Category: Local History

History articles about Dunbar, East Lothian and beyond.

John Muir Birthplace

Post author By templelands
Post date 4 May 2010

Additional-seating-positioned-to-catch-late-afternoon-and-evening-sun. — Gone for a walk

John Muir, the pioneering conservationist and instigator of National Parks, was born in Dunbar, East Lothian.

John Muir’s birthplace, which was derelict, has recently transformed the home into an interpretative centre to highlight his work and achievements and worth a visit – it is free.

The John Muir Birthplace Trust, formed in September 1998, aims to secure the future of John Muir’s birthplace in Dunbar and to develop the interpretative centre and popularise Muir’s work.

Muir was born in 1838, some years after the houses at Templelands were built. He emigrated with his parents to the United States, which is where he settled and campaigned for the preservation of natural environments.

Pictures of East Lothian on the Map

Post author By templelands
Post date 4 November 2009

A somewhat idiosynchratic collection of pics also published on Panoramio, is an experiment. Plan A was to underlay a historic map, as most of the images portray the past seen from the present.

For best performance use the full screen button located in the top right hand corner.

Local History

Historic maps of Scotland

Post author By templelands
Post date 5 June 2009

Belhaven Bay and Dunbar - John Thompson 1832

At long last we are seeing the fruits of many years of investment in making the National Library of Scotland’s map collection accessible online. With now something like 6000 maps available, it seems like it was well worth the wait. The resolutions are high and the images look really good. NLS have added a range of geo-referenced historical map overlays, on Google maps and Bing (Microsoft’s search and mapping site has been rebranded and has vastly superior aerial images for parts of rural Scotland). Dig around because there are a range of different presentations that are quite appealing.

Local History

Margery Clinton Short Biography

Post author By templelands
Post date 31 March 2009

Templelands was Margery Clinton’s home for ten years to her death in May 2005. Born 1931, she was a specialist in reduction lustre glazes. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art 1949-53. Her passion for ceramics began in the 60s and she then went on to research reduction lustre glazes at the Royal College of Art in the 70s.

She received a number of architectural commissions later in her life and her work with tiles is regarded as spectacular. Examples of her tiles include the ceramic mural ‘The Physic Garden’ in glazed earthenware for the dining room of Mary Erskine School Edinburgh.