Place:Tranent (town), East Lothian, Scotland

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Tranent is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is close to the A1 road (the main highway between London and Edinburgh) and about 11 miles (18 km) east of Edinburgh. It is one of the oldest towns in East Lothian, and built on a gentle slope, about 300 feet above sea level. Population of the town was less than 9,000 people in 2001 (the last census available).

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

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 of 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 her family after her son William resigned his post as the schoolmaster. She supported her family with the help of her daughters Agnes and Isabella, working as dressmakers. In 1843 she moved to Bridge House in Alloway, South Ayrshire.

Industry

Coal was first mined in Tranent Parish when Robert de Quincy granted rights in the early-thirteenth century to the monks of Newbattle to mine at Prestoungrange, which was then part of that parish. Soon many wealthy families in the parish joined the rush to mine coal. Heughs (surface mines), were being cut throughout the area. Longniddry, St. Germains, Fa'side, Ormiston (much later town) and Elphinstone, all parts of old Tranent, had their collieries and for the next 750 years, the industry prospered. Other industries grew to employ increasing populations: distilleries, breweries, tanneries and metal implement works. Quarries opened providing stone for homes. Farming was modernised and mills opened to provide food. The nineteenth-century saw a slowdown in industrial growth and, gradually, industry centralised and moved to larger centres. The coal industry had peaked and the twentieth century brought about a slow, but terminal decline. The last large deep mine closed in 1961, then in 2000, the opencast mine at Blindwells closed.

Research Tips

Refer to the parish of Tranent