Annual General Meeting 16 April 2026
Membership Numbers: 95 fully paid-up
Average Attendance: 57
Talks
September 2025
Our contribution to East Lothian Archaeology and Heritage Fortnight (ELAHF) was a presentation by Dr Rebecca Jones, Keeper of Scottish History and Archaeology at the National Museums of Scotland (NMS). She enthralled our audience with her deeply researched talk, Roman Scotland: Edge of Empire.
October:
Tim Clarkson, historian and prolific author, travelled northwards to deliver his talk entitled East Lothian in the early Middle Ages AD 400-1100. Thisgenerated an enthusiastic discussion from our members and guests who were also delighted for the chance to purchase his books.
November
We were privileged to welcome Professor Sara Lodge of St Andrews University whose book, The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective, was short-listed for the Wolfson History Prize 2025. Her talk detailing the place of female detectives in Victorian times was most enlightening.
December
Our annual Members’ Night was very well attended to hear presentations from two members.
James Westcott spoke about the research for his recently published book. The Lost Village of St Laurence House, a former leper colony at the west end of Haddington where he lives.
Committee member, Tim Holden, updated us about the Geophysical Survey in the Pleasance and the ongoing search for a royal palace in Haddington.
After an interval to enjoy festive refreshments and to socialise, members and guests competed in the annual Quiz.
January 2025
The new year began with an intriguing talk about a lesser-known noble who had a connection to Haddington’s twin town. Dr Elisabeth Rébeillé-Borgella shared her PhD research on Esmé Stuart d’Aubigny: 1st Duke of Lennox, a fascinating insight into the life of this influential French nobleman at the court of his cousin, James VI.
February
Of great local interest the film, Haddington Voices presented by Caroline Milligan attracted a lively audience. Featuring the results of research by the European Ethnological Research Centre Edinburgh University her illustrated presentation jogged many memories and generated lots of contributions from the floor.
March
We were pleased to welcome Eric Melvin, author and Edinburgh historian. His talk postponed from last year, Duncan Napier Founder of Napiers the Edinburgh Herbalists was well worth the wait as it not only followed the rags to riches story of the famous herbalist but showed us how grim life in late 19th/early 20th century Edinburgh could be.
April
Our final talk of the season will be Irish Migratory Potato Workers in East Lothian in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries presented by Heather Holmes Ethnologists. This is certain to revive memories of tattie-howking that involved many county residents back in the day.
Summaries
All of our talks are concisely and accurately summarised for inclusion on the website.
Members’ Outing
This year a visit to Hopetoun House, South Queensferry has been scheduled for 16 May 2026.
ELAHF
As well as the presentation by Rebecca Jones, the society contributed the following events.
In collaboration with the John Gray Centre the society an archive and walking tour entitled Hidden History in the Hidden Toun – the intrigue and enlightenment of the 1700s! This sell-out tour was run twice. In collaboration with St Mary’s Kirk, the society contributed a tour St Mary’s Inside and Out – 600 years and still standing! This popular tour was also run twice.
Website
The website is kept up to date with a full schedule of talks. Details of speakers and the proposed presentation are added later on separate pages which are then converted into summaries adding to the ever-accruing Resources file https://haddingtonshistory.org.uk/resources-links/. These pages are a great place to start if you are interested in a particular topic related to Haddington or the county.
The popular quiz, ‘Did You Know?’ invites readers to identify features around the burgh.
The Events page also contains an ‘Around East Lothian’ schedule of talks and events by other groups https://haddingtonshistory.org.uk/2026/01/around-the-county-talks-and-events-for-2025-26/.
Enquiries through the contact page are coming in at two or three per week. Some interesting topics include runaway marriages, old photographs of gate piers, history of Haddington buildings, a bride rescued from slavery by an aristocrat as well as more routine family history enquiries.
Projects
Visions of Haddington. The society curated an exhibition at the John Gray Centre Museum combining images by Thomas Small, illustrator of A walk through history, HHS walking tour of Haddington, and artworks from the East Lothian Council collection. This ran from January until Easter.
