Musselburgh
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- This article is about Musselburgh in Scotland. For Musselburgh in New Zealand, see Suburbs of Dunedin
Welcome to the Honest Toun
Musselburgh is a town in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre. It lays claim to the title of Scotland's oldest town. It was first settled by the Romans in the years following their invasion of Scotland in AD80. They built a fort a little inland from the mouth of the River Esk and bridged the river here. In doing so they established the line of the main eastern approach to Scotland's capital for most of the next two thousand years.
The name Musselburgh is Anglo-Saxon in origin with mussel referring to the shellfish [1], and burgh derived from the Old English for 'town'. [1].
The bridge built by the Romans outlasted them by many centuries. It was rebuilt on the original Roman foundations some time before 1300, and in 1597 it was rebuilt again, this time with a third arch added on the east side of the river. The Old Bridge is also known as the Roman Bridge and remains in use today by pedestrians. To its north is the New Bridge built in 1806. This in turn was considerably widened in 1925.
The town has a population of 22,112 (2001). It is known for its sporting venues. Musselburgh Race Course hosts horse racing, while Musselburgh Links is a former venue of golf's Open Championship and is the oldest continuously played golf course in the world. The golf course is now under threat; the race course owners plan to destroy much of the golf course with the development of an all weather track accompanied by floodlighting. This has met with strong opposition from local residents.[2]
Musselburgh is home to the Brunton Theatre . Inveresk Lodge Gardens and Musselburgh Cricket Club are both located in Inveresk, to the south of the town.
Schools include Loretto School, a private boarding school, and Musselburgh Grammar School, the local large comprehensive that is one of the oldest Grammar schools in the country, dating from the 17th Century. A new campus of Edinburgh's Queen Margaret University is being built in Musselburgh. Musselburgh is known as "The Honest Toun", and celebrates this by the annual appointment of the Honest Lad and Lass. The town motto "Honesty" dates back to 1332, when the Regent of Scotland, Randolph, Earl of Moray, died in the burgh after a long illness during which he was devotedly cared for by its citizens. His successor offered to reward the people for their loyalty but they declined, saying they were only doing their duty. The new regent, the Earl of Mar, was impressed and said they were a set of honest men, hence "Honest Toun".
The Musselburgh Silver Arrow is the oldest sporting trophy in the world, and is competed for annually by the Royal Society of Archers. It dates back to at least 1677 [3], and perhaps even to 1603 [4].
The Musselburgh Leek is a popular, hardy and ancient variety of leek, thought to have been developed from French or Dutch varieties by Dutch settlers into Musselburgh in the 14th Century [5].
Musselburgh has a railway station situated on the North Berwick Line served by frequent First Scotrail services from Edinburgh to North Berwick. It is a relatively new station, opened in 1995. Wallyford station serves the eastern end of the town. The town's original station was situated close to the town centre at the end of a short branch from Newhailes Junction. Passenger services from there ceased in 1964 and the line ultimately closed to all traffic in the early 1980s. It is now a road bypassing the Fisherrow area of the town.
Prior to 1975, Musselburgh was in Midlothian, not East Lothian. It became part of the East Lothian unitary council area following the Local|Government (Scotland) Act 1973. There is an anecdote that this caused disappointment within the rest of the county, as, prior to that point, East Lothian had no traffic lights.
 Queen Margaret University, during construction, 12 August 2006 |
 Fisherrow harbour at Musselburgh |
 Musselburgh railway station, showing a local east bound (North Berwick) train, and an west bound (Edinburgh) intercity (125) train |
 Showing the main entrance to the Brunton Hall |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Musselburgh was famous for the mussel beds which grew in the Firth of Forth; after many years of claims that the mussels were unsafe for consumption a movement has been started to re-establish the mussel beds as a commercial venture.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| East Lothian Towns & Villages |
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| Aberlady | Athelstaneford | Auldhame & Scoughall | Bolton | Cockenzie and Port Seton | Dirleton | Drem | Dunbar | East Linton | East Saltoun and West Saltoun | Gifford | Gullane | Haddington | Humbie | Kingston | Longniddry | Macmerry | Musselburgh | North Berwick | Oldhamstocks | Ormiston | Pencaitland | Prestonpans | Tranent | Whitekirk | Wallyford |
