Find your way around Musselburgh, Tranent, Prestonpans, Cockenzie/Port Seton and Nearby Villages

FIRST THINGS FIRST! The best way of finding your away around Musselburgh and the nearby towns and villages of East Lothian is to purchase a copy of Ronald P A Smith's Musselburgh/Tranent/Prestonpans Street Plan, available from local retail outlets. First published in 2003, at the large scale of 8 inches to 1 mile (1:7500), it is the most detailed town map of its kind.
 
At around twice the scale of its nearest rival, the Musselburgh street map has considerably more detail than any other similar publication currently available - a whole sheet-side to itself - a great improvement on its traditional depiction as a small-scale inset on maps of Edinburgh, often without the Levenhall area!  The same level of detail applies to all the other communities covered by the map - Cockenzie, Inveresk, Macmerry, Ormiston, Pencaitland, Port Seton, Prestonpans, Tranent, Wallyford and Whitecraig - comprehensive coverage of the western part of East Lothian.  The remainder of the county is covered by the new Haddington/Dunbar/North Berwick Street Plan, also a new publication for 2003.  
 
In addition to the amount of map detail, the East Lothian street plans by R P A Smith are the only ones 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.
 
To order by post direct from the publisher, please click on the 'Map Ordering' button at the top of this web page.

BURGH OF MUSSELBURGH - THE 'HONEST TOUN'

Musselburgh is the most populous town in East Lothian (22,112 inhabitants in 2001), situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth immediately outwith the Edinburgh city boundaries.  It has a long history, dating back to Roman times, and attempts in 1632 to make it a royal burgh were successfully resisted by the city of Edinburgh. Nevertheless, the town retains one of the oldest tolbooths in Scotland, prominently situated in the High Street (as shown on the photograph on the left and on the cover of the Musselburgh/Tranent/Prestonpans Street Plan).  Other features of the town include the River Esk with its well-maintained bankside lawns and flower beds and bridges old and new, Fisherrow Harbour and beach, the ancient Pinkie House (now part of Loretto School), the famous Musselburgh Racecourse and Musselburgh golf links, the oldest golf course in the world still in use.
 
Immediately to the south is the calm oasis of Inveresk village with its hill-top parish church, incorporating stonework from a Roman Praetorium which once stood nearby.  The village still retains a good number of old mansion houses, including Inveresk Lodge, the garden of which is a National Trust for Scotland property open to the public.  Another important National Trust property, recently opened to the public, is Newhailes, dating back to 1686 and standing in extensive grounds on the western outskirts of Musselburgh.
 
The town is readily accessible by road and rail, close to the A1 dual-carriageway and the Edinburgh City Bypass.  It also has a railway station on the east coast main line, served by electric trains on the North Berwick service.  In addition, Wallyford station serves the eastern end of the town.  Musselburgh has a tourist information centre at the service area off the A1.

Tranent
 
With around 8,892 residents in 2001, the former burgh of Tranent has changed over the past 30 years from a coal-mining community to a rapidly-expanding residential dormitory town for the City of Edinburgh.  Its High Street has recently had an environmental 'makeover', and the lower parts of the town still retain some interesting old buildings, including the old Parish Church, the classical former Wishart Church, the 16th century Tranent Tower and an old doocot, north of the Parish Church graveyard.

Prestonpans
 
Present-day Prestonpans, a couple of miles east of Musselburgh, is really made up of two once-separate communities - Preston (or 'priest's town'), an inland village, and the burgh of Prestonpans, formerly a salt-panning town on the shores of the Firth of Forth.  Perhaps surprisingly to many people who rush by on their way to North Berwick, the combined town (2001 population - 7,153) contains much of historical and architectural interest, including Preston Mercat Cross (photograph on left) which has been described as 'the most handsome in Scotland'.  The parish church, on the other hand, was always located in the coastal Prestonpans - Prestongrange Parish Church, dating from 1596, was one of the first churches built in Scotland after the reformation.  A short distance west of Prestonpans, on the coast road to Musselburgh, is the Prestongrange Museum, based on a former colliery and having a Cornish beam engine as its main feature.

Although most of its ordinary houses have gone, Preston village still contains a remarkable selection of old mansion houses and other important buildings.  These include Hamilton House (a National Trust for Scotland property dating from 1626 - photograph on right), the early 17th-century Northfield House and doocot, Bankton House (recently restored, to the south of the railway) and Preston Tower which can be seen in the background of the photograph above.  Preston Tower was built by the Hamiltons of Preston in the 15th century and was extended vertically two hundred years later.
 
Prestonpans has a railway station on the North Berwick commuter route but has seen relatively little private housing development in recent years.

Cockenzie and Port Seton
 
This former burgh is the combination of two adjacent fishing villages, a mile east of Prestonpans.  The two communities have merged together so successfully that no physical division of any kind survives.  The old High Street by the shore is now something of a backwater; at either end are the fishing harbours (that of Port Seton is shown on the photograph, left).  Looming over Cockenzie Harbour is a power station, but the eastern end of the combined towns marks the start of the more unspoiled part of East Lothian.  Port Seton once possessed an outdoor swimming pool for holidaymakers; still remaining is the large Seton Sands Holiday Village.  The town, which had a population of 5,499 in 2001, is notable for its religious observance (due to its fishing origins) and has recently been greatly extended through private housing development on its southern edge.

We hope that this information on the western part of East Lothian has whetted your appetite for a visit to the area - and remember to buy R P A Smith's Musselburgh/Tranent/Prestonpans Street Plan to find your way around!