Haddington’s Lost Royal Palace – was it in St Mary’s Pleasance?
Haddington was one of Scotland’s earliest royal burghs. Detailed records do not survive but we know it was established in David I’s reign (1124-53). In his lifetime David founded fifteen royal burghs in Scotland. Haddington is the only one that does not have a well attested royal residence. We know from documentary sources that King Alexander II, son of William the Lion was born here in the 12 th century – most likely in a royal residence or ‘Palace’.
There are various theories regarding the location of the missing ‘Palace’ but one theory has it in St Mary’s Pleasance. Well we might soon find our more because the Geophysics team from AOC Archaeology, were on site this morning with all their gear (October 9th 2025) – watch this space!
I have to mention that AOC have been very generous with their time, doing the magnetometry at no cost to us, and that the resistivity part of the project was kindly funded by Haddington Community Council.
You can read more about the missing palace on the History Society’s resources pages