Keep Your Powder Dry

The inappropriately named ECWtravelogue turns its attention to Lothian, scene of Oliver Cromwell's arguably greatest military victory. See also Edinburgh Before we turn our attention to the Second Battle of Dunbar, there are a couple of other Wars of the Three Kingdoms locations worthy of our attention. Borthwick Castle's cannon scars Borthwick Castle , was besieged by Oliver Cromwell's forces in November 1650; the garrison, short on supplies, surrendered after receiving only a handful of cannon shots. The damage to the walls from this attack is still visible. Borthwick is now a wedding venue. Dirleton Castle:  post-Dunbar the castle held out and moss troopers from the castle made a considerable nuisance of themselves. So much so, that Cromwell ordered Monck and Lambert to take the castle, with 1600 men. The castle would fall due to a combination of starvation and mortar fire (destroying the drawbridge and inner gate) on the 10th November 1650. A number of the moss troopers...

The ECW travelogue packed a toothbrush, passport, a jumper, and a big coat and headed north to Edinburgh, home of the Covenanters. Whilst driving north, the inappropriateness of calling the travelogue the ECW travelogue became rather prescient. But it is too late to start calling it the Wofthe3Ktravelogue now! The Covenant If you can tear yourself away from the pipers, tartan shops, and traditional Scottish shortbread, there are a wealth of places and artefacts connected to the Covenanters for you to see. Greyfriars Kirk First stop has to be Greyfriars Kirk , which once you get past all the Greyfriar's Bobby razzmatazz is bursting with Covenanter related history. In the 1638 the Covenant was signed in the kirkyard.  There are believed to be about 50 copies of the Covenant: there are six copies held in Edinburgh, one is on display inside the kirk's small museum.  The Covenanter memorial Whilst in the church yard, there is a large memorial to the...