Lordship and Barony of Fentoun

The lands around what is now Fenton Tower – a prominent local landmark south of North Berwick and to the east of Edinburgh, on the south side of the Firth of Forth, in the eastern portions of the central lowlands of Scotland – were united into a free lordship and barony called the Lordship of Fentoun in 1618, during the ownership of Thomas Erskine, Viscount of Fenton (later Earl of Kellie). Erskine had received the forfeited Dirleton estates from King James VI of Scotland (who by that point had also become James I of England), and with his king’s pleasure thereupon acquired the additional noble title of Lord of Fentoun.

Today a freestanding feudal dignity separated from its original lands, this noble title has passed through at least 14 holders since 1618, reaching the current Lord and Baron of Fentoun in 2026, as announced in the Edinburgh Gazette (official notice) and recorded in the Scottish Barony Register.

The area around what is now Fenton Tower is rich in Scottish history. Originally part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia, the area – known until the 20th Century as Haddingtonshire – was ceded to Scotland by King Edgar (“The Peacemaker”) of England (c.944-975) in the 10th Century. Even earlier, however, what is now East Lothian had already acquired an extraordinarily deep connection to Scottish history, for it was in this vicinity in 833 AD that Angus Mac Fergus (Óengus II, king of the Picts from 820-834 AD) defeated the Angles at the battle of Athelstaneford.

According to legend, on the eve of the battle, St. Andrew himself appeared to the Pictish king and advised him to “watch for the sign of the Cross of Christ in the air” – which indeed they saw. In gratitude for their victory, the Picts agreed to venerate the saint, and this is the origin of the Scottish national flag, the Saltire: a white St. Andrew’s Cross on a blue field. The lands in this area came to be held by the De Vaux family, an Anglo-Norman family originally from Rouen, which settled in nearby Dirleton during the 12th Century.

The lands around Fenton Tower appear thereafter to have passed into the Haliburton family after the death in the 14th Century of William de Vaux, Lord of Dirleton, after which an heiress to some of these lands, Janet Haliburton, married William, Lord Ruthven.

There has been a fortified tower at that location since the 11th Century, but the building now known as Fenton Tower was built in 1550 by Patrick Whytelaw, the son of Patrick Ruther (1520-1566), the 3rd Lord Ruthven.

Fenton Tower – alternatively spelled as Fentoun Tower, and once known as Over Sydeserff, a name deriving from St. Serf (c.500-c.583), a Scottish saint who proselytized among the pagan Picts of this area in the 6th Century and whose feast day is July 1 – was restored at the end of the 20th Century.

Following the creation of this noble title in 1618 by King James VI of Scotland for Thomas Erskine, Viscount of Fenton, the Lordship and Barony of Fentoun passed through at least 14 different title holders to the present day, beginning with James Maxwell of Innerwick, Earl of Dirleton, to whom the lands were regranted via a charter from King Charles I in the year 1631.

They thereafter passed to another James Maxwell (a.k.a Cecil), the Earl of Salisbury, but were regranted again by Charles II to the Scottish judge Sir John Nisbet in 1664, and were later incorporated as one part of the larger holdings of the Lordship and Barony of Dirleton by charter from King James II (a.k.a. James VII of Scotland) in 1685.

The lands and the Lordship and Barony of Fentoun remained in the Nisbet family for many years thereafter, up through the ownership of Lt. Col. John Patrick Nisbet Hamilton Grant, DSO, who held the title from 1920 to 1933.

The land and title were held by multiple part-owners or by corporate owners thereafter, however, except for the period beginning in 1955, when they were held by Vice Admiral Basil Barrington Brooke (1895-1983) – an estranged member of the famous family of “White Rajas” that long ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak, a well-known cricketer for the Singapore National Team, naval aide-de-camp to King George VII, and the commander of the battlecruiser HMS Renown during the Second World War.

Until 2004, noble titles in the Scottish baronage passed to whomever was the owner of the specific lands (e.g., Fenton Tower and its environs) associated with each title. Historically, the holder of such a title enjoyed certain legal rights vis-à-vis the inhabitants of the lands in question, but this is no longer the case. Under the Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act of 2000, Scottish titles ceased to be connected to specific parcels of land, but they remained dignities that could be transferred as property in their own right.

Iron Age

Votadini hill-forts built in the region

833 AD

Battle of Athelstaneford; St. Andrew’s Cross becomes Scottish national symbol

1550

Construction of Fenton Tower

1618

King James VI of Scotland creates Lordship and Barony of Fentoun

1631

Lands and title regranted by King Charles I of England

1664

Lands and title regranted by King Charles II

1955–84

Lands and title held by Vice Admiral Basil Barrington Brooke, of the family of the Rajas of Sarawak

2026

Title passes to the current Lord and Baron

The Fentoun personal tartan of the current Lord and Baron is registered with the official Scottish Registry of Tartans.

The deep blue of the North Sea grounds this tartan. This blue pairs with the green of the East Lothian hills around Fentoun Tower to symbolize the lands of the Eastern Lowlands; with the white stripe, it evokes the St. Andrew’s Cross of the national Saltire (which legendarily originated in this area after a great Pictish vistory in 833 AD); and it pairs with gold to evoke the colours of the current Lord of Fentoun’s Oxford dining society, The Stoics.