160 REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1897 



to withstand a prolonged siege. In the 15th century it became 

 the property of the Homes, and in 1503 Princess Margaret, 

 daughter of Henry VII. of England, was entertained within 

 its walls by Sir Patrick Home while on her way from Lamber- 

 ton Kirk to Edinburgh to be married to James IV. of Scotland. 

 These were its palmy days, but even then it does not appear to 

 have been a commodious residence. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, 

 the English Ambassador, lodged in it on the night of 11th 

 July 1567, "where," he said, "I was entreated very well 

 according to the nature of the place, which is fitter to lodge 

 prisoners in, than folks at liberty ; as it is very little, so 

 is it very strong." The last Home of Fastcastle left two 

 daughters, one of whom, in 1530, married Eobert Logan, 

 "the wily and profligate laird of Restalrig," a noted man 

 in his day, principally on account of his connection with 

 the Gowrie Conspiracy. By this marriage he became proprietor 

 of Fastcastle. Had the Gowrie Plot succeeded, it was believed 

 that James VI. would have been confined as prisoner in 

 Fastcastle. Its failure having involved the forfeiture of 

 Logan's estates, the castle next became the property of the 

 Crown. After passing through the hands of the Arnots, 

 the Hepburns, and again of the Homes, the estates came 

 by marriage to the Ramsays, from whom the first Sir John 

 Hall of Dunglass acquired them, about the close of the 17th 

 century, and they continue still in the possession of that 

 family. Fastcastle was one of the Border fortresses which 

 were dismantled under the provisions of an Act of Parliament. 



A trifling expenditure on the part of the proprietor would 

 preserve for many years what remains of the wreck. Fastcastle 

 is popularly believed to be the Wolfs Crag of Sir Walter Scott's 

 "Bride of Lammermoor"; but it is understood that Miss 

 Eussell of Ashiesteel has materials in her possession which 

 will enable her to show that this belief is unfounded. The 

 cliffs in this neighbourhood are extremely bold and precipitous, 

 and are famed in the history of geological science by papers 

 upon them contributed by Sir James Hall of Dunglass to the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. On one of the 

 loftiest cliffs, immediately to the south of the rock on which the 

 Castle stands, the Peregrine Falcon still nests. None were 

 visible however, on the occasion of the Club's visit. 



In the caves at the base of the well-nigh inaccessible rocks, 



