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By J Sands (1881)
TRANENT is a small town or village in East Lothian, with a population in the present year (1881) of 2,233. is built on a gentle slope, about 300 feet above the level of the sea, and about a mile and a quarter from the estuary of the Forth. It is described in the Gazetteers as being a place of no importance, and ‘ one of the poorest looking towns in the three Lothians, though in recent times it has shown some signs of renovation. It consists of two streets of commonplace houses and two or three squalid lanes.
Yet in this insignificant theatre, as will be seen in the following pages, some extraordinary tragedies were performed in the olden time, at which all Scotland gazed with breathless and horrified interest. Tranent can boast of a venerable antiquity. The name which was formerly spelt Travernent, is said by Chalmers to be a Cambro-British word, a relic of the language of the great tribe of the British Ottadini—a Celtic tribe that inhabited the district in the second century. An urn filled with human ashes, which was lately discovered in the vicinity, proves that the place was peopled in Pagan times. A few quaint old houses still remain, and carry the mind back to a more recent, although still ancient date. It is lamentable that the old church was demolished at the end of the last century. It is said to have been of great antiquity, as is still evident from the portions that exist incorporated into the hideous barn, where the present Parish Minister swings his sacerdotal flail and thrashes out the straw of the Gospel once a week. It was built in the form of a cross with a square tower, supported on pillars and arches in the centre. The roof was vaulted and covered with stone. The writer of the first statistical account of the Parish says: The windows are few and ill constructed, and in a dark and gloomy day serve only to make darkness visible. Either the church has originally been sunk below the surface of the ground, or the surrounding burying ground has been much heightened by the immense number of bodies interred in it, for the access to the pulpit is by a descent of four steps from the churchyard.’ Nothing now remains of the ancient church excepting the north wall with two buttresses, west gable, and the north end of the transept. The absence of mouldings or other ornamention in the pointed west window, which is still visible, although built up, and the rounded arches cut in the lintel of the transept window, seem to show that the building was of an older date than the reign of David the 1st. The masonry is good, and the nicely squared stones with which the ancient church was constructed have been utilized by the tasteless Goths who erected the new.
And so another book we're embarking on which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
Alastair
TRANENT is a small town or village in East Lothian, with a population in the present year (1881) of 2,233. is built on a gentle slope, about 300 feet above the level of the sea, and about a mile and a quarter from the estuary of the Forth. It is described in the Gazetteers as being a place of no importance, and ‘ one of the poorest looking towns in the three Lothians, though in recent times it has shown some signs of renovation. It consists of two streets of commonplace houses and two or three squalid lanes.
Yet in this insignificant theatre, as will be seen in the following pages, some extraordinary tragedies were performed in the olden time, at which all Scotland gazed with breathless and horrified interest. Tranent can boast of a venerable antiquity. The name which was formerly spelt Travernent, is said by Chalmers to be a Cambro-British word, a relic of the language of the great tribe of the British Ottadini—a Celtic tribe that inhabited the district in the second century. An urn filled with human ashes, which was lately discovered in the vicinity, proves that the place was peopled in Pagan times. A few quaint old houses still remain, and carry the mind back to a more recent, although still ancient date. It is lamentable that the old church was demolished at the end of the last century. It is said to have been of great antiquity, as is still evident from the portions that exist incorporated into the hideous barn, where the present Parish Minister swings his sacerdotal flail and thrashes out the straw of the Gospel once a week. It was built in the form of a cross with a square tower, supported on pillars and arches in the centre. The roof was vaulted and covered with stone. The writer of the first statistical account of the Parish says: The windows are few and ill constructed, and in a dark and gloomy day serve only to make darkness visible. Either the church has originally been sunk below the surface of the ground, or the surrounding burying ground has been much heightened by the immense number of bodies interred in it, for the access to the pulpit is by a descent of four steps from the churchyard.’ Nothing now remains of the ancient church excepting the north wall with two buttresses, west gable, and the north end of the transept. The absence of mouldings or other ornamention in the pointed west window, which is still visible, although built up, and the rounded arches cut in the lintel of the transept window, seem to show that the building was of an older date than the reign of David the 1st. The masonry is good, and the nicely squared stones with which the ancient church was constructed have been utilized by the tasteless Goths who erected the new.
And so another book we're embarking on which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
Alastair