Bolton is a hamlet and the third smallest parish in

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

, Scotland. It lies approximately south of Haddington and east of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, 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 Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

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 Malcolm Crawford of Dirleton.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 Dirleton 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 whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

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 the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was accused of the murder of Mary's second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord ...

. John Hepburn was involved in the plot to murder

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567) was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder in 1567. Lord Darnley had one child with Mary, the future James VI of Scotland and I ...

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

William Maitland of Lethington William Maitland of Lethington (1525 – 9 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 ...

, 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, 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, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

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 Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a List of British royal residences, royal r ...

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 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

, his brother Gilbert and mother Agnes (and later his sister Annabel) moved to Bolton from

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

. 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 Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(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