Gladsmuir
| Gladsmuir | |
| East Lothian | |
|---|---|
 Gladsmuir Parish Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NT457732 |
| Location: | 55°56’56"N, 2°52’5"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Tranent |
| Postcode: | EH33 |
| Dialling code: | 01875 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Lothian |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
East Lothian |
Gladsmuir is a village and parish in East Lothian, situated on the A199 and near Tranent and Prestonpans.
Description
The name Gladsmuir stems from the Scots word gled, meaning a bird of prey, and muir; a moor, thus Buzzard's Moor.
Gladsmuir's principal place in history is its role as the site of the Battle of Prestonpans (1745). Some sources - particularly maps - occasionally refer to the confrontation as the Battle of Gladsmuir. The Jacobite poet William Hamilton (1704-1754) wrote a poem entitled Gladsmuir in celebration of the battle.
The philanthropist George Heriot, jeweller to King James I & VI and founder of Heriot's Hospital, (later George Heriot's School), in Edinburgh, was born in Gladsmuir.
Parish church
Gladsmuir Parish Kirk is a Romanesque cruciform church dating from 1839 and designed by William Burn. A replacement was built after a fire in 1886 by John Farquarson of Haddington with later improvements made in 1929. The older ruined kirk can still be seen and explored behind the new kirk.
The graveyard contains several Commonwealth War Graves Commission graves, from both World Wars.
Pictures
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Gladsmuir Kirk -
New Kirk gargoyle -
Tombstone detail -
The Old School House -
Old Kirk -
Old Kirk -
Ruined belltower -
The Auld Kirk -
Church with snow January 2010
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gladsmuir) |