East Lothian

East Lothian
*Aest Lowden* (Scots)
*Lodainn an Ear* (Scottish Gaelic)
East Lothian; Aest Lowden (Scots); Lodainn an Ear (Scottish Gaelic)
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	Coordinates: 55°55′N 2°45′W / 55.917°N 2.750°WCoordinates: 55°55′N 2°45′W / 55.917°N 2.750°W
Admin HQ	Haddington
Government
• Body	East Lothian Council
• Control	Labour minority (council NOC)
• MPs	Martin Whitfield (Labour);
• MSPs	Colin Beattie; Iain Gray;
Area
• Total	262.2 sq mi (679.2 km2)
Area rank	Ranked 18th
Population (mid-2017 est.)
• Total	104,800
• Rank	Ranked 21st
• Density	400/sq mi (154/km2)
ONS code	S12000010
ISO 3166 code	GB-ELN
Website	http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/

East Lothian (/ˈloʊðiən/; Scots: Aest Lowden; Scottish Gaelic: Lodainn an Ear), is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. For a time, it was also known as Haddingtonshire.

It borders Edinburgh, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh. East Lothian is also the name of a registration county, which has different boundaries to the council area.^[1]

History[edit]

The council area was created in 1996, replacing the East Lothian district of the Lothian region. The district had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, consisting of the old county of East Lothian plus the burgh of Musselburgh and the parish of Inveresk (which included Wallyford and Whitecraig) which until then had been in the county of Midlothian.

When abolished, for local government purposes, in 1975, the county of East Lothian bordered the county of Midlothian to the west, and Berwickshire to the south.

In November 2017, a county flag competition was launched in East Lothian to register an official flag of East Lothian. Anyone willing to enter this competition was allowed to enter, which resulted in 623 entries to the competition. The end of entry submission time was the 28th of February 2018. Four final flag designs will be placed in a vote to the residents of East Lothian, and the final winning design will be unveiled in November 2018.^[2]

Geography[edit]

Despite its size, the geography of East Lothian is varied. The county is surrounded by 40 miles of coastline where towns Musselburgh, Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Port Seton, Gullane, North Berwick and Dunbar lie along the coast of Firth of Forth estuary. The South of the County are Lammermuir Hills where the county meets the Scottish Borders. The River Esk, Lothian runs through Musselburgh where it empties at the north of the town into the Firth of Forth and the River Tyne, Scotland runs through several of East Lothian's villages and county town Haddington. The county has only two major towns which are landlocked, these are Tranent and Haddington.

Transport[edit]

Road[edit]

Primary Routes[edit]

The A1 road travels through East Lothian where it meets the Scottish Borders southbound and Edinburgh northbound. The A1 throughout East Lothian is dual carriageway and major junctions include Dunbar, Haddington,Tranent, Prestonpans and Musselburgh.^[3]

Starting in Leith, the A199 road also travels through the county, including Musselburgh; where it first enters the county, Wallyford, Tranent, Macmerry and Haddington before merging into the A1 in West Barns.^[4]

Non-Primary Routes[edit]

Some non-primary routes in East Lothian are the A198, A1087, A6093 and A6137 roads.^[5]

Public Transport[edit]

Rail[edit]

East Lothian is served by seven railway stations: Dunbar, North Berwick, Drem, Longniddry, Prestonpans, Wallyford and Musselburgh. Railway lines which travel through and stop at stations in the county include: The Abeillo North Berwick Line, The CrossCountry line and the London North Eastern Railway London to Edinburgh line.

Bus

East Lothian is well served by bus services. Operators in the county are: Transport for Edinburgh which operate Lothian & East Coast Buses, Prentice of Haddington and Borders Buses. East Coast Buses is the county's main bus provider connecting the towns and villages of East Lothian to the City of Edinburgh, the company has depots in North Berwick and Musselburgh.^[6]

Politics[edit]

UK Parliament[edit]

The constituency of East Lothian covers the whole county. The current MP for East Lothian is Martin Whitfield.

General Election 2017: East Lothian^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Martin Whitfield	20,158	36.1	+5.1
	SNP	George Kerevan	17,075	30.6	-12.0
	Conservative	Sheila Low	16,540	29.6	+10.1
	Liberal Democrat	Elisabeth Wilson	1,738	3.1	+0.5
	Independent	Mike Allan	367	0.7	+0.4
Majority			3,083	5.5
Turnout			55,878	70.6	-3.6
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	+8.6

Scottish Parliament[edit]

Most of East Lothian is in the East Lothian Scottish Parliament constituency and South Scotland region with the exception of Musselburgh which is in Midlothian North and Musselburgh and the Lothians region.

