Morrison's Haven
Morrison's Haven is a
The name comes from the Morisons of Prestongrange. A part of Prestongrange were purchased by John Morison from the Kerr family in 1609. He was a burgess of Edinburgh, a bailie (1581) and treasurer of Edinburgh (1588).
History
In 1526, the
.The harbour was used to load building materials for the fort on
The harbour was managed by Alexander Acheson, whose wife Isobel Gray died in 1565. Her inventory is an important record of the possessions of a wealthy Scottish woman.
Mark Acheson of Acheson's Haven undertook in 1587 to pay custom duties for salt exports to
A part of the harbour structure known as the "bulwark" and "Millhaven" was demolished accidentally by the Margaret of Leith captained by Thomas Melville on 1 April 1607. His partners undertook to recompense the owner, Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian.[10] There were glassworks at "Aichesonis Haven alias callit the Newhaven" by December 1625, when it was suspected that among the workers were Catholic recusants. This early manufactory may have been started by James Ord, who worked for the patent-holder Sir Gorge Hay, and was probably closed by Sir Robert Mansell around the year 1627.[11]
By the middle of the 18th century, the Haven was a busy port, exporting oysters, salt, local glassware, ceramics, bricks, fireclay, coal, and chemicals, including
The importance of the Haven is reflected in the fact that it has customs jurisdiction over the coastline from Figgate Burn, Portobello all the way to the Tyne at Belhaven.
In the late 19th century, ships from the
Up to the late 1920s, the Haven exported large amounts of coal and bricks. Then it became disused, and the harbour was filled in and the site was landscaped. At the same time, Prestongrange's traditional industries declined apace.
Masons and Freemasons
There was a stonemasons' lodge in existence at Acheson's Haven from at least 1599. The written records of this lodge commence on 9 January 1599. The first item in the minutes is a copy of the "second statute" for working stonemasons devised by William Schaw, an administrator of the estates of Anne of Denmark and Master of Work or architect to the King and Queen of Scotland. The Schaw statutes give advice on taking apprentices and safety at work.[12] A minute of 2 January 1599 demonstrates an old practice of the mason lodges. Andrew Patten was "entered" in the record as an apprentice mason to John Crafurd, only after working for his master for seven years.[13]
Over time the 'operative' stonemasons admitted men who were not stonemasons and by the early 18th century it was recognizably a Masonic Lodge. The Lodge's Minutes are therefore the oldest records in the world of a Masonic Lodge. Although this lodge was represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland, on 30 November 1736, it decided not to participate and remained independent until 1814 when it finally become a daughter Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The Lodge ceased to function in 1853. The Minute Books of the Lodge were put up for auction by descendants of the last Lodge Secretary and were purchased by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in July 1980.[14]
Morrison's Haven today
The Prestongrange Community Archaeological Project, started in 2004, confirmed the importance of Morrison's Haven. 18th century glass and pottery manufacture was totally dependent on the harbour. It developed into a mechanised working port and underwent frequent repair and improvement.
The PCA Project enabled local residents to learn skills related to archaeology.
The Haven is on the route of the
References
- ^ James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 580.
- ^ Inchkeith 1555: The Island of Women
- ^ William Angus, Protocol Book of Gilbert Grote (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 78 no. 307.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 326, 340-346.
- ^ William Angus, Protocol Book of Gilbert Grote (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 68 no. 273
- ^ Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1963), p. 246 no. 754.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 193.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 530.
- ^ P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, Satan's Conspiracy: Magic and Witchcraft in Sixteenth-century Scotland (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2001), pp. 146-7: James Craigie & Alexander Law, Minor Prose Works of James VI and I (Scottish Text Society, Edinburgh, 1982), pp. 151-2, citing Robert Pitcairn, Criminal Trials, vol. 1 part 2 (1833), p. 211.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1604-1607, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1885), p. 671.
- ^ Jill Turnbull, Scottish Glass Industry 1610-1750: To Serve the Whole Nation with Glass (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 76, 93-5.
- ^ David Stevenson, The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590-1710 (Cambridge, 1988), p. 44: William Fraser, Memorials of the Montgomeries, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1859), pp. 239-41, text of the mason's statutes
- ^ Douglas Knoop & G. P. Jones, The Scottish Mason and The Mason Word (Manchester University Press, n.d.), p. 90.
- ^ The Grand Lodge of Scotland Year Book. 1981. pp 58-66
- Shirlaw, Jean H., "The glassworks at Morrison's Haven", Transactions of the East Lothian Antiquarian % Field Naturalists's Society, 24 (2000), 39-40. ISSN 0140-1637
External links
None of these links work, October 2020.
- Overview of Morrison's Haven, by East Lothian Museum Services
- Report No. 937, Prestongrange Community Archaeological Project
- "Acheson/Morrison's Haven - What came and went and how" by Julie Aitken
- Gazetteer for Scotland, Historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, ed. Francis H. Groome, publ. 1882-85 Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh
- PDF Leaflet "Happy Walks in Prestonpans", featuring Morrison's Haven