St Martin's Kirk
Introduction
The photograph on this page of St Martin's Kirk by Rude Health as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
St Martin's Kirk
Image: © Rude Health Taken: 25 Dec 2013
The oldest standing building in Haddington today, St Martin's Kirk is thought to have been built in the early 12th century. What you find today at St Martins is a roofless oblong shell standing within a larger walled enclosure. The gable ends are especially imposing and there remain traces of a barrel vaulted roof at the west end. The building is 55ft long by 16.5ft wide, and the side walls are 4.5ft thick. St Martin's appears to have stood just within the western gateway of the precinct of St Mary's Cistercian Nunnery and would have served as a place of worship for residents of this side of Haddington. This nunnery was founded in about 1155 by Ada, Countess of Northumberland. St Martin's would have been intended to provide a place of worship for the people of Haddington. The date is approximate: most sources now date the establishment of the nunnery to before 1159. And until his death in 1152, Ada had been married to Prince Henry of Scotland, son of David I. The son she had with Henry went on to succeed David I as Malcolm IV.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
55.956171
Longitude
-2.768879