Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/382

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362 HADDINGTON horses, 3818, or 3 3 for every 100 imperial acres as against a general average for Scotland of 4 2 ; cattle, 8205, or 7 1 as against 23 ; sheep, 108,672, or 94 2 as against 145 1 ; pigs, 2485, or 2 "2 as against 2 7. 1 Those comparatively small averages are of course explained by the fact that the county is not a pastoral one. It deserves to be noted, however, that its flocks of Leicester sheep have for years been justly celebrated, and shorthorns of a very high class have been successfully bred. Game is no great hindrance to agriculture. A source of greater an noyance is the immense number of wood pigeons which, in defiance of all efforts to hold them in check, commit great havoc yearly. The wages of farm servants average about 18s. weekly, the "grieve" or farm overseer receiving a little more ; but of this only from 20 to 25 per annum is given in money. The rest is paid in kind, and consists of meal, potatoes, a cow s keep, a cottage, and piece of ground. These cottages have been greatly improved of late years, and are now very fair dwellings indeed. The " bothy system " is practically a thing of the past. Extra field labour is supplied by gangs of Irish or Highland workers, who dwell in the towns, but go out during the day to work in the country. The regular employes are hired for the most part at "feeing-inarkets," though advertisement and private arrangement are also often employed. According to the return for 1873-74, there were 1509 proprietors in the county owning a total 171,739 of acres, of the annual value of 349, 209. 2 The average rental was 2, Os. 8d. per acre, that of all Scotland being 1. There were 1191 proprietors (79 per cent, of the whole) who owned less than 1 acre ; from 1 to 188 owned 10 acres, and 47 from 10 to 100 ; and 9 owned between 5000 and 21,000, the largest proprietors being Marquis of Tweeddale, Yestcr House, 20,486 acres; Lady Mary Hamilton, Biel, 14,345; Balfour of Whittinghame, 10,564; Earl of Wemyss, Gosford, 10,136; Sir G. Grant Suttie, Balgone, 8788 ; Earl of Haddington, Tynninghame, 8302 ; Earl of Hopetoun, 7967 ; Hunter of Thurstou, 6492 ; and Houston of Clerkington, 5148. 3 Communication. The county is well supplied with roads. The chief line of railway, however, runs along the coast, and this, not withstanding the aid of branch lines, places a considerable district at a serious disadvantage. Population, &c. The population of the county, which is divided into 25 parishes, was 37,676 in 1871, showing an increase of 78 over the number for 1861. It thus appears that the growth of the county town, of North Berwick, a thriving watering-place, and of the mining parishes does little more than counterbalance the decrease in purely agricultural parishes, which in some cases amounts to as much as from 7 to 18 per cent. The chief towns and villages are Haddington, the county town, 4004 ; Dunbar, 3422 ; North Berwick, 1418; Tranent, 2306; East Linton, Prestonpans, Aberlady, Gullane, and Dirleton. The county returns one mem ber to parliament, and the burghs of Haddington, Dunbar, and North Berwick unite with Lander (Berwickshire) and Jedburgh (Roxburghshire) in returning another. Educational Endoivments.1c, provision for education outside of the public school system is inconsiderable. Schaw s and StieH .y Hospitals in the parishes of Prestonpans and Tranent are charitable educational institutions. In Salton parish there is a fund for educational purposes, left by Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury. According to the Endowed Schools Report of 1875, the annual in comes of these were 864, 812, and 97 respectively. School and college bursaries are given annuvlly by the East Lothian Association. History and Antiquities. The early Celtic inhabitants of the district have left as memorials of their possession a few local names, and some traces of circular camps (Garvald and Whittingham parishes) and hill forts (Bolton parish). The Romans built here no enduring edifices, and there are no certain remains of their camps, but they brought the ground to a high degree of cultivation. The county afterwards formed part of the Saxon kingdom of Northumber land, but it was joined to Scotland by Malcolm II. in 1020. It was fairly prosperous till the wars of Bruce and Balliol ; but from that time till the union of the kingdoms it suffered from its proximity to the English border, and from civil wars. In more modern times it was the scene of two great battles that of Dunbar (1650) gained by Cromwell over Leslie and the Covenanters, and that of Prestonpans (1745) in which Prince Charles defeated Sir John Cope. The prosperity of the county, like that of many other parts of Scotland, is the growth of the present century. The chief ruins are Hailes Castle, where Queen Mary of Scots resided for a brief period after her abduction by Both well ; Dunbar Castle, defended in 1337 by Black Agnes against the earl of Salisbury ; Dirleton Castle, a venerable ruin of the 12th century, 1 The statistics of the five preceding years do not show any very great variation from these figures. 2 In 1878-79 the lands valuation of the county amounted to 363,173, 10s. 3 For further particulars as to the agriculture, see Scott Skirving s prize essay printed in vol. v. (4th series, 1873) of the Highland and Agricultural Society s Transactions. taken in 1298 by Edward I. and again in 1650 by Cromwell s forces ; Innerwiek Castle, near Dunbar ; the collegiate church of Seton in the parish of Tranent, built before 1390 ; North Berwick Abbey, founded about the middle of the 12th century; and Tantallon Castle, opposite the Bass Rock, formerly the chief seat in the east of the Douglas family. The genius of Scott has given to Tantallon a name in English literature greater even than its name in Scottish history ; and readers of Alarmion will also remember the name of Hobgoblin Hall, romantically situated near the village of Gilford (about six miles south of the county town), a place connected by name and legend with all manner of popular superstitions. Of modern mansions the chief are Broxmouth Park (Duke of Rox- burghe), Yester House (Marquis of Tweeddale), Tynninghame House (Earl of Haddington), Gosford and Amisfield House (Earl of Wemyss) Gosford containing a fine collection of pictures, Lennoxlove House (Lord Blantyre), Biel and Archerfield (Lady M. Hamilton), "Wmtou House (Lady Ruthven), and Salton Hall (Fletcher). A lofty column on one of the Garleton hills, erected to the memory of the fourth earl of Hopetoun, is seen from nearly every part of the county. Of the eminent men born in or connected with the county the following may be mentioned : Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount was born 1490 at Garleton Castle, an old keep now utterly ruinous ; William Dunbar was born at Biel about 1460 ; Blair, author of the