Local Government[edit]

East Lothian Council is based at John Muir House, Haddington. East Lothian elects 22 councillors across 6 wards. These wards are:

Ward 1: Musselburgh

Ward 2: Preston, Seton and Gosford

Ward 3: Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry

Ward 4: North Berwick Coastal

Ward 5: Haddington and Lammermuir

Ward 6: Dunbar and East Linton

Following the 2017 election, the council is composed of the following parties:^[8]

East Lothian Council Election 2017 Results
	Labour	Conservative	SNP
Musselburgh	1	1	2
Preston, Seton & Gosford	2	1	1
Tranent, Wallyford & Macmerry	2	1	1
North Berwick Coastal	1	2	-
Haddington & Lammermuir	2	1	1
Dunbar & East Linton	1	1	1
Total:	9	7	6

Places of interest[edit]

Towns and villages[edit]

Towns & Villages of East Lothian

Civil Parishes[edit]

East Lothian or Haddingtonshire Civil Parish map.^[9]

In 1894, John Martine published Reminiscences and Notices of Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington.^[10]

Notable people from East Lothian[edit]

Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, d.1138
Gospatric III, Earl of Lothian, d.1166
Waltheof, Earl of Dunbar, d.1182
Alexander II, King of Scots, 1198–1249
Black Agnes, 4th Countess of Moray, c.1312-1369
Abbot Walter Bower, ca.1385–1449, canon regular of Inchcolm Abbey, chronicler, born about at Haddington
Sawney Bean, cannibal and outlaw, 15th to 16th century
William Dunbar, medieval poet, 1460–1520
John Mair or Major, philosopher, 1467–1550
John Knox, leading Protestant reformer in Scotland and founder of Presbyterianism, c.1510-1572
John Cockburn of Ormiston, (d.1583) early supporter of the Scottish Reformation
Ninian Cockburn (d.1579), soldier, officer of the Garde Écossaise, political intriguer
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1655–1716), writer, politician, soldier and patriot
Adam Cockburn, Laird of Ormiston, Lord Ormiston (1656–1735), administrator, politician and judge
John Cockburn, agricultural improver, 1695–1758
Andrew Meikle, inventor of the Threshing machine, 1719–1811
John Brown (theologian), 1722–1787
Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence,1723–1794
George Brodie (1786?-1867), historian
Robert Cadell (1788–1849), bookseller and publisher, closely associated with Sir Walter Scott
Robert Moffat 1795–1883, Congregationalist missionary to Africa, and father in law of David Livingstone
Jane Welsh Carlyle, 1801–1866, letter-writer, and wife of Thomas Carlyle, 1801–1866
Sir William Fergusson, 1st Baronet, surgeon, 1808–1877
Samuel Smiles, author of Self-Help, 1812–1904
Mary Balfour Herbert, watercolour painter, 1817–1893
Samuel Morison Brown, chemist, poet and essayist, 1817–1856
John Muir, father of the US National Parks,1838–1914
Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick, Principal of Newnham College, 1845–1936
James Porteous, inventor of the Fresno Scraper, 1848–1922
Peter Hume Brown, historian, 1849–1918
Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), Prime Minister, 1902–1905
Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (1845-1936), mathematician and co-founder of Newham College, University of Cambridge
William George Nicholson Geddes 1913–1993, civil engineer
Maureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith, commonly known as Mollie Hunter 1922-2012, Scottish writer
Peter Kerr b.1940, best-selling author of travel books and fiction
John Bellany, painter, 1942-2013
Rhona Cameron, comedian and activist, b.1965

Sports personalities from East Lothian[edit]

Willie Anderson, golfer, four times U.S. Open Golf Champion, 1901, 1903–05
Ian Black, professional footballer
Callum Booth, professional footballer
Billy Brown, football coach
Kenny Miller, professional footballer
Colin Nish, professional footballer
Jim Calder rugby union player
Gary Anderson, Darts player
Andrew Driver, professional footballer
Danny Handling, professional footballer
Jason Holt, Professional footballer
David Huish, professional golfer
Allan Jacobsen, rugby union player
Jim Jefferies, football manager
John McGlynn, football manager
Catriona Matthew, elite golfer
Mathew Dawson, racehorse trainer
Euan Burton, judoka and 2012 Olympics contender
Finlay Calder, rugby union player
Ross Muir, professional snooker player
Scott Murray, rugby union player
Garry O'Connor, professional footballer
Willie Ormond, footballer and manager
Jock Taylor, World Champion motorcycle sidecar racer
Ben Sayers, professional golfer & club maker
John White, footballer
Willie Wood (bowler), professional bowler
Dean Brett, footballer

Local media[edit]

East Lothian is served by two local paid-for weekly newspapers, the East Lothian Courier and the East Lothian News. The former, known locally as The Courier, is the better-selling and started in 1859 as the Haddingtonshire Courier (the name was changed in 1971). Some articles from the Haddingtonshire Courier and the Haddingtonshire Advertiser were published in 1883.^[11] The paper was owned and operated by the family firm of D. & J. Croal, based in Haddington, until it was bought by the Dunfermline Press Group in 2004. The East Lothian News was first published in 1971, as part of Scottish County Press Group, with editorial offices in Dalkeith and printing at Bonnyrigg (both in Midlothian). The Scottish County Press Group was acquired by Regional Independent Media in 2000, which was in turn bought by Johnston Press in 2002.

East Coast FM (Scotland) is a community radio station run by volunteers which has been broadcasting since 2009 from studios at 8 Market Street in Haddington. The station is registered as a charity (SC042784). An FM Community Radio Licence was awarded to the station in September 2012 by regulator Ofcom and a frequency of 107.6 FM was allocated in January 2013. Broadcasting on this frequency started in March 2013. The station can be accessed worldwide across the internet through their website.

East Lothian FM is an Online Community Radio Station operated and managed by East Lothian Community Media Ltd. The station started webcasting to the county from their studio at 38 Market Street, Haddington in October 2011 and applied for a Community Radio Licence (on the FM band) during the application period that ended on 14 February 2012. The result of this application will be announced by Ofcom in due course.