TRIP TO HADDINGTON, SCOTLAND

ANCIENT CITIES OF SCOTLAND

HADDINGTON

I finally managed to come to Haddington for a couple of days last week when the air of Scotland was perceptibly saturated with the light scent of spring. I had wanted to visit the city located in East Lothian for a long time. It attracted me with its archaic sights like a bee to honey and had been colourfully described by friends who have visited. 

Well, this hospitable city made an indelible impression on me too.  Now I will share my delight with you!

How to get to Haddington

I don’t have my own car so I travelled from Edinburgh on a regular bus – it seems to run every 25 minutes. Taxis can be ordered as a more expensive alternative.

Alas, the train from the Great Northern Railway, a British railway company founded in 1846, will not work – passenger traffic having been discontinued since 1949.

Why passenger trains don’t run to Haddington

It’s simple.  Rail transportation could not keep pace with the fierce competition from regular buses!  The Railway Hotel is now located in memory of the only railway line leading to the city – it can be found at the western end of Court Street.

Where is Haddington?

If you estimate in kilometres, then Haddington is located:

• 10km south of the Firth of Forth;

• 27km from the east of Edinburgh;

• 632km from south-east London.

In general, the location of the city is very interesting.  It used to be situated on the main road to Edinburgh. Since Haddington was the “gateway” to the centre of Scotland merchants and marauders visited the city in transit.  In the Middle Ages numerous armies came including those of the English crown.

What do we know about the history of Haddington?

Walking along the picturesque streets of Haddington it is impossible not to notice the age of the city.  There is reliable evidence that the first settlements were already here at the beginning of the first millennium of our era.

Where do you think the name Haddington comes from?  From the Anglo-Saxons! They gave the name to the city around the 6th century AD.  Around the same time the settlement was included in the Kingdom of Bernicia.

King Edgar of England transferred Haddington to Scotland in the 10th century.  In around 1100, King David I of Scotland (nicknamed “Saint”) gave the settlement the official status of “Royal Burg (Burger)” and made it the county trading city of Haddingtonshire.  Haddingtonshire was a county from 1889 to 1921.

Haddington has flourished since 1300. The city grew and developed through intensive trade and two factors contributed to it. The first is an advantageous location, as it was figuratively speaking the gateway to Edinburgh and the centre of Scotland! The second is its own port at Aberlady. The small port allowed the city to establish important trade links with almost all ports in Northern Europe.

What is Haddington now?

This small town (area of ​​only 2.83 square kilometres!) is now the centre of culture, administration and geography in East Lothian.  Haddington is today quite quiet and sparsely populated with about 9,500 inhabitants despite the fact that market life was in full swing here in the Middle Ages.

I liked the city centre very much, especially the main streets – the High Street and Market Street. Markets are comfortably located here and between them there are many pretty buildings and alleys.

Of course, I also looked at the Town House built in 1742 and today its spire majestically “pierces the sky” of the city recalling its successful trading past. By the way, the Town House did not become a museum, but was turned into the administrative building of the East Lothian Council.

I did not forget to look at the old post office in Haddington, another architectural monument which was built in 1603.

Finally, I visited Lennoxlove House where the Dukes of Hamilton lived.  I arrived here last, on the eve of my departure. The gloomy and at the same time kind of flirtatious building on the estate created two feelings – delight and confusion.  It’s a pity we couldn’t see what is inside.  The residence is open for excursions only during the summer.

What else to see in Haddington – attractions

I look with wide eyes at everything – at the breathtaking architecture of the past and present, at smiling people, at the constant grey sky (no, the weather did not indulge me with sun on my visit).

For those guests of the city who come here to see something like that, I recommend two main attractions in Haddington: 

• Nungate Bridge 

• St Martin’s Kirk – the old church (or rather, what is left of it).

Nungate Bridge

If you want to see one of the oldest bridges built in Scotland, then head to Haddington! Here the Nungate arched stone bridge stretches across the rather quiet River Tyne.

By the way, in 1358 the quiet River Tyne overflowed so much that it flooded most of Haddington and even partially washed it away. But the thriving trading city recovered very quickly.

How old are the attractions?

It is believed that the bridge is at least 640 years old.  According to more or less preserved evidence, Nungate has already been standing in its place since 1282. However, it is likely that the current Nungate Bridge is a rebuilt version of the original ancient bridge which was completely destroyed in 1548 during the siege of Haddington. Several arches were added in the 18th century in order to increase the strength of the structure.

How did scientists know Nungate was so old?  It is only partially built from rough cubic blocks hewn out of red sandstone. Man-made building materials were taken from the ruins of the Church of St. Mary: archaeologists found this out from the special marks masons left on the blocks of the bridge.  Since the layered masonry contains archaic segments of wild rubble stone it is assumed that the bridge is a dilapidated stone structure which was restored in 1548 and dates back to 1282.

Some interesting details

The length of the epic structure is decent – 30 metres. Today, the Nungate Bridge is still used as a pedestrian crossing over the Tyne, but hundreds of years ago army boots pounded on that bridge.  By the way, cars even drove around Nungate in the last century.

Nungate Bridge is a monument of the highest category “A”.  This category was assigned to the bridge in 1971, adding the attraction to the Scottish list of architectural monuments.

You know I passed this bridge with mixed feelings of admiration and fear – admiration from the realization that under your feet there is a bridge which is several hundred years old and with horror also that this bridge “remembers” too much.  For example, numerous executions by hanging were common in medieval Europe. On the structure of Nungate special hooks were adapted for this purpose – these can be seen on the extreme western arch of the bridge.

St Martin’s Kirk

I am amazed at how the Scots treat their historical heritage with such care! Here in Haddington you can see a church that was built in 1139 instead of the Church of the Gray Monks.

In that distant era, it was a new Franciscan church next to which Countess Ada of Northumberland, wife of Prince Henry of Scots founded a Cistercian convent of St. Mary in 1155.

Then in the Middle Ages St Martin’s Kirk was opened to nuns and ordinary parishioners and was the leading and largest temple in Haddington.

Of course, hundreds of years and several eras could not spare the stone structure, but it did not fall to the ground.  I looked at the rather decent remains of the once large and I’m sure popular parish church and admired the still perfectly readable Romanesque architecture – it was in the Romanesque style in which Kirk St Martin was built.

By the way, at least two architects worked on the appearance of this landmark:

• An unknown person built St Martin’s Kirk in 1139. 

• John Knox (a native of Haddington) rebuilt the church which was destroyed in 1560 during the Protestant Reformation.

I am a little familiar with the version which explains both the reason for the destruction of the church and the involvement of the Catholic D. Knox in its restoration.  It turns out that the fiercely pro-Protestant Scottish Reformation of the 16th century was orchestrated by Knox.  Perhaps it was he who ordered the attackers to break through the roof of the shrine, displaying unfriendly sentiment towards the Franciscans.

Alas, today Kirk St Martin is the only surviving part of the large-scale religious project laid down by the Countess of Northumberland.  The holy ruins are located in the public park and can be viewed at any time!