Find your way around Haddington, East Linton and Gifford

FIRST THINGS FIRST! The best way of finding your away around Haddington is to purchase a copy of Ronald P A Smith's Haddington/Dunbar/North Berwick Street Plan, available from local retail outlets. First published in 2003, the map includes Haddington, East Linton and Gifford (as well as Dunbar and coloured coverage of North Berwick, Dirleton, Gullane, Aberlady and Longniddry) at the large scale of 8 inches to 1 mile (1:7500), considerably larger than any other similar maps available, and consequently the most detailed town map of its kind, aimed at walkers/pedestrians as well as motorists and commercial drivers.  It forms part of the only series of Scottish street maps with comprehensive indexes and locations of antiquities and places of interest; leisure facilities; schools and colleges; places of worship; health and welfare facilities; and other information including the locations of industrial estates, emergency services, etc.  Together with the Musselburgh/Tranent/Prestonpans Street Plan, it provides detailed coverage of all the towns and main villages in East Lothian.

To order by post direct from the publisher, please click on the 'Map Ordering' button at the top of this web page.

ROYAL BURGH OF HADDINGTON

Pleasantly situated by the River Tyne amid the pastoral landscapes of East Lothian stands Haddington, the ancient county town of East Lothian (formerly known as Haddingtonshire) and still its administrative centre (1991 resident population: 8,844). The town received its Royal Burgh charter from King Robert I in the early 14th century in confirmation of earlier charters thought to date back to 1128.  In these early days, it was a seat of Scottish kings and their palace at Haddington was the birthplace of Alexander II.
 
The town was burnt by the English four times between 1216 and 1544, but the town's important grain trade developed to such an extent that it became one of the four most prosperous towns in Scotland with considerable exports to continental Europe via its port of Aberlady.  The burgh originally developed around a large market place - an elongated triangle, now partly built up with street blocks between High Street and Market Street.  The town centre layout and buildings are remarkably well-preserved and Haddington is well worth a visit as one of the best examples of Scottish architecture and townscape.
 
Unfortunately, and despite its increased role as a dormitory town for the City of Edinburgh, Haddington has lost its railway station.  The town is, however, readily accessible by road, being situated just off the new A1 dual-carriageway.

Antiquities and Places of Interest

St Mary's Parish Church - The parish church at Haddington (see photograph on right) is one of the largest and most impressive in Scotland, being 210 feet long and thus about 2 feet longer than St Giles' Cathedral Kirk in Edinburgh!  It is known to have been under construction on its riverside site in 1462, but its choir/chancel and transepts lay open to the skies between 1548 (when the town was held by the English and besieged by the Scots and French) and 1973 when the roof was restored.
 
The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Church Street was built in 1769-70 as the 'English Chapel', so-called because it was attended by those who accepted King George.  It was built on the site of a Franciscan place of worship, known as the 'Lamp of Lothian', destroyed in 1356.
 
The oldest residence in the burgh, Haddington House, dates from the early 17th century.  Between it and the river are the attractive St Mary's Pleasance Garden and Lady Kitty's (Lady Catherine Charteris's) Doocot while, elsewhere in the town centre, are attractive restored/new housing groups, most notably at Mitchell's Close (off Market Street) and St Ann's Place (off Sidegate).  An interesting feature on a wall at the corner of Sidegate and High Street is a flood-level marker.

Town House - Haddington's prominent Town House (see the top photograph on the left) dominates the east end of Court Street.  It was designed by William Adam in 1742, but the steeple is a replacement of 1831 by James Gillespie Graham.
 
Nungate Bridge - Leading across the River Tyne to Nungate, Haddington's eastern suburb and once a separate barony, is the quaint Nungate Bridge (left).  The structure dates from the 16th century, and was altered two centuries later.  In this eastern area are a well-known riverside restaurant and the shell of St Martin's Church, part of a 12th century Cistercian nunnery.  Also of interest in the Nungate is an inter-war housing estate at Lennox Road, converted to 'open-plan' layout in the 1970s - an ill-conceived approach whereby front gardens lost their boundary fences and front doors faced footpaths instead of streets!

Nearby Villages
 
A short distance to the east of Haddington, towards Dunbar, is the attractive former burgh of East Linton, at a waterfall or 'linn' on the River Tyne.  It is an attractive, quiet village with, on its outskirts, the interesting National Trust for Scotland properties of Preston Mill (18th-century) and Phantassie Doocot.
 
Inland from Haddington, towards the rolling Lammermuir Hills, is the delightful village of Gifford, developed by the laird of Yester as a planned village in the late 17th century and featuring a 1780 Mercat Cross and an impressive white-harled parish church which was designed by James Smith and completed in 1710.  It is much visited for its hotels, eating places and gift shops, as well as for its peaceful 'away-from-it-all' atmosphere.

We hope that this information on Haddington (and nearby villages) has whetted your appetite for a visit to the town - and remember to buy R P A Smith's Haddington/Dunbar/North Berwick Street Plan to find your way around!