SPOTT

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)

"SPOTT, a parish in the county of Haddington, Scotland. It contains a village of the same name. This parish consists of two detached portions, comprehending a fertile lowland district, and part of the hilly district of Lammermuir, the former about 2¾ miles in length, with a mean breadth of three-quarters of a mile; and the latter about 3¾ miles, with an extreme breadth of 2¾ miles. The surface of the larger section is hilly, including part of the Lammermuir hills, which attain an elevation at Sparkleton Hill of 700 feet above sea-level. The soil is principally light and sandy, though in some parts clayey. The underlying rocks consist mainly of Old Red sandstone, the detached section being greywacke. The parish is touched by the road from Edinburgh to Berwick. The village of Spott is about 2½ miles S.W. of Dunbar, and 4 N.W. of Innerwick. It is situated on Spott Water, under Lammermuir, and within easy access-to the Dunbar and Innerwick stations of the North British railway. On the top of Spott loan witches were burnt as late as 1705. About half a mile E. of the village is Doon, or Down Hill, where Leslie encamped before the battle of Dunbar, more generally called in Scotland the battle of Down Hill. A little to the S.W. of the village are traces of an ancient camp, and at Kisthill is a mineral spring, formerly resorted to for scorbutic complaints. This parish is in the presbytery of Dunbar and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. The stipend of the minister is about £313. The parish church was restored in 1790. There is a subscription school. The principal seats are Spott House of the Hays, situated upon a rock in a low glen, and Bowerhouses."

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

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