. Its 

 date cannot go further back than the eleventh or twelfth century. 

 M'Gibbon and Eoss, in ' The Castellated and Domestic Archi- 

 tecture of Scotland,' lately published, give the latter part of the 

 fourteenth century, but a deed has been found with the name of 

 William de Ffauside as witness in the reign of David I., in the 

 twelfth century. From this time down to the sixteenth cen- 

 tury abundant evidence has been adduced connecting the chain 

 of the Ffausides by the granting of deeds and mortgages. To 

 take a few examples : — 



In the twelfth century a charter was granted by David I. to 



