HUMBIE

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)

"HUMBIE, a parish in the county of Haddington, Scotland, 5 miles S.W. of Gifford. It is situated in the S.W. portion of the county, and is 5 miles long by 3 broad. It is bounded by Ormiston, Salton, Bolton, Yester, Soutra, and the counties of Edinburgh and Berwick. The parish consists of a main body and a small detached portion lying wholly in the county of Edinburgh, about 1 mile distant from the rest of the parish, which contains the village of Upper Keith. The south-eastern and south-western extremities of the parish include some of the highest summits of the Lammermoors. The Lammerlaw and Soutra hills are the most remarkable elevations. Keith-water and its confluents, Humbieburn and Birnsburn, traverse the parish on their way to the Tyne. These waters abound with trout, and are of sufficient volume to give motion to several mills. Cultivation is carried a considerable distance into the upland districts, and extensive pastures occupy the higher acclivities. For a mountain country it is very highly cultivated. This parish is in the presbytery of Haddington and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, in the patronage of the crown and the Earl of Hopetoun. The minister has a stipend of £288. The church was built in 1800. Here is a Free church, two parish schools, and an endowed female school. The parish was anciently called Keith-Hundeby, which, being embodied with the quondam district of Keith-Marshall, forms the present parish of Humbie. The former district was granted to Symon Fraser, and the latter to Hervey, by David I. Keith-Hundeby subsequently belonged to the monks of Kelso. Whiteburgh House is the principal mansion. The Earl of Hopetoun, Lord Polworth, Lady. Buchan, Anderson of Whiteburgh, and the Christian Knowledge Society, are the principal landowners. On the Whiteburgh estate are remains of a Roman circular camp. There are ruins of an ancient chapel in the parish. The presence of coal has been observed, and iron ore occurs in many spots."

"UPPER KEITH, a village in the parish of Humbie, county Haddington, Scotland, 34 miles S. of Pencaitland, in the Vale of Keith Water."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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