Day 3: Haddington, East Lothian to Abbey St Bathans, Scottish Borders

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

7th January 2021: 100.51km walked today taking the total to 280.92/8854km. 4% of 380 people's totals submitting 2512.84km.

Route 1A: Edinburgh to Traquair

Turning south from the Hopetoun Monument we soon arrive at the Royal Burgh of Haddington. Haddington was made a Royal Burgh in the 12th century by David I and was the county town of Haddingtonshire. A Cistercian nunnery was founded to the east of the town in 1155 by Ada, Countess of Northumberland who was granted the lands round Haddington when she married Prince Henry of Scotland who was the son of David I. At one time this nunnery was one of the largest in Scotland although not a trace of it remains other than the ruined St Martin’s Kirk which we will pass later.

A friary and a Royal Palace were also established in the town and it was in this Palace that Alexander II was born. It was burned to the ground when Alexander II was a child and now East Lothian Council occupies the site. In the early 1400s Haddington was the fourth largest town in Scotland after Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Walking down Hardgate we reach the town centre which has retained its historic street plan where the Hardgate along with Court Street, High Street and Market Street mark the edges of the original open triangular marketplace. From the 16th century onwards, this open space was filled in by buildings which were developed on the site where market stalls used to be. Walking along Market Street we reach the Town House which dates from 1748 and was originally designed by William Adam. In 1788 a courtroom and assembly room were added, and the steeple was replaced in 1831. There is a curfew bell in the steeple which has rung since 1532. It rings at 10pm to signify the start of curfew and then at 7am in the morning when curfew ends.

As Market Street changes to Court Street, we pass the Samson Fountain. This was originally a drinking fountain erected in 1924 with a statue of Samson at the top with four drinking cups on chains. In 1998 it was surrounded by a pond and the cups removed. This fountain is in front of the Corn Exchange which was built in 1854 and is one of the largest in Scotland.

Just after this we pass the Tweeddale Monument which was built in 1881 to honour Field Marshall George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale for his services in times of both war and peace. This monument is in front of the offices of East Lothian Council where the Royal Palace once stood. As said before this was where Alexander II, son of King William I was born in 1198. In 1214 King John attacked Haddington and burned it to the ground leaving very few buildings intact. The current building which occupies the site was built in 1832. On the north side of Court Street there is a collection of fine buildings which house banks and Haddington’s Post Office. This post office can trace its history back to 1603 when it was one of the very first post offices in Scotland, servicing the mail between the capitals of Edinburgh and London.

Retracing our steps, we walk along the High Street passing the Mercat Cross. Although a unicorn stands on top of most mercat crosses in Scotland, in Haddington it is a goat. A goat also appears on the seal and the coat of arms of Haddington thought to have been adopted in 1296 possibly due to there being numerous goat farms in the area at that time. There is another goat statue at the junction of the High Street and the Hardgate which was sculpted by Dyre Vaa of Norway in 1978. Leaving the High Street, we walk down Church Street to St Mary’s Collegiate Church. The building of this church was started in 1375 and was completed in 1462. It was ruined in 1548-9 due to the siege of Haddington but was rebuilt in 1561 at the insistence of John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. John Knox was born in Haddington on the opposite side of the river from St Mary’s Church on the street called Giffordgate. The local secondary school, Knox Academy, is named after him.

From the church we walk along the River Tyne to the Nungate Bridge. The first bridge built over the river was built in 1282 but had to be replaced after the siege in 1548-9. The Nungate Bridge was built about 1560. It was the main route from the south into Haddington but is now a footbridge. The bridge has a rather gruesome past as many criminals were shackled to it with jougs (metal collars) round their necks. The ‘jougs’ were removed in 1678 but criminals were still hanged under the bridge from the iron hook which can be seen in the westernmost arch.

After crossing the bridge, we walk through the Nungate where Sir Sean Connery used to work as a French Polisher at Starks who were joiners and undertakers. It is said that when he missed the bus home to Fountainbridge in Edinburgh he slept in one of the coffins.

We soon arrive at St Martin’s Kirk which is all that remains of the Cistercian Nunnery of St Mary’s which was situated about 1.5 km to the east. The church was built in 1178 and was probably used by both the nuns and the people of Haddington.

