Aberlady is a coastal village in the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 council area of East Lothian

East Lothian

East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....

. On Aberlady Bay

Aberlady Bay

Aberlady Bay is a bay in East Lothian, Scotland between Aberlady and Gullane.In 1952, Aberlady Bay became the UK's first Local Nature Reserve and is served by the East Lothian Council Rangers....

, it is five miles northwest of Haddington

Haddington, East Lothian

The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...

 and approximately 18 miles east of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, to which it is linked by the A198 Dunbar - Edinburgh road.

Aberlady Parish Church dates back to the 15th century. It was re-built in 1887. In 1986, the parishes of Aberlady and Gullane

Gullane

Gullane is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the 9th century. The ruins of the Old Church of St...

 were merged, and the Manse is now in Gullane.

Aberlady is surrounded by several well-known golf courses including Luffness

Luffness

Luffness is a hamlet in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies between the towns of Gullane and Aberlady and is approximately 20 miles east of Edinburgh....

, Kilspindie

Kilspindie

Kilspindie is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is situated on the Kilspindie burn, approximately 5 km Northwest of Errol, 10 km west of Dundee and 10 km east of Perth...

 and Craigielaw.

History

In the Middle Ages, Aberlady was an important harbour and was designated "Port of Haddington". by a 1633 Act of Parliament. However, its origins are much earlier.

Aberlady had strong links with the monasteries at Iona

Iona

Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...

 and Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...

 from the 7th century, and its role was to facilitate the pilgrim traffic between the two sites. Previous archaeological excavations have shown traces of a Culdee

Culdee

Céli Dé or Culdees were originally members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland and England in the Middle Ages. The term is used of St. John the Apostle, of a missioner from abroad recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 806, and of Óengus...

 chapel, and Pope Gregory X

Pope Gregory X

Pope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....

 made reference to the church which he called "Aberlefdi". The 8th century Aberlady Cross fragment can be seen at the National Museum of Scotland

National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the Royal Museum next door, with collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world...

 in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. A reconstruction of this finely carved cross was erected in 2011 by Aberlady Conservation & History Society.

The "Aberlady Heritage Project" is a community-led project, and in 2008 it surveyed three sites - the medieval harbour quay commissioned in 1535, the Iron Age fort and associated souterrain at Kilspindie, and the Anglo-Saxon site at the Glebe. Aberlady boasts the largest collection of stray Anglo-Saxon finds yet discovered in Scotland.

Conservation

In 1952, Aberlady Bay became the UK's first Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

 or LNR

LNR

LNR may refer to:* Aeronca L-3, a World War II aircraft also known by the designation LNR* Ligue nationale de rugby, the organization that operates the two professional rugby union leagues in France* Liquid natural rubber, another name for latex...

. Amongst its other conservation designation

Conservation designation

A conservation designation is a name and/or acronym which explains the status of an area of land in terms of conservation or protection.-United Kingdom:*Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty *Environmentally Sensitive Area*Local Nature Reserve...

s are: Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 or SSSI; Special Protection Area

Special Protection Area

A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...

 or SPA

SPA

SPA can refer to:* SPA , a 1990s British band-As an abbreviation:* Saddle point approximation, a term used in quantum field theory* Sales and Purchase Agreement, a legal term for selling a company...

; and Ramsar site. East Lothian Council provides Reserve Wardens.

Waterston House, overlooking Aberlady Bay

Aberlady Bay

Aberlady Bay is a bay in East Lothian, Scotland between Aberlady and Gullane.In 1952, Aberlady Bay became the UK's first Local Nature Reserve and is served by the East Lothian Council Rangers....

, is the headquarters of the Scottish Ornithologists' Club

Scottish Ornithologists' Club

The Scottish Ornithologists' Club is a Scottish ornithological body, founded in March 1936 at the premises of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. As of 2008, the SOC has 2,200 members. The Club runs the Scottish Birds Records Committee, which maintains a list of birds recorded in Scotland...

 (SOC). It is named after George Waterston

George Waterston

George Waterston was an ornithologist and conservationist in Scotland. He was Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland. He lived at 21 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh where he co-founded what was the Midlothian Ornithologists' Club and is now the Scottish Ornithologists'...

, the founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...

.

The Library holds over 3,500 items and is said to be the largest ornithological library in Scotland.

The art gallery space is named after wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

 artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 Donald Watson

Donald Watson (artist)

Donald Watson was a Scottish ornithologist and a wildlife artist.-Early years:Watson was born at Cranleigh, Surrey. He drew birds as a child and was encouraged in this by the wildlife artist Archibald Thorburn. The family relocated to Edinburgh, and Donald attended Edinburgh Academy...

 who was President of SOC. The gallery specialises in bird-related paintings, but in May 2008 it had a textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 exhibition named "Flights of Fancy".

The author Nigel Tranter

Nigel Tranter

Nigel Tranter OBE was a Scottish historian and author.-Early life:Nigel Tranter was born in Glasgow and educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He trained as an accountant and worked in Scottish National Insurance Company, founded by his uncle. In 1933 he married May Jean Campbell Grieve...

 was inspired to write on his daily walks on the nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

. A cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

 in his memory stands at the car park by the wooden footbridge; Nigel Tranter referred to it as "the bridge to enchantment".

Aberlady Conservation & History Society is the local focus for conservation in the built and natural environment of the village and its surroundings.

See also

• List of places in East Lothian
• List of wildlife artists
• North Sea Trail
  North Sea Trail
  The North Sea Trail is a long-distance path linking seven countries and 26 partner areas in Northern Europe around the North Sea.The project's aims are to support sustainable tourism and to explore the heritage of communities along the North Sea coast....
  
  
• John Muir Way
  John Muir Way
  The John Muir Way is a continuous coastal path in East Lothian, Scotland, UK. It is named in honour of the Scottish 19th-century conservationist John Muir, who was born at Dunbar, East Lothian, in 1838 and became a founder of America's national park system...
  
  
• Myreton Motor Museum
  Myreton Motor Museum
  The Myreton Motor Museum is a museum located near the village of Aberlady, East Lothian, Scotland, which has a motoring history collection which covers most of the twentieth century.- Collection :...
  
  

External links

• http://www.aberlady.org/ Aberlady Community Association & Village web site
• http://www.snh.org.uk/about/lnr/detail.asp?id=8122 Scottish Natural Heritage webpage for Aberlady LNR
• http://www.elh.info/site/pages/local-heritage-groups/aberlady-conservation-society/aberlady-heritage-project.php Aberlady Conservation Society and Aberlady Heritage Project website