Very few stone castles survive from the 1200s. Hailes Castle, on the bank of the River Tyne in East Lothian, is one of the best survivors.
The Castle is hidden away in the pretty valley of the River Tyne. One of Scotland’s oldest stone castles, it dates from the early 1200s, with major extensions in the 1300s and 1400s.

It’s associated with the de Gourlay and the Hepburn noble families, and Mary Queen of Scots’ third husband James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, may well have been born in the castle. He fled into exile after Mary’s capture in 1567. The castle’s days as a stronghold ended with Cromwell’s invasion in 1650.