Morrison's Haven


(Morison's Haven, Acheson's Haven, Newhaven)

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Morison's Haven, a harbour in Prestonpans parish, Haddingtonshire, adjacent to the boundary with Edinburghshire, 1 ½ mile WSW of Prestonpans town. Formed in 1526 by the monks of Newbattle for exporting coal from their lands of Prestongrange, it was called originally Newhaven, afterwards Acheson's Haven, eventually Morison's Haven; and it serves now as the port for Prestonpans, and for extensive neighbouring works and collieries of the Prestongrange Coal and Iron Company, employing upwards of 400 men. About 1873 it acquired new importance by the formation of a village for the neighbouring work-people, the erection of a large brick and tile work, and the construction of branch lines of railway. Its tidal harbour, reckoned to be one of the best in the Firth of Forth, afforded a very limited reach for the loading of vessels; but in 1875-77 it was greatly improved and extended, after engineering plans by J. Buchanan, at a cost of £10,000.—Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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