Portal:Scotland/Selected picture/January, 2011



The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies approximately 20 mi east of Edinburgh. Linguistically the name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th or 7th century AD when the area was incorporated into the kingdom of Bernicia. The town was ceded from Northumbria and became part of Scotland following the Battle of Carham in c.1018. Haddington received burghal status, one of the earliest to do so, during the reign of David I (1124–1153), giving it trading rights which encouraged its growth into a market town.

Photo credit: Richard Webb