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salt in Scotland. In 1889 the Scottish Salt Company, of
which Prestonpans is a branch, was established as a limited
liability company. The salt is no longer obtained from sea
water, but from rock-salt mined in Cheshire, while finished
salt from Runcorn and Middlesborough is also used in the
works. There are now 2 salters who boil the salt, 2 packers
who pack table salt, 2 lorrymen, and i labourer, and they
all live in the burgh or in Port Seton. The methods of manufacture
are rather primitive, but it is claimed that the process
makes better salt than modern plants, although costs are
higher. The rough cooking salt and the packed table salt
manufactured in Prestonpans are sold to bakeries, biscuit
manufacturers, and grocers in the Edinburgh area, the Lothians,
Fife, and Peeblesshire. The war affected the industry by
a substantial increase in costs and by making it difficult
to obtain raw materials.
In the early part of the igth century the manufacture of
pottery, tiles, and stone ware gave employment to a con-
siderable number of persons. At the end of the century only
one pottery, that of Messrs Belfield, was working, and it
has now ceased production. Before the 1914-18 war it employed
probably from 30 to 40 people and manufactured glazed brown
teapots and pie-dishes. The teapot, known locally as the
" Broon Coo," was a favourite with housewives, and many
of the older residents have pleasant memories of the brown
pot with the " grannie," as handle, on the lid. The pottery
building is now used by a firm engaged in re-treading rubber
tyres. Other industries that have died out within living
memory are those of hand-spun rope-making and sail-making,
the former remembered by the street known as Rope Walk.
The factory of Messrs Daniel Buchanan & Sons occupies a
site in Preston, adjacent to the railway station. In it
are manufactured oilskins of various kinds. During the war
these included large quantities of protective clothing for
the various services, including the A.R.P. Now buoys for
fishing nets are the chief product, although oilskin clothing
is also made. The clothing is mainly for the home market,
but the buoys are exported to Norway, Denmark, Holland,
Iceland, and the Faroes, as well as Vancouver and other
American
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