We now pick up the walk along the River Tyne and pass The Cascade, a weir, before reaching Abbey Bridge. This bridge is thought to date from the late 15th century and was built across the River Tyne to give access to the Nunnery of St Mary’s. It was across this bridge that Mary, Queen of Scots, aged 5, was taken when the Treaty of Haddington was signed in 1548 between France and Scotland. This treaty promised Mary, Queen of Scots to marry the Dauphin of France in return for French assistance in the Siege of Haddington and subsequent French influence in Scotland. Mary subsequently went to live in France, eventually marrying the Dauphin, while her regents ruled in her name in Scotland.

We keep following the River Tyne and eventually reach Hailes Castle. This is one of Scotland’s oldest stone castles dating from around 1240. This original building was built by Hugo de Gourlay and his family but because they supported the English during the Wars of Independence, they were stripped of their lands after the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Robert the Bruce subsequently granted the castle and lordship of Hailes to Sir Adam de Hepburn. The castle was expanded during the 14th and 15th centuries but was repeatedly attacked by English forces. In 1548 it was captured by English forces only to be recaptured by the Scots a year later who removed the gates to prevent the English using it again. Twenty years later James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell married Mary, Queen of Scots after her second husband Lord Darnley was murdered. Their marriage led to Mary’s forced abdication, Bothwell’s flight into exile and the forfeiture of all his lands including Hailes Castle. The castle then fell into disrepair before being dismantled by Cromwell’s forces in 1650.

From Hailes Castle we continue east along the River Tyne before crossing the river and heading south to climb Traprain Law, another extinct volcano. It is the site of a hill fort and is where the Traprain Law treasure was found, the largest hoard of Roman silver found anywhere in Europe. Climbing it today, we see the herd of wild ponies that occupy the slopes. They are checked on daily by a group of volunteers and make our visit extra special; no feeding is allowed though so no sneaking out a carrot from your snack box 😉.

From here we head towards East Linton. It was originally just called Linton probably getting its name from the Linn (a waterfall) on the river which it was built beside. It was then renamed East Linton to differentiate it from West Linton in Peeblesshire when the railways were built. The village predates the bridge which was built over the River Tyne to carry the Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed road, the Great North Road, but the bridge helped it to develop. In September 1549, French troops destroyed the bridge to delay the retreat of the English army and then the current bridge was built around 1560 at the same location.

Carrying along the River Tyne we reach Preston Mill where there has been a mill since the end of the 1500s. The present mill with its orange pantile roof dates almost entirely from the 18th century and is one of the oldest meal mills in Scotland with its machinery still in working order. The mill remained in commercial use until 1959 and has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1951. The mill complex has three buildings, the kiln, the mill and the miller’s house. The unusual design of the polygonal kiln is seen nowhere else in Scotland and looks more like a traditional Dutch mill. Preston Mill was used in the filming of Outlander where Jamie is fixing the mill wheel when the Redcoats arrive.

Leaving the mill, we cross over a white footbridge across the River Tyne onto the Phantassie estate and pass another National Trust for Scotland property, the Phantassie Doocot. It was probably built in the 16th century and is like the commonly found beehive shaped doocots but unusually is cut off at the top to form a south facing slope shaped like a horseshoe. Just past the doocot we turn east and follow the River Tyne back to the Firth of Forth coast following the John Muir Way into the John Muir Country Park. Passing the East Links Farm Park, we reach Belhaven Bay where we leave the John Muir Way temporarily after crossing the Biel Burn.

We turn south to walk to the Edinburgh Road where we turn east before turning right down Brewery Lane. This takes us to the Belhaven Brewery, previously called Johnstone and then Dudgeon Brewery, which was established in 1719 and is Scotland’s oldest working brewery. It is thought that monks started brewing in Dunbar as early as 1150AD and records show that even as far back as the 1550s Belhaven Ale was supplied to troops at Dunbar Castle. However, it was in 1719 that John Johnstone purchased a plot of land close to Belhaven Bay, founding the brewery which was run by him and his descendants for over 250 years until 1972. In 2005 it was sold to the beer giant, Green King.

Returning to the John Muir Way we walk past the Winterfield Golf Course, into Dunbar itself. Dunbar has a natural harbour protected by a defensible outcrop of rock which has been fortified for the best part of 2000 years. Defences were built here by the Votadini tribe when the Roman’s invaded Scotland and it was a Northumbrian stronghold in 650AD. It was later a Pictish fortress until it was captured by the Scots under Kenneth MacAlpin in 849AD. The first stone castle was probably constructed by the Earl of Dunbar in the 1070s.

