Haddington, East Lothian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Haddington | |
|---|---|
| Hadentoun (Scots) | |
| OS grid reference: | NT511739 |
| Population: | 8,844 |
| Council area: | East Lothian |
| Constituent country: | Scotland |
| Sovereign state: | United Kingdom |
| Police force: | Lothian and Borders Police |
| Lieutenancy area: | East Lothian |
| Former county: | Haddingtonshire |
| Post town: | HADDINGTON |
| Postal: | EH41 |
| Telephone: | 01620 |
| Scottish Parliament: | East Lothian |
| UK Parliament: | East Lothian |
| European Parliament: | Scotland |
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See also: Haddington (disambiguation)
Haddington is a town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland, approximately 20 miles south-east of Edinburgh. It is today the main administrative centre for the East Lothian Council. 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 and comprising 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.
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[edit] Commerce
It developed into the fourth largest town in Scotland during the High Middle Ages, and latterly was the centre of the mid 18th-century Scottish Agricultural Revolution. Haddington is located predominantly on the left bank of the River Tyne, and was once famous for its mills. The Abbey Mill, and the Forrest family's Gimmersmills are both well-known parts of local history. 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 King 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 promotors 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, 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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 is 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 was not 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 8 bells hung for full circle ringing was installed for the millennium.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Famous people from Haddington
- 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 collegues, 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 (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.
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
Haddington: A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.
Haddington Community Council - http://www.haddingtoncc.org.uk/
[edit] Map references
- for Haddington, East Lothian
| East Lothian Towns & Villages |
|---|
| Aberlady | Athelstaneford | Auldhame & Scoughall | Bolton | Cockenzie and Port Seton | Dirleton | Drem | Dunbar | East Linton | East Saltoun and West Saltoun | Gifford | Gullane | Haddington | Humbie | Kingston | Longniddry | Macmerry | Musselburgh | North Berwick | Oldhamstocks | Ormiston | Pencaitland | Prestonpans | Tranent | Whitekirk | Wallyford |
