Robert Hamilton of Briggis

Briggis was an estate at Kirkliston near the Almond Water a West Lothian river and the Gogar Burn.

[9] In March 1546 he went to Dupplin wood with the carpenter James Crawford to cut timber to mount the guns at Dunbar.

[12] In September 1547 he resigned his role at Dunbar to John Bonkill, Chamberlain of St Andrews, and Alexander Forus, and a new Captain, William Hamilton of Humbie.

[13] One of his sons, also named Robert Hamilton, hauled the cannon called "thrawyn-mouth" from Dunbar Castle to the siege of Haddington in July 1548.

Hamilton gave 10 gold crowns to John Dodds and Anthony Kennedy, the leaders of the pioneers digging siegeworks for French guns.

[15] In 1551 Regent Arran rewarded him and William Hamilton of Humbie, his successor at Dunbar, with the sums of money owed by the tailor Thomas Arthur to James V.[16] In December 1552, Regent Arran sent him worsted cloth and velvet for a gown for Elizabeth Ramsay, the daughter of William Ramsay of Leuchars and Colluthie.

His letter of appointment mentions his faithful service in the wars with "the auld enemies of England" and his experience of fortifications and munitions.

[19][20] During the six years of her Regency (1554–1560), Mary of Guise employed an Italian military designer, Lorenzo Pomarelli from Siena who is particularly associated with works on the Island of Inchkeith.

He was instructed to keep some fields of broom in the park to feed the queen's mares, and plant trees in the Peel, the environs of the palace.