April Question
Calder’s Lawn: Who was Calder and why was it named after his/her garden! Maybe the road went through a rather large lawn or perhaps ‘lawn’ means something else. Who knows? Do you?
Answer
The street was named to honour the Calder family who lived in the former St John’s Free Church manse adjacent. Finlay and Jim Calder played rugby for Scotland and the British Lions. Finlay captained the Lions in 1989.
So the first part of the name makes sense. The second part, ‘lawn’, seems odd. Why name a street after a patch of grass? Haddington’s History Society queried the name when it was unveiled. We were told discreetly that the intended name was Calder’s Loan. Loan is a common Scottish street name. We have Pechty Loan in Haddington. A mix-up occurred but to save cost and embarrassment the Lawn name was left in place.
You can see other contributors answers to our little poser via the Old Haddingtonshire Facebook page here.
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Our next ‘Did you know?’ will be posted in September when our 24/25 season begins. This is not the only street name in Haddington to result from an error. Another example may feature next season.