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Musselburgh
Gaelic: Baile nam Feusgan
Musselburgh is in East Lothian, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, 6 miles east of Edinburgh. The name is Old English in origin with ‘mussel’ referring to the shellfish and ‘burgh’ from the Old English for ‘town’.
It was first settled by the Romans in the years following invasion AD80. They built a fort inland from the mouth of the River Esk, at Inveresk. They bridged the Esk downstream from the fort and in doing so established the line of the main eastern approach to Scotland’s capital. The bridge built by the Romans outlasted them by many centuries. It was rebuilt on the original Roman foundations some time before 1300, and rebuilt in 1597. The Old Bridge is also known as the Roman Bridge and remains in use today.
The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh was fought south of Musselburgh. Musselburgh is known as the ‘Honest Toun’ and marks this each year by electing an Honest Lad and Lass. The town motto ‘Honestas’ dates back to 1332, when the Regent of Scotland – Randolph, Earl of Moray – died in the burgh after a long illness. His successor offered to reward the people for looking after Randolph so well during his illness, but they declined saying they had just been doing their duty. Thus they acquired their motto.
The tartan was designed around 1956 by G Lawson of the Musselburgh Co-operative Society to mark Musselburgh 'Riding of the Marches' celebrations of 1956. The Riding of the Marches traditionally took place every 2 years.
Choose from one of the Musselburgh tartans listed below:
