Everything about Haddington East Lothian totally explained
See also: Haddington (disambiguation)
The
Royal Burgh of
Haddington It lies approximately 20 miles east of
Edinburgh. It is today the main administrative centre for East Lothian. It was the first Royal Burgh, created as such sometime in the reign of
David I of Scotland (1124-1153), containing a famous Abbey and monastery.
Although now a small town with a population of less than 9,000, at one time Haddington was the fourth largest city in Scotland, after
Aberdeen,
Dundee and Edinburgh. At the centre of the town is the Haddington Town House, originally built in 1748 according to a plan by
William Adam which consists of a council chamber, gaol and sheriff court, to which assembly rooms were added in 1788, and a new town clock in 1835. Nearby is the Haddington Corn Exchange (1854) and the County Courthouse (1833). Other notable sites include the Jane Welsh Carlyle House, and Mitchell's Close.
Commerce
Haddington is located predominantly on the left bank of the
River Tyne, and was once famous for its mills. It developed into the fourth largest town in Scotland during the
High Middle Ages, and latterly was at the centre of the mid-18th-century
Scottish Agricultural Revolution. The
Abbey Mill, and the Forrest family's
Gimmersmills are both well-known to local historians. Another was the
New Mills, which, with the Abbey Mill, became the property of cadets of the
Hepburn of Waughton family following the
Scottish Reformation. Patrick Hepburn in Stevenson had a charter under the
Great Seal from
James VI of the lands of
Newmylnes, at Haddington. In his son George's marriage contract Patrick Hepburn settled upon him a long list of properties, including his patrimony - the New Mills. Also included was the Abbey Mill.
In 1641 an Act was passed by the
Scottish Parliament to encourage the production of fine cloth, and numerous financial incentives were given. In 1645 an amendment went through stating that the masters and workers of manufactories would be exempt from military service, and as a result of this factories were established; these included New Mills, or "The Incorporation of the Woollen Manufacture at Newmills in the Shire of Haddington", the promoters of the company being
Robert Blackwood, a Director of the
Scottish Darien Company and afterwards Master of the
Merchant Company of Edinburgh, and
Sir James Stanfield, a man of considerable wealth. Stanfield had acquired the Newmills property near Haddington, the superiority of which had formerly belonged to the local monastery. This factory suffered during the
Civil War with the loss of its cloth to
General Monk. But a new charter was drawn up in May 1681, and major capital invested in new machinery, with manufacturing progressing apace. But the New Mills had mixed fortunes, inevitably affected by the lack of protectionism for Scottish manufactured cloth. The
Scots Courant reported in 1712 that New Mills was to be 'rouped' (auctioned). The property was sold on 16 February 1713 and the machinery and plant on March 20. The lands of New Mills were purchased by
Colonel Francis Charteris and he changed their name to
Amisfield.
Country houses
In a
Haddingtonshire Sasine registered on the 8 August 1792, No.576,
Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of Wemyss was seised in the barony of Newmilns, or
Amisfield, Haddingtonshire, plus half of the barony of
Morham and its lands, plus the grain mill of the monastery of Haddington called Abbey Mill. His father, however, had already possessed these properties and in 1756 instructed Isaac Ware to construct Amisfield House, described in
The Buildings of Scotland as "the most important building of the orthodox
Palladian school in Scotland." John Henderson built the walled garden in 1783, and the castellated stable block in 1785. The park in front of the house, possibly landscaped by James Bowie, is today entirely ploughed. Other parts of the grounds are a golf course. The house was demolished in 1928.
All that remains at Amisfield today are the summer house, walled garden, ice House, Temple, and gates. There is a delightful castellated lodge on the A1 highway.
Lennoxlove House, a mansion based upon a 13th-century
tower house lies in its estate half a mile south of the town. Built by the Giffards of
Yester, it was originally named
Lethington, as evidenced in a sasine granted by Johanna Giffard in her confirmation to Sir Robert Maitland, knt., of the lands of Lethington, conforming to the charter granted by Hugo de Giffard to the said Sir Robert, dated at Haddington, 1st December, 1399. It was long home to the Maitland family, notably Sir
Richard Maitland, and his son
Mary Queen of Scots' Secretary of State,
William Maitland of Lethington. The Maitlands parted with it in the 17th century. It is now the seat of the
Duke of Hamilton and Brandon
Town Centre
The town centre has been protected from "the ravages of re-development" thanks to the foresight of the original County Planning Officer, Frank Tindall who worked in East Lothian from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s.
St Mary's Collegiate Church
The parish church of St Mary's today belongs to the
Church of Scotland, but includes an
Episcopalian chapel called the
Lauderdale Aisle, containing the mausoleum of the
Earls of Lauderdale. Regarded as one of the three great churches of the Lothians, it's the longest parish church in Scotland and is often used for concerts. It is located next to the massive 12th-century
Nungate bridge on a bend of the
River Tyne.
The
Garvald red sandstone building was started in 1375 (an earlier St Mary's Church had been destroyed by the English in 1356) and consecrated in 1410, although it wasn't finished until 1487. The church was almost destroyed during the 1548-49 Siege of Haddington that followed the
Rough Wooing of
Henry VIII, and on the advice of
John Knox, it was restored “frae the tower to the West door”. Thus the nave became the church and the choir and transepts were left ruined until the whole church was restored in the 1970s. The organ was built in 1990.
A set of eight bells hung for full circle ringing was installed for the
Millennium.
Military
Lying on the direct route of English invaders from the south, the town was burned by forces from across the border in 1216, 1244 and 1355. The great
Siege of Haddington, the longest town siege in British history, lasted for 18 months (1547-49) when an occupying English force sent by
Henry VIII was besieged by the Scots and their French allies.
Robert Lauder of The Bass (d.1576) is on record (Sir
James Balfour of Denmyine's
Annals, vol.1] as taking prisoner
Sir James Wilford, the English Governor of Haddington, in 1548, during a sortie with French soldiers from the castle at
Dunbar.
Sport
Football
Haddington is home to the
junior football club
Haddington Athletic.
Rugby
Haddington is also home to
Haddington RFC, the current
BT Scotland Premiership Division Three champions. Their home pitch is Neilson park.
Miscellaneous
The world's earliest surviving records of a lodge of free gardeners come from Haddington, in 1676.
Famous people from Haddington
Ada de Warenne, Countess of Northumbria and Huntingdon (1120-1178), Mother of Malcolm IV and William the Lion, Kings of Scots. Founded the Nunnery for which the Nungate is named.
Alexander II - (1198 – 1249), King of Scotland from 1214 until 1249.
John Brown, known as John Brown of Haddington - (1722 – 1787), theologian and author of The Self-interpreting Bible (known as 'Brown's Bible') and A Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Became minister in Haddington in 1751 and is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's.
Samuel Morison Brown - (1817-1856), chemist and writer, grandson of John Brown, born in Haddington.
Finlay Calder (1957- ) - Scottish rugby player born in Haddington.
Jane Welsh Carlyle - (1801-1866), wife of the writer Thomas Carlyle, daughter of a local doctor. She was buried next to her father in the choir of St Mary's Church, at that time still ruined.
William George Gillies (1898-1973) - painter born in the High Street. Student and later principal of the Edinburgh College of Art, several of his works are in the Talbot Rice Gallery in the University of Edinburgh.
John Gray (1646-1717) - preacher, scholar and book collector, was born and died in Haddington. He assembled an important library of early printed books which was sold to the National Library of Scotland in 1961.
John Knox (1505, 1513 or 1514 – 1572) - great Protestant reformer born (probably in Nungate on the east bank of the River Tyne, opposite St Mary's) and educated in the town.
James Lauder (d.1696), M.A., Sheriff-Clerk, Provost, Commissioner to Parliament, and Commissioner to the Convention of Burghs, and M.P., for Haddington. On 7 March 1678 a Supplication (application) was made to the Privy Council by James Lauder, Sheriff-Clerk of Haddington, and two colleagues, to establish a stage-coach service between Haddington and Edinburgh, with two coaches, for seven years. In August 1690 he was said to be responsible for the celebrated escape from his house by two prisoners, of the Seton family, because as a Baillie he was required to attend Church.
John Mair (also known as Haddingtonus Scotus) (1467-1550) - Scottish philosopher, friend of Erasmus and teacher of Calvin, Ignatius Loyola, John Knox, and other Scottish Reformers including the Protestant martyr Patrick Hamilton and the humanist and Latin stylist George Buchanan. He held many University and government positions.
Adam Skirving (1719-1803) - song writer, author of the famous Jacobite song Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?, was born in Haddington, farmed at Garleton, and was buried at Athelstaneford.
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) - social reformer and author of Self Help (1859), lived in the High Street.
Willie Wood MBE (1938- ) - bowls player who took part in a record seven Commonwealth Games and won two gold medals was born in Haddington and grew up in nearby Gifford.
Bibliography
The Records of a Scottish Cloth Manufactory at New Mills, Haddingtonshire edited by W.R.Scott, M.A., Scottish History Society, Edinburgh, 1905.
The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Third Series, edited by P.Hume Brown, M.A.,LL.D., volume V, Edinburgh, 1912, p.381.
Lost Houses of Scotland, by M.Binney, J.Harris, & E.Winnington, for 'Save Britain's Heritage', London, July 1980. ISBN 0-905978-05-6
Haddington: Royal Burgh - A History and a Guide, The Haddington History Society, published 1997 by Tuckwell Press Ltd., ISBN 1-86232-000-4
Notes and references
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