St Martin's Kirk, Haddington

The kirk’s story begins in the mid-late 1100s, when Alexander de St Martin was granted land around Haddington from Countess Ada, the mother of William I ‘the Lion’.

In turn, he gifted the land to the Cistercian nunnery of St Mary, about a kilometre to the east of the kirk.

The road connecting St Martin’s to the nunnery was called the Nungait, and as Haddington developed, the suburb of Nungate grew around the kirk.

A notable resident of Nungate was John Knox, who went on to become the architect of the Scottish Protestant Reformation in 1560. Knox may have attended services in St Martin’s as a boy.

St Martin’s Kirk did not survive Knox’s Reformation intact. Its chancel (the area around the altar) may have been pulled down then.

The rectangular nave is all that remains today. It shows little architectural sophistication, though a few features stand out including the chancel arch in the east wall and the round-headed piscina, or basin.

Of interest are the square holes penetrating the kirk’s walls. Their function remains a mystery, but they may have been used as ‘putlog holes’ for scaffolding.