After walking past the golf course, we take the path which runs across the cliffs before passing Lauderdale Gardens which stand in front of Lauderdale House. This was formerly called Dunbar House and was built in 1740 by James Fall, a wealthy merchant and MP before being sold to the Earl of Lauderdale in 1788. He commissioned Robert Adam to remodel and enlarge it but Robert Adam died before it was finished and it was therefore completed by his son James Adam. It was used as military headquarters before being passed to the local council and has now been converted and divided into private flats.

We then walk towards the harbour and the remains of Dunbar Castle. This was once one of the greatest castles in Scotland which had to be continually rebuilt over the years after constant attacks by the English. It was finally ordered to be destroyed by the Scottish Parliament after Mary Queen of Scot’s surrender and abdication, but its ruins were further destroyed when in 1844 a new entrance for Dunbar’s harbours was blasted through the end of the rock on which some of the castle ruins still stood. Now there are only fragmentary remains and the ruins are in a dangerous state, so access has not been allowed since part of them collapsed into the sea in 1993. The site is now well known as a home to a colony of kittiwakes which nest in the ruins.

We pass behind the Victoria Harbour which was built in the 1840s and which quickly became one of the most important ports in eastern Scotland, exporting grain and potatoes and supporting a massive fishing fleet which is now virtually gone. We then turn left to walk out to Dunbar battery which sits between the Victoria Harbour and the Old Harbour (dating from 1555) on an island connected to the mainland by a lifting bridge. The battery was originally built in 1781 to protect the original entrance to Dunbar Harbour and had embrasures for sixteen guns. It is built on rocks which are columnar basalt - the same as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. In the 19th and 20th century the battery housed a hospital for infectious diseases and became a military hospital during World War I. It has since become ruined but is a great place for us to visit due to its location with views of the town, harbours and castle.

Leaving the battery, we walk up to the High Street where we find the east end of the John Muir Way and find the house where John Muir was born which is now also a museum. He was born here in April 1838 and as a young boy he became fascinated with the East Lothian landscape, and spent a lot of time wandering the local coastline and countryside. It was during this time that he became interested in natural history. In 1849 he emigrated to America with his family. His passion for wild places led to his lifelong quest to protect them and he is known for having saved Yosemite Valley in California and for helping to create the world’s first national park system.

Walking further along the High Street we reach a statue of John Muir as a boy outside the Dunbar Town House Museum. The Town House is one of Dunbar’s oldest buildings and was built in the 16th century. It is a distinctive building with a witch’s hat tower complete with a clock and sun dials. On the top floor of the building is Scotland’s oldest functioning council chamber which has been in use for over 400 years including its use in the East Lothian witch trials. Below this is a jail with a massive iron door which is a popular place for ghost hunting. As well as this the building contains a museum, gallery and the tourist information centre.

After leaving the Town House we continue south along the High Street before turning left down Silver Street and head back to the coast and the John Muir Link. The path continues along the coast past Dunbar Golf Course and the Broxmouth Estate which is just north of where the Battle of Dunbar took place in 1650 where the Covenanters under General Leslie were defeated by Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell garrisoned the house which existed at the time at Broxmouth and used it as his headquarters during the battle. He is said to have watched the battle from a hillock near the house which is now known as Cromwell’s Mount. This was the last battle which took place between Scotland and England. The current Broxmouth House appears to date from around 1775 when the 3rd Duke of Roxburghe commissioned James Nisbet to build the house. The last Roxburghe to live in the house was Anne Innes-Ker who was Sir Winston Churchill’s aunt. It is now a wedding venue.

The John Muir Link then takes us past Catcraig which is an important geological site as this is where nine different types of limestone have been found on the foreshore. There is a geology trail which ends at Barns Ness lighthouse which was built in 1901 by D A Stevenson who was a cousin of the author Robert Louis Stevenson. Walking along the path through a wide expanse of marram grass we reach Chapel Point overlooking Torness Power Station. The path skirts round Skateraw Harbour before we follow a walkway round the edge of the power station.

