East Lothian Antiquarian & Field Naturalists' Society

Newbattle Abbey Visit 18 Sep 2025
2025-09-18 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London)
A private tour of the Abbey and it’s wonderful gardens. Founded as a Cistercian Monastery in 1140 by King David 1st. It then became the Kerr family home in the 16th century and an adult residential college in 1937. The army requisitioned it during World War 2 but opened its doors to a college again in 1950. It has a fascinating history which will be described during the tour. It was her that a Council of Nobles met here in Spring 1320. They drafted a letter asking the Pope to recognise Scotland’s independence and acknowledge Robert Bruce as the lawful king. This letter became The Declaration of Arbroath !

There will also be an opportunity to explore the beautiful Italian Garden.

The cost will be approximately £10, to include tea and biscuits.

Likely numbers limit two groups of 15.

Preston Tower Visit 18 Oct 2025
2025-10-18 14:00 - 16:30
The Society is delighted to offer Members an opportunity for a private tour of Preston Tower, Doocot and Garden on Saturday 18th October, 2025, 2.00 PM for 2.30 PM. Our visit will be hosted by Friends of Preston Tower, a local group of community-focused volunteers.

Preston Tower is a Scheduled Monument consisting of a partially ruined Tower House, Doocot and Garden nestling in the heart of the town of Prestonpans. The lower storeys of the tower are of 15th century origin whilst the upper mini Renaissance Palace (and probably the Doocot) was added in the early 17th century. There are two documented burnings of the Tower, firstly in 1544 during the Rough Wooing and again in 1650 by Oliver Cromwell’s forces. The Tower remained in use as a home until around 1700 when it was permanently abandoned by the Hamilton family. From the mid-19th century the Tower functioned as the centrepiece of a commercial market garden and in the late 1960s passed into the ownership of the National Trust for Scotland. Currently access is limited to the first floor great hall reached via a new external staircase, the ground floor vaulted chamber with its own entrance, and the nearby doocot which was substantially repaired at the same time the tower was being renovated.

Visit plan

Address: 30 Cross Cottages, Prestonpans, EH32 9EJ.

There will be two groups that will alternate between the Tower and Doocot & Garden.

There will be no charge for the visit but attendees are asked to consider donations towards the running costs of the Friends of Preston Tower: either in cash or on-line via a QR code.

Please note that there is no dedicated parking at the Tower. The adjacent car park is private for the housing association. However there is ample on-street parking as well as at the nearby community centre close to the Mercat cross. The nearest public toilets are on Ayres Wynd, just off the High Street: follow West Loan north.

Places will understandably be limited so to reserve a place please contact Elaine Whewell at info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

“The material landscapes of Scotland’s jewellery craft.” Saturday 1st November 2025
2025-11-01 14:30 - 17:00
The Society is delighted to present this talk by Dr Sarah Laurenson at 2.30 PM, Saturday, 1st November, 2025.

The venue will be at Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington

Dr Sarah Laurenson is Principal Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary History at National Museums Scotland. This talk will be based on her recent extensively researched and beautifully illustrated book entitled as above.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, jewellers sourced and used a range of materials from Scotland’s varied natural landscape: precious gold and silver, sparkling crystals and colourful agates, freshwater pearls and shells. This talk traces these materials on their journey from hill and shore to the jewellers bench and explores how these materials shaped new ways of working with and thinking about the natural world during the age of industry.

Members can expect a most interesting and colourful journey into the world of Scottish jewellery.

For any enquiries contact Elaine Whewell: info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

Non members welcome with a modest cash donation appreciated

Church parking is limited to Blue Badge holders plus otherwise mobility compromised

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation No: SC052295

“New looks at old pasts: the impact of LiDAR on our understanding of the landscape in the Border counties.”
2025-11-22 14:30 - 17:00
Stratford Halliday LIDAR FINAL PDFDownload

“An Eighteenth Century North Berwick Love Story”
2025-12-13 14:30 - 17:00
a personal family account

by Sir Hew Dalrymple

Sir Hew and Margaret Sainthill article- lectureDownload

The Society is delighted to present this talk by Sir Hew Dalrymple at 2.30 PM, Saturday, December 13th, 2025. Sir Hew and his family have been involved in the Society since its inception and in North Berwick and East Lothian life for more than 300 years. Sir Hew was a founding trustee of the Scottish Seabird Centre and is a Deputy Lieutenant of the county. He is also president of North Berwick RNLI and North Berwick Yacht Club. His family home, Leuchie House, is well known as the National Respite Centre. Sir Hew’s family archives are deposited in the National Record Office and are the source for this talk.

