TRANENT, a parish, in the county of Haddington;
containing, with the villages of Cockenzie, Elphinstone,
Meadowmill, and Portseaton, 3887 inhabitants, of whom
about 2000 are in the town of Tranent, 7 miles (W.) from
Haddington, and 10 (E.) from Edinburgh. The name
of this place is of uncertain derivation; it is generally
supposed to be of Gaelic origin, and descriptive of the
position of the ancient village at the head of a deep ravine
vsratered by a small rivulet. Property has been;held
here by distinguished families, and the parish has at
different times been the scene of events of historical
importance. On the invasion of Scotland by the Earl
of Hertford, in 1544, the parish church was plundered,
and almost destroyed, by the English soldiers
under his command; they defaced and burnt the timberwork
of the interior, and carried away the bells and
every thing of value. During the invasion of the country
by the English under the same nobleman, then Duke
of Somerset, in 1547, an engagement took place here
between the English and Scottish cavalry, in which the
latter were defeated with the loss of 1300 men. After
this defeat, many of the Scots, having taken refuge in
the coal-pits in the parish, were pursued by the English,
who, unable to dislodge them from their retreat, stopped
up all the avenues that admitted air to the mine, and
kindled large fires at the entrances, with a view either of
forcing them to surrender or of suffocating them. The
battle of Pinkie occurred in an adjoining parish and
county on the following day, September 10th; when,
according to some historians, 14,000 of the Scots were
slain by the English. In 1745, the battle of Prestonpans
was fought within less than a mile from the parish
church, on the 21st of September, and the royal forces,
consisting of nearly 3000 men, were defeated by the
Scottish adherents to the fortunes of the Young Pretender.
After the engagement, the military chest belonging
to the royal army was found at Cockenzie. In this
battle. Colonel Gardiner was killed while endeavouring
to rally a body of infantry near the present village of
Meadowmill; he was buried in the parish church.
Others who were slain were interred on the farm of
Thorntree-Mains, where, towards the close of the century,
some of the bodies were discovered by workmen
employed in making a drain, the clothes being in such
preservation as to distinguish the royalists from their opponents.
The PARISH is about five miles in length from northeast
to south-west, and three miles in breadth. It is
bounded on the north by the Firth of Forth, and comprises
5464 acres, of which, with the exception of 100
acres in woodland and plantation, and about 50 along
the sea-shore, the whole are aral)lc. The surface rises
in gentle undulations from the Firth towards the south,
attaining at its greatest height an elevation of 300 feet
above the level of the sea; the sea-shore is flat and
sandy, and the coast, which extends about two miles, is
a regular range of greenstone rock. In this district the
scenery is not strikingly varied, but it is generally pleasing,
in some parts enriched with wood; and the views
from the higher grounds embrace many interesting and
romantic features. The lands are watered by a few
small rivulets, which are concentrated in the coal-field,
and thence conveyed to the sea in one united stream:
this stream is powerful enough to give motion to several
mills in its progress. Towards the coast the soil is
light and sandy, but of late considerably improved; in
some parts of the parish, an unproduetive moor, of
which a portion has been reclaimed by draining; in
others, a deep, rich, and fertile loam, occasionally intermixed
with clay. Crops are raised of wheat, barley,
oats, potatoes, and turnips. The system of agriculture
is in a highly improved state: the lands are inclosed
with hedges of thorn, kept in good order; tile-draining
has been carried on to a great extent, and rape and bonedust
manures have been introduced.
The substratum is of the coal formation, intersected
with dykes of trap or whinstone, and other " troubles ".
