Bolton is a hamlet and the third smallest parish in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies approximately south of Haddington and east of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, and is an entirely agricultural parish, long by about wide. The most notable buildings in the hamlet are the Parish Church, an 18th-century

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

or "doo'cot" and the former Bolton Primary School, which now serves as the village hall.

History

Chalmers' ''Caledonia'' states that "the most prominent objects which attract the antiquarian eye are the hills forts above Bolton of the earliest people. On Bolton Muir there had been an ancient camp in the field called "Chesters". In 1389 the feudal barony of Bolton was possessed by Sir John Haliburton of

Dirleton Dirleton is a village and civil parish in East Lothian, Scotland approximately east of Edinburgh on the A198. It contains . Dirleton lies between North Berwick (east), Gullane (west), Fenton Barns (south) and the Yellowcraigs nature reserve ...

.Martine (1890) p.37. In 1494 ownership of the barony of Bolton was disputed between George Home of Ayton and his wife Marion Haliburton, Lady

and Bolton, and Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell and his brother Adam Hepburn. The Hepburns had occupied and farmed at Bolton for the previous seven years, but it was discovered their tack or lease was invalid because it had been granted by Archibald, Master of Haliburton, then a legal minor. By the time of the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in its outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Refor ...

the lands of Bolton had passed to John Hepburn of Bolton, a cadet of

James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell ( – 14 April 1578), better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband ...

. John Hepburn was involved in the plot to murder

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567), was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottis ...

and was executed for his complicity in 1568. The estate was forfeited and regranted to

William Maitland of Lethington William Maitland of Lethington (15259 June 1573) was a Scottish politician and reformer, and the eldest son of poet Richard Maitland. Life He was educated at the University of St Andrews. William was the renowned "Secretary Lethington" to ...

, in whose family it remained until 1696. Richard, Earl of Lauderdale, sold the barony of Bolton to Sir Thomas Livingston, who was created Viscount Teviot in 1696. In 1702 he passed it to Lord Blantyre. The principal proprietors in 1890 were Lord Blantyre, the

Marquess of Tweeddale Marquess of Tweeddale (sometimes spelled ''Tweedale'') is a title of the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1694 for the 2nd Earl of Tweeddale. Lord Tweeddale holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Tweeddale (created 1646), Earl of Gifford (1694), ...

, Lady Connemara, Lord Sinclair, John Fletcher of Saltoun, Mr Baird of Pilmore & Kirkland; and Alexander Charles Stuart of Eaglescairnie, whose father had been commander of the army in Scotland, and Governor of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1841. Eaglescairnie was for centuries a residence of the Haliburtons.

Church

The first church to be built in Bolton was erected in around 1240. The church at Bolton was placed under the superiority of the Canons of Holyrood Abbey in

and remained so for the next three hundred years. By 1804 the church was falling into disrepair and the heritors agreed that something had to be done. A new church was built in 1809, and in 1930 the pulpit was moved to its present position at the side of the East window.

Notable people

After the death of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

, his brother Gilbert and mother Agnes (and later his sister Annabel) moved to Bolton from Ayrshire. Gilbert, factor to Lord Blantyre, oversaw the building of the new church which was completed in 1809, and all three are buried in the graveyard there, as well as Gilbert's daughters. * Rev Prof George Paxton (1762-1837) was born in Bolton.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: George Paxton * Rev Dr Andrew Stewart FRSE (1771-1838) minister of the parish from 1805 to 1815.

Today

The ''Third Statistical Account of Scotland'' relates that by 1953 Bolton had "no village, no railway station, no shop, no post office, no public house, and no police station." Today it could be added "no school" as this was closed in June 1968, when East Lothian County Council consolidated a number of small local schools. Bolton's school had been operated by a single teacher and the facilities were considered inadequate by the standards of the 1960s. Since then, local children have been taken by bus to Yester Primary School in Gifford. The former school building, dating from 1913, is now used as the village hall, operated by a community association. In 2008, work began on converting buildings on the site of Under Bolton Farm, within the village, to domestic dwellings. Construction was completed in December 2016 and has significantly increased the population of Bolton. While the population of Bolton was once dominated by agricultural workers, nowadays many residents commute to work elsewhere, particularly to Edinburgh.

Notes

External links