Cockenzie and Port Seton
| Cockenzie and Port Seton | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 55 ° 58 ′ N , 2 ° 57 ′ W | ||
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| Residents | 5551 (2011 census) | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | PRESTONPANS | ||
| ZIP code section | EH32 | ||
| prefix | 01875 | ||
| Part of the country | Scotland | ||
| Council area | East Lothian | ||
| British Parliament | East Lothian | ||
| Scottish Parliament | East Lothian | ||
Cockenzie and Port Seton is a town in the Scottish council area of East Lothian . It is located in the west of the region about ten kilometers west of Haddington and 14 kilometers east of central Edinburgh on the south bank of the Firth of Forth . A few hundred meters to the west is Prestonpans and to the east Longniddry .
history
In the 12th century, the lands of Seton and Winton (see Winton House ) came into the possession of the Seton family ( Clan Seton ), who later became one of the most influential families in Scotland. It is not known when exactly they built their residence called Seton Palace on the site . In 1544 the building fell victim to a fire, but was restored. Seton Palace was ranked among the grandest mansions in Scotland in records from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Royal guests include Maria Stuart , Jacob VI. and Charles I . In 1790 the palace was demolished. In the same year, construction of the Seton Castle mansion based on a design by the well-known Scottish architect Robert Adam began on the site.
The village has the status of a Burgh and is made up of the former independent communities Cockenzie in the west and Port Seton in the east. In the past centuries the villages developed with fishing and salt production. A fortified port was established in the 17th century. Around 1680 the gentlemen of the nearby Winton House built Cockenzie House . It was available to the harbor master and head of salt extraction. The Cadell family of glasses from Haddington bought the property in the mid-18th century . Everard Im Thurn spent his old age there. Included are storage buildings that are supposed to be connected to the Hanseatic League and the port of the village.
After fishing and salt production became increasingly less important in the course of the 19th century, the number of inhabitants employed in coal mining, a profession that had been practiced there for centuries, increased. It is possible that the first forerunner of the railway was first set up in a mine near the village. A wooden track was built there in 1722, on which the coal was transported on horse-drawn wagons. In 1962, a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1200 MW was opened in Cockenzie , in which the locally extracted coal was burned. The 152 m high chimneys of the facility are landmarks . The plant was shut down in spring 2013. Demolition began that same year.
Cockenzie and Port Seton have been fishing and mining operations to this day, but the town has increasingly become a tourist destination.
Port Seton Harbor
Cockenzie coal-fired power station
traffic
In Cockenzie and Port Seton the B6371 joins the B1348. The A1 and A198 run a few hundred meters south . The town itself has no rail connection, but the North British Railway connected the towns of Longniddry and Prestonpans to the long-distance network in the 19th century via what is now the East Coast Main Line . With the Edinburgh Airport is an international airport located about 24 km west.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Entry in the Gazetteer for Scotland
- ↑ Garden and Designed Landscape - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Garden and Designed Landscape - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Edinburgh News: Cockenzie Power station demolition gets under way , December 16, 2013.
