The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 2/3

by David MacGibbon; Thomas Ross

The town of Haddington is situated on the left bank of the Tyne, near the centre of the county to which it gives its name. It is of very ancient date, having been a royal residence from the time of David I. till the thirteenth century. The last remains of the royal palace were only removed in 1833. The town was formerly well provided with ecclesiastical edifices, having, besides the Parish Church, the monasteries of the Franciscans and Dominicans, the Cistercian Nunnery (about a mile lower down the river), and the chapels of St. Martin, St. Ann, St. Katherine, St. John, and St. Ninian. Of these establishments, the only one (except St. Martin’s, already described)[169] of which any trace of the structure remains is the Parish Church, which, although now to a great extent ruinous, still retains enough of its noble architecture to justify its ancient name of the “Lamp of Lothian.”

Considerable difference of opinion has been expressed as to the identity of the existing edifice. Dr. Barclay, who wrote in 1792,[170] says:—“I am decidedly of opinion that the present Parish Church of Haddington is the same that formerly belonged to the Franciscans, and which Major says was called Lucerna Laudoniæ; as a field, now converted into a garden, and which is still styled the Friars’ Croft, lies contiguous to the churchyard, and is not above 30 yards distant from the Parish Church.”

On the other hand, as has been pointed out by Mr. Robb in his Guide to Haddington, the site of the property of the Franciscans is fully described in the charter of 1560 disponing it to the burgh, which charter is signed by one of the friars. From this it appears that the position of the Church of the Franciscans, as defined by the boundaries of their lands, lay a little way lower down the river. One of the boundaries is called in the charter the high road leading towards the Parish Church, thus indicating that the Parish Church was different from the Church of the Franciscans. Besides, the other boundaries are pretty distinctly defined, and may still be followed.

This matter has been further fully discussed in a paper by Mr. Henry F. Kerr, in the Transactions of the Edinburgh Architectural Association, Vol. I. p. 21, in which Mr. Kerr concurs with Mr. Robb’s views.

The Church of the Franciscans, as ascertained from an old charter of the friars, was founded in 1258, and was a splendid structure. Not a trace of it now remains.

Another croft, nearer the Parish Church, called the King’s Yard, of which the boundaries are described, also belonged to the Franciscans. On this land Haddington House[171] was erected in 1680, and the croft was converted into a garden. In 1477 King James III. made over this field to Sir Richard Cockburn of Clubington, who afterwards gave it as a gift to the friars of the Franciscan monastery. At the Reformation the friars disponed it to the town, and its boundaries are fully described in a charter of 1580.[172] It is believed that this is the field, “still called the Friars’ Croft,” which misled Dr. Barclay into the belief that the Parish Church was that of the Franciscans.

The Abbey, or Nunnery, of Haddington (above referred to as being one mile east of the town) was of ancient foundation, having been founded, in 1178, by Ada, Countess of Northumberland, widow of Prince Henry, and mother of Malcolm the Maiden and William the Lion. It was occupied by Cistercian Nuns, and possessed the Nungate, or suburb of Haddington, lying on the east side of the Tyne. Owing to its situation so near the Borders, and also to its proximity to the Tyne, the town of Haddington and its religious establishments were much exposed to injury, both by the invading hosts from the South and by the flooded waters of the river, and it also suffered severely on several occasions from fire. The town was burnt in 1244.

In 1355 Edward III. invaded Scotland, when the town and the Church of the Franciscans were destroyed, together with numerous other towns and churches in the South of Scotland. So severe was this attack that it was long recalled in that part of the country as the “burnt Candlemas,” the invasion having taken place in the month of February.

In 1358 the town was overwhelmed with an extraordinary inundation, when the Nungate, or suburb on the eastern bank of the river, was levelled with the ground, and the sacristy of the church was flooded and its contents destroyed.

The ancient Church of Haddington, which was dedicated to the Virgin, was founded by David I., and by him granted, in 1134, to the priory of St. Andrews. The existing structure is of considerably later date. There is no record of its erection; but, from the style of the architecture, it was probably rebuilt in the first half of the fifteenth century.