Miscellaneous

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)

"ALDHAM, an old parish, in the county of Haddington, Scotland, now united with Whitekirk. It contains the ruins of a chapel near Tantallon Castle.

"KEITH, an ancient parish in the county Haddington, now joined to parish of Humbie."

"LAMEMER ISLE, in county Haddington, Scotland, about 1 mile from Dunbar."

"LAMMERMOOR HILLS, a bare slaty ridge on the borders of the counties Haddington and Berwick, Scotland, extending from St. Abb's Head to Soutra Hill. The highest summits are, Crib Law, 1,615 feet; Clints Hill, 1,544 feet; and Lammerlaw, 1,500 feet. The slopes of these hills are clothed with a stunted herbage and moss, affording good sheepwalks; and on one of the spurs, not far from the coast, is Fast Castle, the "Ravenswood" of Sir Walter Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor.""

"SOUTRA, an ancient parish in the county of Haddington, Scotland, now joined to the parish of Fala, MidLothian."

"THE BASS, a lofty and rugged island-rock off the east coast of the county of Haddington, Scotland. It is situated about 2 miles to the N. of the old castle of Tantallon, and in the entrance to the Frith of Forth. Its form is nearly circular, and it is about a mile in circumference. To the north it rises sharply from water of great depth to a height of 420 feet, while on the south side, facing the land, it has a gradual slope. The substance of the rock is greenstone and trap, and it is penetrated by a great cavern running through it from north-west to south-east.

It is inaccessible except at one part on the south-east side. At that part of the rock stand the ruins of the small fort or prison. A few sheep find pasture on a small grassy tract of the island, and a whole population of sea-birds make it their summer haunt. The beautiful solan geese are the most numerous; they visit no other island on the east coast of Great Britain. The minister of North Berwick, in the character of vicar of the Bass, still receives annually, according to very ancient custom, "twelve solan geese, entire, with their feathers on." The schoolmaster also receives two. The Bass belonged in ancient times to a family called Lauder of the Bass. It subsequently became the property of the crown, and in 1706 was granted to Sir Hew Dalrymple, whose descendants still hold it. It is let to a keeper, who has the key of the castle, and conducts visitors to it.

A deep human interest attaches to this rock since the 17th century, when Charles II. erected a state prison upon it, and made the cells of its dungeons memorable by immuring in them the persecuted Covenanters. Such was the purpose it was made to serve during the reigns of the last two Stuarts; and it acquired the name of the Bastile of Scotland. Unlike its greater prototype, which early fell before a roused and angry nation, the Bass possesses the distinction of being the last spot that held out in Great Britain for James II. The cell in which the pious Blackadder was confined is still pointed out to the visitor. There are some remains of a small chapel halfway up the slope of the rock. In this the garrison kept their ammunition. The name of St. Baldred, the apostle of East Lothian, who died early in the seventh century, is associated with several places on the coast of Haddington, and a doubtful tradition asserts that he made the Bass his residence.

"TYNE, a river of counties Edinburgh and Haddington, Scotland. It rises in Tyne-Head, under Stob Hill, and after a course of 26 miles, falls into the North Sea at Tynningham."

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

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