Coal has been wrought from a remote period: the upper
seam is from six to nine inches in thickness, of very
good quality, and found at about 220 feet below the
surface. The second seam, at a depth varying from
fifty to eighty feet below the first, is about five feet
thick; and at a further depth of from thirty to fifty
feet is a third seam, three feet in thickness. About 100
feet lower is a seam of four feet, and there is another of
five feet, which has not been wrought. In addition to
these, a thin seam of cannel-coal has been found on the
lands of Falside. The mines were extensively wrought
by the Seaton family (created Earls of Wintoun), who
obtained a grant of the lands from Robert Bruce; and
were formerly cleared from water by levels cut through
the rocks, but now chiefly by steam-engines: the produce
was generally conveyed to the port on the backs
of horses. After the forfeiture of the estates by the
Earl of Wintoun, the works were sold to the York
Buildings' Company, of London, who in 1722 laid down
a tramroad of wood, which continued till 1815, when an
iron railroad was constructed by Messrs. Cadell, who
had obtained possession of the mines in this parish, and
who still work them. About 400 persons are employed
in the collieries; and the produce, averaging 60,000
tons annually, is shipped from Cockenzie. Freestone is
extensively quarried for building, and whinstone for
mending the roads. Some faint indications of ironstone
have been observed; and in the sandstone quarries,
various fossils of trees, and specimens of fern, are
found. The annual value of real property in the parish
is £15,081. St. Germain's, the residence of David Anderson,
Esq., an ancient structure, was originally a preceptory
of the Knights Templars, and was conferred,
on the suppression of the order, on the principal and
fellows of King's College, Aberdeen; it is pleasantly
situated in grounds containing many stately trees. The
village, or town, is mostly inhabited by persons connected
with, and working in, the coal-mines; and several
of the people arc employed in the salt-works carried
on here, which were introduced by the Earl of
Wintoun in the year 1630. Facility of intercourse is
afforded by good roads, and by the line of the North-
British railway.
The parish was anciently of much greater extent than
it is at present; including the whole of the parish of
Prestonpans, which was severed from it in 1606, and
also parts of the parishes of Gladsmuir and Peneaitland.
It is in the presbytery of Haddington, synod of Lothian
and Tweeddale, and in the patronage of the Crown;
the minister's stipend is £295. 13. 5., with a manse, and
a glebe valued at £20 per annum. The church, erected
in 1801, is a substantial structure adapted for a congregation
of 912 persons. A church was erected in the
village of Cockenzie in 1838, by subscription, aided by
grants from the General Assembly and the East- Lothian
Church-Extension Society, and £150 raised by the Rev.
A. Forman, of Innerwick; it is a neat edifice containing
452 sittings, from the rents of which is derived the minister's
income. There are places of worship in the village
of Tranent for members of the Free Church and
the United Presbyterian Church. The parochial school
affords a useful course of instruction; the master has a
salary of £34. 4. 4., with the fees, and a house and garden.
In the village are three schools supported by subscription;
and a subscription library is also maintained,
which forms a useful collection of volumes. An hospital
was founded by the late Mr. George Stiell, of Edinburgh,
who endowed it with property producing an income
of £900 per annum, for the education of boys and
girls, a few of them to be also maintained as inmates.
For this institution a handsome building was erected
near the village of Meadowmill, at an expense of £3000.
The boys' school is under the care of two masters, of
whom the first has a salary of £40, and the second of
£30 per annum, with board and lodging; and the girls'
under a mistress who has a salary of £18. There are
no longer any remains of the old palace of Seaton, which
was the possession of the Seaton family; the few remains
that formerly existed were removed to make room, and
afford materials, for a modern house, by the late proprietor
of the estate. When James VI. was on his way
to England to take possession of the throne, the funeral
of the fir.st Earl of Wintoun was proceeding from the
palace; and the king, out of respect to this friend of his
family, ordered his retinue to halt, and remained till the
procession had passed. The king visited the palace
in 1617, as did Charles I. subsequently. The ancient
church of Seaton, on which considerable sums were
spent by the Seaton family, was a beautiful structure in
the decorated English style of architecture; and the remains
are carefully preserved by the Earl of Wemyss,
the present proprietor of the estate. Falside Castle,
which offered resistance to the progress of the Duke of
Somerset, was burnt on the morning of the battle of
Pinkie; but from the great strength of its walls, a considerable
portion is still remaining, to which some additions
have been made.