PENCAITLAND, a parish, in the county of Haddington;
containing 1127 inhabitants, of whom 48 are
in the village of Easter Pencaitland, and 171 in that of
Wester Pencaitland, 4 miles (S. E.) from Tranent. This
place derives its name, properly Pencaithlan, from its
situation at the head of a narrow valley watered by the
river Tyne. It is of very ancient date, and appears to
have been granted by William the Lion to Everard de
Pencaithlan, who gave the churchy with the tithes and
other property belonging to it, to the monks of Kelso,
in whose possession it remained till a short time prior
to the accession of Robert Bruce. The manor subsequently
became the property of a younger branch of the
Maxwell family, who granted the advowson and tithes
to the monks of Dryburgh, who held them until the
Reformation. Pencaitland parish is about four miles in
length from east to west, and about three miles in
breadth. It is in the most western part of the county,
and is bounded on the north by the parish of Gladsmuir,
on the east by that of Salton, and on the south and west
by the parish of Ormiston. The surface rises on both
sides from the banks of the Tyne (by which it is divided
into two nearly equal portions) in a gentle acclivity till
it attains a moderate degree of elevation; and is pleasingly
diversified with fields in rich cultivation, and with
meadows of luxuriant verdure. The river, here a very
inconsiderable stream, flows silently along a narrow but
highly picturesque valley in its progress towards the sea;
and there are numerous springs, affording an ample
supply of excellent water.
In general the soil is fertile, though not well adapted
to green crops; and by good management it has been
much improved: the whole number of acres in the parish
is estimated at 4800, of which 4300 are under tillage,
200 in pasture, and 300 in woods and plantations. Crops
are raised of wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, potatoes,
and turnips; the system of agriculture is in an advanced
state, and the six-shift course of husbandry prevalent.
The lands are well inclosed, and have been benefited by
furrow-draining, which is extensively practised; the
farm houses and offices are substantial and commodious,
and on most of the farms are threshing-mills, several of
them driven by steam-power, which is rapidly coming
into use. About 1500 sheep are pastured, chiefly for
the Edinburgh market. The woods and plantations are
mostly on the lands of Winton and Fouutainhall, and
contain some trees of venerable growth. In this parish
the substrata are limestone and coal, with some veins of
freestone of excellent quality, which is quarried to a
considerable extent for building and other purposes:
the coalfield is part of the East Lothian range, which
appears to terminate in this parish. The coal is found
chiefly at a depth of about sixty feet, in seams varying
from three feet to nearly five feet in thickness; below
which, at a depth of nearly seventy feet, lies a vein of
splint coal, from a foot and a half to three feet thick:
three mines are wrought, affording employment to more
than 200 persons. There is also a vein of carboniferous
limestone, wrought with profit. The nearest markettowns
are Haddington and Dalkeith, to which the agricultural
produce of the parish is chiefly sent; and
facility of communication with these and other places
is maintained by good roads: that from Edinburgh to
Dunse passes a little to the east of Easter Pencaitland.
The annual value of real property in Pencaitland is £7396.
Winton House, the seat of the Earls of Winton until
the estates were forfeited in 1715, and now the property
of Lady Ruthven; and Fountainhall, belonging to Sir
John Dick Lauder, Bart.; are both very ancient structures.
The villages of Easter and Wester Pencaitland
are separated from each other by the Tyne. The latter
is of corresponding antiquity with the parish, and appears
to have been formerly of more importance than it
is at present; it contains an ancient cross, and hence
it is supposed that a market was formerly held. A proclamation
inserted in the Edinburgh Gazette, in August
1699, authorized the holding of two fairs in this village,
for the sale of horses, cattle, and sheep, and of linen and
woollen cloths, on the Sth of June and 4th of October
yearly, " free of customs for three years." The population
of both places are chiefly employed in agricultural
pursuits, and in small handicraft trades; but the inhabitants
of the village of Newtown, also in the parish,
almost exclusively in the collieries.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Haddington, synod of Lothian
and Tweeddale, and in the patronage of Lady Ruthven:
the stipend of the minister is £'^91, with a manse,
a comfortable residence, and a glebe of six acres of good
land, valued at £14 per annum. The church is a venerable
structure, of which by far the larger portion was
erected in 1631; the other portion of it, called the Pentcaitland
aisle, is of much greater antiquity, and most
probably part of the original church. It is situated
nearly in the centre of the parish; and adjoining to it is
an ancient building, known as the " College", probably
from having been a seminary previous to the Reformation.
The members of the Free Church have a place of
worship. Pencaitland parochial school affords education
to about seventy scholars; the master has a salary of
£34. 4., with a house and garden, and the fees amount
to £30 per annum. The schoolroom, which is ample
and commodious, is situated in the village of Wester
Pencaitland. A school at Easter Pencaitland was established
by the late Mrs. Hamilton, for instructing girls
in elementary learning and in needle-work. There is
also a school in the village of Newtown, for the children
of persons employed in the collieries, the master of which
receives from Lady Ruthven and the lessee of the mines
certain donations, in addition to the fees.
Sir John Lauder, Bart., Lord Fountainhall, an eminent
lawyer and statesman, who took his title as a lord
of session and justiciary from lands in this parish, was
the author of FountdinhaU's Decisions, published in two
volumes, and of three quarto and ten folio volumes of
MSS. James Hamilton, who was also one of the judges
of the court of session, and a lord justiciary, by the title
of Lord Pencaitland; and George Seton, the fifth and
last Earl of Winton, who was taken prisoner at Preston,
and sentenced to death for his attachment to the Pretender,
were likewise connected with this place. The
late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart., of Fountainhall,
who died at the Grange House, Edinburgh, in 1S48,
was author of The H'ol/e of IJadenoch, Account of the
Floods in Moray, and other works. Among the ministers
of the parish have been, Caldcrwood, the ecclesiastical
historian, who entered on his spiritual duties here some
time after his return from Holland, whither he had been
banished during one of the most eventful periods in the
history of the Scottish Cliurch; and the Rev. Robert
Douglas, who, in tlie capacity of chaplain, accompanied
a brigade of auxiliaries sent over to (icrniany from this
country, to aid the Protestant cause under the celebrated
Gustavus Adolphus, by whom he was held in high estimation.