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A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticework wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and .Coventry, p. 10 Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mechanical means, yetts are hinged in the manner of a traditional gate or door and are secured either by bolts attached to the yett or by long bars drawn out from the wall or gateway.
Similar grille constructions, frequently also referred to as yetts, were used in Scotland over windows and other openings.Coventry, p. 6 These were typically fixed in place, often set into the jambs, sills, and lintels.
The yett was frequently used as a cheaper alternative to the portcullis,Morris, p. 215 since it was simpler in concept, less cumbersome and more practical. However, it was also used within more complex defensive arrangements. The 14th-century castle at Doune Castle, in Perthshire, had a portcullis in the main gateway supplemented by a yett, with a second yett at the far bailey end of the passage. The yetts each had two leaves, with a wicket gate inserted within one of the leaves.Toy, pp. 201–2 Commonly, the yett would be placed behind a wooden door, providing additional security should the outer door be burned.
Because the yett was a defensive structure, royal warrants were required before any could be added to a house or castle. These warrants were frequently issued along with other licences for defensive features; for example, in 1501 John Murray of Cockpool was given a licence to build a tower at Comlongon Castle with and "irneztteis and windois". Aggressors might attempt to remove yetts: in February 1489 the Hepburns in Stirlingshire brought an action against the Grahams who had taken away the iron yett of Bruce's Tower in order to gain possession. Acts of the Lord Auditors (Edinburgh, 1839), p. 132; see RCAHMS Stirlingshire, Bruce's Tower or Over Carnock In August 1548, during the war of the Rough Wooing, Regent Arran slighted Hailes Castle so the English could not use it by removing the iron gates or yetts.Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1892), p. 616.
After an attack on the principal yett of the House of Kinblethmont near Arbroath in November 1602 against Alexander Lindsay, 1st Lord Spynie, by the Ogilvies, in December 1602 James VI of Scotland recognised the threat posed to security by the increasing use of explosive , which meant that no longer could anyone "assure his own safety and preservation within his own houses and iron yetts".David Masson, Register of the Privy Council: 1599–1604, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1884), pp. 491, 519. Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, efforts were made by the government to control the disorder and Border Reivers in the borders. In November 1606 it was recognised that one of the impediments to the administration of justice in the area was the strength of the houses. Consequently, the Privy Council ordered that all yetts should be removed from all houses belonging to those lower in rank than .
Grated windows in the Scottish style were traditional in Tyrol in the 15th century, and similar window grilles are seen a century later in Venice, particularly at the Palazzo Ducale (although the bars are somewhat larger than those used in Scotland).Maxwell-Irving, pp. 435, 438 It is likely the craft spread south from Tyrol to the Venetian Republic, but there appears to be little connection to the earlier Scottish technology (although there was some trade between Scotland and Germany).
Grated iron doors were found in England, but were constructed using a different method. For the English-style gate, the vertical bars all passed in front of the horizontal bars, and were riveted or fixed in place; the spaces were infilled with oak, making the gate solid. One notable exception, however, was constructed using the Scottish method: a yett from Streatlam Castle, now held at the Bowes Museum in nearby Barnard Castle. Streatlam was rebuilt by Sir George Bowes following damage in the 16th century; the Bowes family had connections in Scotland, which may have inspired the yett construction.Maxwell-Irving, pp. 435–7
Since yetts were immensely heavy, and there is little evidence to suggest they were prefabricated, it is possible that many were made locally rather than transported large distances, either by local smiths or itinerant specialists.Maxwell-Irving, p. 448 A blacksmith in Elgin called George Robertson made a new iron yett for the great tower at Kilravock Castle in February 1568.Cosmo Innes, Genealogical deduction of the family of Rose of Kilravock (Aberdeen, 1848), p. 249 Many of the yetts and window grilles of Scottish royal palaces were made to measure in the smithy of the royal artillery by William Hill at Edinburgh Castle and transported to houses like Falkland Palace, Hamilton Palace, and Linlithgow Palace, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 61, February 1552. and some for Stirling Castle were made in Linlithgow. Accounts of the Masters of Work, 1 (HMSO, 1957), pp. 218–219: Treasurer's Accounts, vol. 8, HM Register House, p. 37, November 1541 Conventionally, window-grilles were built into the stone window-frames.
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