Geophysics in the Pleasance – A geophysical survey of St Mary’s Pleasance was undertaken to locate the ‘Palace’ of Haddington. The results of the survey and other historical research and be found on the website at https://haddingtonshistory.org.uk/the-royal-palace-haddington/
PureMalt
Three society members have volunteered to produce a history of PureMalt Products, Haddington, from mediaeval times. Originally Gimmers Mill and then Bermaline it now operates as PureMalt Products. This interesting project based on desk research including old copies of the Courier on microfilm is also conducting interviews with current and retired employees.
Thaney’s Haven
The society has been planning and fundraising for a community engagement project, Thaney’s Haven, which will run alongside the performance of Maiden, Mother, Mage by playwright Rebecca Sharp on 3 October 2026 in St Mary’s Kirk, Haddington. Throughout spring and summer, participants will explore the story of Thaney, a 6th century Lothian princess, whose father threw her from Traprain Law for being pregnant and set her adrift on the Forth. Landing in Culross she gave birth to St Kentigern/Mungo who became patron saint of Glasgow while Thaney was sanctified as St Enoch. A plaque to Thaney erected by a local resident can be seen in Artillery Park.
The legend of Thaney has been chosen as the theme for Ross’s Close, the first of the Three Closes Regeneration Project run by HCTRA.
A Pilgrims’ Walk from East Linton to St Mary’s, taking in Traprain Law, and a shorter walk around Haddington are being planned for September.
Funds are being raised to put on the production. So far sponsorship has been received from HHS, HES, HALAP, McInroy & Wood and Rathbones.
Family History Evening 20 April 2026
HHS committee members will be on hand toassist in family history enquiries incollaboration with the Archives at the John Gray Centre from 3.30 – 5.30 pm.
Community Engagement
EL Forum – At our instigation, other local history societies from East Lothian were invited to a forum held in Haddington where we had a lively discussion around themes that affect all of us. One positive outcome was a reciprocal agreement to advertise any events by other societies on our website. Next event is to be held in Musselburgh.
Healthy Happy Haddington Communities Day 28 February 2026
Organised by Dementia Friendly East Lothian this community event aimed to support brain health specifically and health and wellbeing generally. Along with a number of other local groups and organisations the society contributed a table to share what happens in our society and how to get involved. It attracted a large number of curious visitors from the monthly Farmers’ Market.
Haddington Three Closes Project
This new initiative, inspired by the Twelve Closes of Edinburgh, aims to revitalise and celebrate four of Haddington’s historic closes as achieved in the Twelve Closes of Edinburgh. The society will be contributing historical input to this collaboration between Haddington and District Community Council (HDCC) and Haddington Town Centre Group (HCTRA).
Self-Guided Tour and Map: A walk through history in the Royal Burgh of Haddington
Now into its 2nd reprint, the guided tour, written and developed by the Society and illustrated by designer Thomas Small, has now been on sale for £4. Our thanks to Haddington & Lammermuir Area Partnership, Haddington and District Community Council for funding and to Friends of the John Gray Centre for their support in this project.
Technical
The new projector and stand are working well together. We are grateful to Phil O’Ryan Holy Trinity for
his ongoing assistance in setting up the church sound system and especially for linking it to our PC for use in the presentation, Haddington Voices.
Promotion
The Society’s promotion campaign includes notices in the Courier, ideally on Thursday of the week prior to the talk; on the website, putting up posters, with more sites identified, printing and distributing HHS brochures, engaging with social media.
Committee
We bade farewell to Alexandra Maffei and to minutes secretary, Eric Glendinning, a founding member of the society. We would like to record our thanks for Eric’s tireless contribution to the society since its inception and wish him all success with his ongoing historical research.
Thanks to Jim Westcott a former committee member who continues to work on the website.
New committee members to be proposed are Craig Goodman and Sharon Boyd.
Now up to 9 members, the committee would welcome any nominations to join our hardworking team.
I would like to record my thanks to the committee for all their hard work and support in what has been a very busy and productive year for the society.
Venues
Monthly members’ meetings take place in Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington.
Monthly committee meetings take place in the Trinity Centre, Church Street.
We would like to record our thanks to Rev Liz O’Ryan and Phil O’Ryan for their ongoing assistance at Holy Trinity and to Gail Craven, administrator at the Trinity Centre.
Marie Macpherson, Convenor