Military Camps In East Lothian

Few large scale military camps were sited in East Lothian, apart from those at the airfields and Amisfield Park, Haddington. A small unit was stationed at the strategically important communications hub at Dunglass Bridge. However, this did not prevent the military from requisitioning any number of the County’s fine mansions, large houses and a considerable number of hotels all over the county. In addition many private houses were used as billets for troops and airmen.

Large County Houses

The following were used by the Military Authorities at one time or another during the war:

Archerfield House (long after the war).

Hotels

The Belhaven, Albert, Hillside, Royal, Roxburghe and Bayswell hotels in Dunbar were all used as accommodation by Cadets in the local Officer Cadet Training Unit. In North Berwick the military used the Marine Hotel among others. At one point the Marine was used as the H.Q. of the 1st Polish Regiment.

Churches

Any number of church halls, which were used as messes.

Private Homes

A large number of private homes were requisitioned for the duration of the war and used for housing troops and personnel involved in war work of all descriptions. Do you know of any?

HELP

Are you aware of any other hotel, Country House or private house used by the military? Please let me know by using the email link below.

West Garleton

By the car park below the Hopetoun Monument on Byres Hill is the concrete base of a building. Perhaps this is all that remains of one of the outbuildings of 155 Infantry Brigade’s H.Q. across the road in West Garleton House. J. D. Thomson , K.O.S.B. 52nd Division, has left the following account of the importance of this base in the early and difficult months of the war. He wrote:

“After a hectic week in France after Dunkirk the division returned to East Lothian in that momentous summer of 1940 when a German invasion seemed a distinct possibility. Hundreds of poles were hurriedly erected on the beaches and other flat areas to discourage enemy gliders and 155 Infantry Brigade H.Q. at West Garleton had the formidable task of co-ordinating defence plans with mobile units, Home Guard, artillery, etc., in the area.

Had the ‘balloon gone up’ the Nissen huts on the side of the hill at the monument would have been the nerve centre for the defence of the Lothians. Coded messages reached [them] daily indicating the suitability of weather, tides, etc., for the enemy. Any invaders would have had quite a welcome from machine-guns firing on fixed lines. Life at West Garleton had its lighter side. While officers enjoyed the comfort of the large farm house we other ranks had to make do with the more spartan conditions of the outbuildings. As conditions permitted we were known to ‘borrow’ the Brigade Commander’s large staff car (a Humber Snipe) to make the two mile trip to Haddington for a dozen or so fish suppers.”

J. D. Thomson.