East Linton

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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L

inton, East, a small police burgh in Prestonkirk parish, Haddingtonshire. It stands 80 feet above sea-level, 1¾ mile NNE of conical Traprain Law (700 feet), mostly on the left bank of the river Tyne, and has a station on the North British railway, 5¾ miles WSW of Dunbar, and 23½ E by N of Edinburgh, whilst by road it is 5⁵/₈ miles ENE of Haddington, and 6½ SSE of North Berwick. It took the name of Linton from a large, deep linn here in the river Tyne; it gave that name to the parish from the earliest record down to the Reformation; and it bears the prefix East to distinguish it from West Linton in Peeblesshire. A prosperous place, conducting a considerable amount of rural trade, it consists mainly of East Linton proper, immediately on the railway, and partly of the extraburghal suburb of Preston, 3 furlongs lower down the river, and it has a post office (Prestonkirk), with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, a branch of the National Bank, 3 inns, a gas company, curling, bowling, football, cricket, and golf clubs; horticultural, athletic, and ornithological societies; Good Templars' and Foresters' lodges; a weekly Monday market, and cattle fairs on the second Mondays of March, May, and June, and on the Thursday before Falkirk October Tryst the last of the most importance. A public hall, 60 feet long, 36½ broad, and 31 high, was erected in 1874-75 at a cost of £1000, and serves for volunteer drill, lectures, concerts, etc. A coffee-house, with reading-room and library, was built in 1880-81, at a cost of £1000, by Lady Baird of Newbyth; and in 1881 a public school, With accommodation for 464 children, was built at a cost of £3000. The parish church, in Reston suburb, was built in 1770, and, as enlarged in 1824, contains 800 sittings. The Free church, improved and enlarged in 1879-80 at a cost of £1200, is a handsome Romanesque building, with tower and spire; and the U.P. church is seated for 400 worshippers. The railway viaduct over the Tyne here is the finest on the North British, that of Dunglass only excepted. Robert Brown (1757-1831), an agricultural writer, was a native. The municipal constituency numbered 229 in 1884, when the annual value of real property within the burgh amounted to £2951; its revenue, including assessments, being £235. Pop. (1831) 715, (1861) 835, (1871) 1037, (1881) 1042, of whom 923 were within the police burgh.—Ord. Sur., sh. 33, 1863.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available.

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.