Sir Hew will take us back to the year 1744 and will paint a picture of life in North Berwick and London at that time. The talk is based on an intimate & delightful correspondence between Hew and Margaret Dalrymple, who were newly married but separated for four months when he left her in London to attend to his business affairs in Scotland. What emerges is a fascinating picture of a life very different to our own and yet the emotions, ambitions and anxieties that they exhibit are completely relatable to us today.

The venue will be at Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington

Join us for refreshments afterwards.

For any enquiries contact Elaine Whewell: info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

Non members welcome with a modest cash donation appreciated

Church parking is limited to Blue Badge holders plus otherwise mobility compromised

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation No: SC052295

Unearthing and conserving the Peebles Hoard
2026-01-31 14:30 - 17:00
by Dr Matthew Knight and Ms Bethan Bryan

The Society is delighted to present this talk by Matthew Knight and Bethan Bryan at 2.30 PM, Saturday 31st, January, 2026.

The venue will be at Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington, EH41 3EX

Matt Knight is Senior Curator of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age collections at National Museums Scotland, specialising in the production, use, and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork. His active research interests include the treatment of metalwork as well as the inclusion of older objects in later deposits. He is also Project Lead on the AHRC-funded Scotland’s Archaeological Human Remains Collection project.

Bethan Bryan is Peebles Hoard Conservator and Artefact Conservator at National Museums Scotland. She holds degrees in Celtic Archaeology and Medieval History from the University of Edinburgh and worked for five years at the National Trust for Scotland, before completing the MA Conservation of Archaeological and Museum Objects at the University of Durham.

Talk summary

The Peebles Hoard is one of the most remarkable hoards ever found in Scotland. Dating to the Late Bronze Age, it contains several hundred elements from a complex set of bronze and organic objects, as well as a complete sword in a scabbard. The hoard includes highly decorated bronze fittings, studs and buttons, as well as organic straps that linked multiple objects. Many of these objects have never been found before in Scotland, such as jingle plates that would have hung from horses; others have no clear parallels. This talk will present the discovery and excavation of the hoard as well as highlighting some of the ongoing conservation work, which is revealing intriguing insights into how the objects were made and used.

Join us for refreshments afterwards.

For any enquiries contact Elaine Whewell: info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

Non members welcome with a modest cash donation appreciated

Church parking is limited to Blue Badge holders plus otherwise mobility compromised

“Farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914”
2026-02-21 14:30 - 17:00
David McLean will give a talk on the farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914. This will describe the lives of thousands of farm servants and bondagers who worked on the improved farms of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire and East Lothian through the years of the great agricultural revolution.

The Society is delighted to present this talk by David McLean at 2.30 PM, Saturday, 21st February, 2026.

Please note that the venue will be at Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington, EH41 3EX

David McLean

After graduating in history at Edinburgh University, our speaker began a professional career in education which eventually spanned 38 years, teaching history and modern studies. Posts included principal teacher of History at Berwickshire High School and depute headteacher at Earlston High School. After retirement in 2010, he found more time for deeper historical research into both Scottish and American history which has led on to giving a variety of talks to various clubs and societies across the Borders. In more recent years, he has added a new project: researching the stories of the old Duns houses and the families who lived in them, work which has not been done before.

Talk summary

The talk will look at the lives of those thousands of farm-servants and bondagers who worked on the improved farms of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire and East Lothian through the years of the great agricultural revolution. It will explain the rural hierarchy from ploughmen downwards, the main tasks of the farming year, how farm-servants were paid, their living conditions and relationships with employers. Attempts to promote trade unionism in the countryside will be explored before reaching the watershed of the Great War.

Members can expect a moving historical journey into past agricultural times.

For any enquiries contact: info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

Non members welcome with a modest cash donation appreciated

Church parking is limited to Blue Badge holders plus otherwise mobility compromised

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation No: SC052295

“The incredible scientific pioneering life of Lord Kelvin”
2026-03-21 14:30 - 17:00 | Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 6A Church Street, Haddington EH41 3EX ·
Professor Martin-Torres FRSE will describe the life of William Thomson, known in history as Lord Kelvin (of the temperature scale). Thomson enrolled at the University of Edinburgh at just 10 years old. He had an insatiable curiosity and interdisciplinary approach to science leading him to explore diverse areas of inquiry – from thermodynamics, electromagnetism to geophysics and navigation and much more besides.
