Local historian David Berry writes, the island of Fidra is made up of the North and South Dogs (related to the German'dogge' and our 'dog' as a follower or companion) are skerries off the main island and are never connected to the main island at any state of tide. The larger South Dog continues as a treacherous ridge towards Eyebroughy and means boats must stand well out when coming round the SW corner. The smaller North Dog lies under the lighthouse and is almost submerged at spring full tide. The part to the SE that is separated from Fidra proper at high tide is Castle Tarbert (from the gaelic Tarbeairt, an isthmus or portage). Eilbotle (from the Anglian for 'old settlement') was on the nearby shore, which is why the wood has that name.

Only a stave keep, the later chapel and perhaps some small buildings were on the island itself. Just who lived here is a fascinating conundrum because after the Goddodin fell in the 7th century, this must have been a no-man's-land among Angle, Pict, Brython and Viking, with Fidra an important outpost on the coastal sea-routes (easy to get to, big enough to be comfortable & support some livestock, hard to assault). There are stories of 'the race of Congals (from Congalton?) being slaughtered here by Vikings in the 9th century and the hill in Yellowcraig wood was probably another stave fort but less secure that Tarbert. However, no serious archaeology has been done to substantiate any of this. What fascinates me is the mix of origins of local place-names from all their languages, which must mean they all settled--you don't get your name for a place into use just by passing through.

The whole place would have been moved bodily to the present Dirleton when John de Vaux (from Rouen) was given the lands there in the reign of Malcolm IV (1153-1165). He was Steward to Alexander II's household and gifted the now-surplus island and adjoining poorer land to Dryburgh around 1220. Dirleton was built in the mid-1200's. The St Nicholas chapel is therefore probably a later element from this time and the place was almost certainly not referred to as 'Eilbotle'

Lighthouse

Thomas Stevenson the youngest son of Robert Stevenson and father of Robert Louis Stevenson built the lighthouse on Fidra in 1885. The lens was made up of a central focal plane surrounded by prisms which refracted light parallel to the centre lens. This produced a beam of light two meters in diameter which was visible at 21 miles.

The lens weighed approximately 3.5 tons and a clockwork machine kept the light revolving for half-an-hour. The flash effect occurred when the lens passes between the viewer and the source of light, this is when the lighthouse appears to flash. The clockwork machine which drove the lighthouse was powered by a large weight descending the tower from top to bottom which kept the machine going for thirty minutes. This had to be wound up every half-hour with a large handle.

Everyday the keepers climbed to the top of the lighthouse and cleaned the glass and reflectors. The light beamed four white flashes every half minute followed by an interval of thirty seconds. It was fuelled by paraffin supplied by James 'Paraffin' Young from his mineral works in West Lothian. The present Fidra light is powered by mains electrcity providing 92,000 candle power and has a visibility of 24 nautical miles.

In 1900 the keepers were two married couples, the Laidlaw's and the Johnston's. They worked on-station for one month, followed by two weeks off at the keeper's cottages at Granton. The relief crew and supplies were delivered by the lighthouse ship 'Pharos' and later the 'Pole Star'.

In 1929, Charles Stevenson and his son D. Alan Stevenson invented the talking beacon which allowed ships to take bearings in thick fog from radio signals transmitted from the lighthouse.

Parish of Dirleton and Gullane Horse Races

The racing ground at Gullane first appears on a Forrest map in 1799 west of the village on an area of land called the Hundred Acres Park and was owned by Rt. Hon Nisbet Hamilton of Dirleton Castle and Archerfield Estate. Events such as the Hunters and Yeomanry Handicap and the Gullane Hurdle Handicap were contested here. Thoroughbred racehorses such as Landcercost and Chanticleer were trained at Stamford Hall under George Dawson. The Dawson brothers born in Gullane were from one of the most successful training families in racing history. William l'Anson of Blink Bonny and Blair Athol fame had his home in Gullane. Unfortunately for the sport, a quarrel in 1890 between a trainer and Nisbet Hamilton the land owner brought training to an end and consequently an end to the racing.