Hide

Saltoun

hide
Hide

"SALTON, a parish, containing the post-office station of Salton, and the vilages of East Salton and West Salton, in the western division of Haddingtonshire. It is bounded by Pencaitland, Gladsmuir, Haddington, Bolton, Humbie, and Ormiston ... Salton is noted for having been the first place in Scotland in which pot-barley was manufactured, the first in Britain in which the weaving of hollands was established, the first in which a bleachfield of the British Linen company was formed, and one of the earliest in which a paper-mill and a starch-work were set up. It is associated also with the invention and improvement of some agricultural machines ... Population of the parish in 1831, 786; in 1861, 712." [From the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, 1868]
A lengthier description is available.

Hide
topup

Cemeteries

For information on monumental inscriptions in Saltoun parish, see the Bolton and Saltoun Church Home Page.

The Scottish Genealogy Society has a list of all gravestones in East Saltoun churchyard up to a recent date. This listing is unpublished and may be viewed at the society's library in Edinburgh.

Presbyterian / Unitarian
Saltoun, Church of Scotland
topup

Churches

Presbyterian / Unitarian
Saltoun, Church of Scotland
topup

Church History

For information on the history of the parish, see the Bolton and Saltoun Church Home Page.

topup

Church Records

The parish church (Church of Scotland) has registers dating from 1635. Old Parish Registers (before 1855) are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh, and copies on microfilm may be consulted in local libraries and in LDS Family History Centres around the world. Later parish registers (after 1855) are often held in the Scottish Record Office as are any records of non-conformist churches in the area (often unfilmed and unindexed, and only available there).

In his entry for the Statistical Account of Scotland (compiled 1790s, see the Statistics section of the East Lothian page for more details) the Rev. Andrew Johnston made the following comment about deficiencies in the registration of births and deaths in the parish of Saltoun in the late 18th century:

"The registers of births and burials (from whence the above average is taken) are very inaccurate and incomplete."
topup

Civil Registration

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. For details of these and other records held at the General Register Office in Edinburgh, see the GRO tutorial.

topup

Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Saltoun which are provided by:

topup

Gazetteers

Extracts for this parish from the 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland are available.

topup

History

For information on the history of the parish, see the Bolton and Saltoun Church Home Page.

topup

Maps

This map shows the location of the parish in the county.

The Scottish Record Office holds the following as part of its collection of maps and plans:

  • 1740: Farm plan of Gilchriston. Size 37x30cm. Grid (map) reference NT4765. SRO reference RHP.977/1. Also another copy with 1803 boundary added - RHP.977/2

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NT478674 (Lat/Lon: 55.897218, -2.835618), Saltoun which are provided by:

topup

Population

Here are some figures showing the parish's population through time:
 

YearPopulation
1755761
1792830
1801768
1831786
1861712
1871647
1881575
1891495
topup

Statistics

For a social and economic record of the parishes of East Lothian together with considerable statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, which was compiled in the 1790s. Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.

Thanks to a joint venture between the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh the First and Second Statistical Accounts can now be accessed on-line at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1791-1799 and 1845.