Tranent

History

The name is thought to be of Brythonic origin, possibly containing the elements Tre and Nant, meaning town over the stream Travernant. Tranent was once an important mining town, and coal was first worked there in the thirteenth century by the monks of Newbattle Abbey who mined a nearby 2.5m / 7  ft thick coal deposit called the "Great Seam". The town possesses the oldest coal-mining charter (1202–1218) in Great Britain, and the history of coal mining in Scotland is mirrored in the history of the coal heughs, mines and pits of Tranent. Tranent is now a commuter town supporting the south-east of Scotland and, more specifically, Edinburgh. The Massacre of Tranent took place in 1797, when local people were killed by soldiers after a protest against conscription into the county militia under the Militia Act 1797. One of the 12 victims, Jackie Crookston, is depicted on the memorial that commemorates the dead in Tranent's Civic Square. In connection with the annual commemoration of the Battle of Prestonpans (originally called the Battle of Gladsmuir, and then renamed the Battle of Tranent, before many decades later being renamed the Battle of Prestonpans) there are plans to recreate a small portion of the Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway which dates back to 1722. There is a long history of settlement in Tranent, perhaps dating back to prehistory. There are several historic buildings in and around the town, including the ruins of the old parish church, parts of which date from the 11th century and which was demolished in 1797, while a few miles south-west of the town stands Fa'side Castle, sometimes known as Falside or Fawside, a fourteenth-century L-shaped tower house. Isabella Begg née Burns, the youngest sister of Robert Burns, moved to Tranent from Ormiston with…