We then follow the path along the coast until the path heads inland and drops into a cleft formed by the Bilsdean Burn, past a waterfall, before passing below the remains of the Iron Age Castledykes Fort. At the Dunglass Burn, which marks the border between East Lothian and the Borders, the footpath goes through woodland passing a bridge which dates from the early 1600s which was a vital crossing on the Scotland to London post-road. We continue upstream until the path reaches a railway viaduct before we follow a path which takes us to Cockburnspath.

Cockburnspath is a small village centred around the market cross which was erected in 1503 by James IV to celebrate his marriage to Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England. James presented the lands around the village to his new wife as a dowry and to signify a period of peace between Scotland and England. Nearby is St Helen’s Church which dates to the 14th century although the unusual, rounded tower is thought to have been added in the 16th century. There is also a rectangular tomb house which is set against the east wall which dates from 1614.

From Cockburnspath we follow the Berwick Coastal Path which goes along the coast to St Abbs. Reaching the coast, we see the harbour at Cove with cottages built from the local sandstone looking across the bay. The sandy beach is accessed by a tunnel which has been hand-hewn through the sandstone and which is said to have been used by both smugglers and fishermen since the 18th century.

We continue to follow the Berwick Coastal Path until we reach the farm at Dorlaw where we leave the Berwick Coastal Path to visit the ruins of Fast Castle. The grassy path skirts round the seaward side of Telegraph Hill before we descend until we can see Fast Castle, far below. The ruins of Fast Castle are on top of a rocky promontory which projects from the cliffs and was originally only accessible by drawbridge. The first mention of a castle here is in 1333 and it is known it was occupied by the English in 1346 and then the Scots in 1410. It changed hands a number of times after this until it was seized by the crown in 1609 after the Logan’s who owned it at the time took part in a conspiracy against King James I and VI. After this it quickly fell into disrepair.

Retracing our steps back to Dorlaw we rejoin the Berwick Coastal Path and continue on our way to St Abbs. We pass Coldingham Loch on our right before reaching a private road at Mire Loch where we turn left and follow the path up to St Abbs Head lighthouse. The lighthouse is only 9 metres high but makes full use of the cliffs as they rise 68 metres above the sea. Following the coast, we reach the town of St Abbs which featured as New Asgard, the location of Thor’s hut in Avengers: End Game.

St Abbs is a small fishing village which was originally known as Coldingham Shore. The name St Abbs was adopted in the 1890s, named after St Abbs Head which was itself named after the 7th century saint, Aebbe. She was a Northumbrian Princess who was later made a saint. Before the village was built the fishermen, who worked their boats from the beach, lived in Coldingham. These fishermen had to carry their fishing gear almost 2.5km down a path to where their fishing vessels were tied up, which is why the path is now known as the Creel Path. The first buildings in St Abbs were constructed in about the middle of the 18th century but it wasn’t until the late 1880s, early 1890s that the then laird, Andrew Usher, a whisky distiller, improved the village and harbour by building a village hall and school, the church and an extension to the outer harbour wall as well as his own countryside manor, Northfield House.

Walking down the steps to the harbour we pass a memorial which was created by Jill Watson. This memorial is one of three, the others being in Cove and Burnmouth, which commemorate the widows and children left behind by a storm on October 14th, 1881 when the Berwickshire ports lost a total of 189 fishermen.

Still on the Berwick Coastal Route we walk to Coldingham Sands before heading inland to Coldingham itself. Coldingham was established at an early date with a monastery founded in 635AD, open to both nuns and monks, by Aebbe. In 683 the monastery was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt before being destroyed again by Vikings in 870. A church was then built in Coldingham in 1098 after King Edgar asked the Benedictine monks at Durham to establish one here. It later became a priory during the reign of Edgar’s brother, David 1. The village grew alongside the priory until the reformation in 1560, despite repeated attacks by invading English armies. However, in 1650 troops opposing Cromwell positioned themselves in the priory to stop his advance into Scotland and after a two day siege the village and priory were badly damaged leaving little except the north and east walls of the choir. In 1662 new south and west walls were built allowing it to become the new parish church. It was then extensively renovated in 1855. Inside it is unusual as the two original walls are highly decorated while the two newer walls are very plain.

Leaving Coldingham we make our way back north to pick up the Southern Upland Way just west of Woodend which is on the A1107. We turn left onto a forest track which takes us through Penmanshiel Wood until we reach the main coast railway line which we cross by a bridge before we cross the A1. We then follow forest tracks and minor roads until we reach a bridge over the Whiteadder Water to reach the village of Abbey St Bathans.