Grave, and Home, author of Douglas, were successively ministers of

i Athelstaneford; David Calderwood, the historian of the Kirk of Scot- | land, was minister at Pencaitland, and Principal William Robertson at Gladsmuir ; George Heriot, the famous goldsmith of .lames VI., is said to have been born in Gladsmuir. The historic families of Fletcher of Salton, Dalrymple of Hailes, Maitland of Lethington, and Hamilton of Preston belong to the county. HADDINGTON, a royal and parliamentary burgh, and the chief town of the above county, is situated on the ! banks of the Tyne, about 17 miles east of Edinburgh. It occupies almost the centre of the shire to which it has given the name. It consists of two main streets, which are wide and well built, High Street to the south and Market Street to the north ; both run towards the Tyne, here crossed by three bridges, two of which connect the town with its suburb of Nungate. This suburb consists of old and ruin ous houses, and is inhabited for the most part by Irish agricultural labourers. The systems of drainage and water supply are excellent, but the want of manufactures and the i inconvenience of its railway branch line have prevented the growth of the burgh. The chief edifices are the county buildings, the corn ex change, which next to that of Edinburgh is the largest in Scotland, the town-house adorned with a very elegant spire 150 feet high, and the district asylum for the insane. There is a monument of some pretensions to Robert Fer- gusson of Raith, and a somewhat trifling one to the memory of Home the author of Douglas. The chief structure, how ever, is the church, an edifice probably dating from the 13th century It is 210 feet long, and is surmounted by a square tower 90 feet high. One part is used as the parish church ; the remainder, though ruinous, is now preserved with a, care that makes some amends for centuries of neglect. To this church the name of Liicerna Laudonice has long been applied, but it seems probable that the edifice to which Fordun and Major applied that name was the church of the Franciscan Friars close to the Tyne, of which not a fragment now remains. The Nungate possesses the ruin of an old chapel of St Martin. The grammar school of Had dington was established at a very early period, and carefully fostered by the burghal authorities. At one time it at tained considerable eminence, but latterly fell into complete disuse. Under the name of the Knox Memorial Institute, a very handsome school building has been erected (1879), and with this the ancient burgh school is incorporated. The population of the burgh in 1861 was 3874and in 1871 4004. Haddington is said to have been erected into a burgh by David I. It must have been a place of considerable importance, for when the "Curia Quatuor Burgorum " subsisted there was an appeal from the sentences of burgh courts to that of the chamberlain at Haddington. There are also extant charters in its favour from Robert the Bruce and Robert II. Exposed as it was to the English

attack it was frequently ravaged and burned. In 1548 it was Ibrti-