it had risen to £191, 10s. 3d. Lord Hyndford, through his
wife, a Grant, was at this period proprietor of the estate
and patron of the parish. About 1850 the living was worth
£326, 11s. 1d.; at the present time it is very fluctuating.
In 1755, the population numbered 1, 596; in 1791, it had increased
to 2, 028; and, in 1801, it had decreased to 1, 964. In 1851,
it numbered 1, 640; and in 1901 it had increased to 3, 673.
In 1845 there were twenty-four licensed spirit shops in the
parish, and of these seven were public-houses. At the present
time there are three public-houses and four licensed grocers'
shops.
In 1845 there were three friendly benefit societies in the
parish; at the present time there are four, and all in a highly
flourishing condition. But previous to that date there had
been other two benefit societies in the village, that of the
" Hammermen " and the " Potters. " How or when the hammermen
formed themselves into a benefit society, or, indeed, who
the hammermen were, it seems impossible to learn; and yet,
it is not so very long ago since they were wont to have their
annual procession. Had there been any large iron foundries
in the district, this might have accounted for the name; but
there were none, and we are compelled to fall back upon our
original idea that it was simply a society of villagers who
had taken to themselves the name of hammermen from one of
the early names of the village—Aldhammer ! The society continued
till the year 1820 or so. The Potters' Benefit Society was
a very strong one, and the members continued to have their
annual turn-out on the first Friday of June even up till about
the year 1840; but " Potters' Day " was held in the village
for many years afterwards.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY COAL WORKING IN THE DISTRICT.
Coal Working: Original Charter, 1202-10—Early Proprietors—Swan's
" De Quincy's, " &c. —Colliers in Freedom—Fire Raising
in Pits—A Fawside Miner Hanged—Colliers and Sailers in Slavery—Price
of Coal settled by Act of Parliament—Lady Fawside and her
Pits—Miners' Wages fixed by Act of Parliament—Miners and their
Idle Days—Pride's Petition—Examination of Old Miners by Government—Ill
feeling among district Miners—Cadell's Agreement—Durie's Contract—Women
and Children in the Mines—Women put out of the Pits—Rare Ongoings—
Prestongrange Colliery up to date.
IT is an old old story, that from Seton, along the coast,
to Pinkie Burn, and from Winton, inland, on to Inveresk, was
originally Tranent or Winton territory. In 1184 De Quincy,
laird of these possessions, granted the monks of Newbattle
lands whereon they formed a grange. He also granted them seven
acres of his meadows whereon to feed their sheep, &c.,
and allowed them to take peats out of his Tranent peatries.
These meadows, as we understand them, stretch from Beattie's
Row, near Dolphinstone, on the west, along by Bankton, Meadowmill,
and continue along the old marsh way to Seton plantation,
on the east. One tradition is that the monks discovered coal
while taking peats from the peatrie. Another tradition is
that, while watching their flocks in these meadows by night,
they were wont to kindle fires around them, possibly for warmth,
more probably in order to hold the wild beasts at bay that
roamed at large during those early ages. There are several
parts along these meadows where the upper coal seams crop
out. As the story goes, these ancient shepherds had kindled
a fire one night directly on top of an "outcrop, " and the
consequence was that the ground took fire, when the coal was
discovered. One thing is certain, here coal was first discovered,
and no sooner was the discovery made than a charter |
