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Haddington, Franciscan Friary

Friary (Medieval)

Site Name Haddington, Franciscan Friary

Classification Friary (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) The Lamp Of Lothian

Canmore ID 56497

Site Number NT57SW 15

NGR NT 5181 7384

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56497

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council East Lothian
  • Parish Haddington
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District East Lothian
  • Former County East Lothian

Architecture Notes

NT57SW 15 5181 7384.

The Fransiscan Friary at Haddington was founded before 1242; it was burned by the English in 1355 and 1544. It was secularised in 1566/7, and it was decided to demolish the friars' church in 1572.

D E Easson 1957

The site of the Fransiscan friary is occupied by the present Episcopal Church (NT 5180 7387).

J Farquharson 1885

Elm House (NT 5183 7382) occupies the site of the Fransiscan friary.

J Miller 1844

The Episcopal Church and Elm House are adjacent and it is therefore reasonable, using the above information, to site the Fransiscan friary at NT 5181 7384.

Visited by OS (BS) 16 July 1975

The Greyfriars Church of Haddington was called 'the Lamp of Lothian' in honour of its magnificence. Part of the foundations of the building and evidently the remains of a graveyard were uncovered in 1878 when workmen built a large drain through the grounds of the friary.

J Robb 1883; R Gourlay and A Turner 1977.

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

THe National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, among the 'Uncatalogued

MSS of General Hutton', in Number 31.Vol.1, a pencil Sketch, dated 1782, of

this Abbey Church; and, in Number 32, two engraved prints.

Activities

Publication Account (1978)

The Episcopal Church by Elm House marks the site of the Franciscan Friary first mentioned in 1242 (Cowan and Easson, 1976, 126). It was burned by the English in 1355 and 1547. In what was to be a temporary move, the friary was alienated to the magistrates in 1555 and six years later orders for its demolition were issued although the friary church was not taken down until 1572. The Greyfriars Church of Haddington was called 'the Lamp of Lothian' in honour of its magnificence. Part of the foundations of the building and evidently the remains of a graveyard were uncovered in 1878 when workmen built a large drain through the grounds of the friary (Robb, n. d., 184).

Information from ‘Historic Haddington: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1978).

References

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