Inveresk

Inveresk (Gaelic: Inbhir Easg) is a village in East Lothian, Scotland situated 5⁄8 mi (1 km) to the south of Musselburgh.[1] It has been designated a conservation area since 1969. It is situated on slightly elevated ground on the north bank of a loop of the River Esk. This ridge of ground, 20 to 25 metres above sea level, was used by the Romans as the location for Inveresk Roman Fort in the 2nd century AD.[2]

Inveresk

St Michael's Parish Church, Inveresk
Inveresk
Inveresk
Location within Scotland
OS grid referenceNT346719
Civil parish
  • Inveresk
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMUSSELBURGH
Postcode districtEH21
Dialling code0131
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Inveresk Lodge Garden
The western section of Inveresk Village is typified by high stone walls and mansion-houses screened by trees
A typical mansion in Inveresk Village
Typical 18th-century houses at the east end of Inveresk Village

The element "Inver", from the Gaelic inbhir, refers to the confluence of the river Esk with the Firth of Forth.[3]

The village was formerly in the Midlothian parish of Inveresk and developed separately from the burgh of Musselburgh.

History

Inveresk has a fine street of 17th- and 18th-century houses. Inveresk Lodge is now privately leased, but the adjacent Inveresk Lodge Garden belongs to the National Trust for Scotland, and its west facing gardens overlooking the river Esk are open to the public. This was formerly the mansion of James Wedderburn who had made his fortune as a slave-owning sugar plantation owner in Jamaica. When his son by one of his slaves, Robert Wedderburn, travelled to Inveresk to claim his kinship he was insultingly rejected by his father who gave him some small beer and a broken or bent sixpence. This experience turned Robert Wedderburn to radicalism.

The war memorial, south of the church, was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1920.[4]

St. Michael's Church

The village is dominated by St. Michael's church that stands at its west end on the summit of a hill overlooking Musselburgh. Its graveyard/cemetery stretches westwards for almost 300m and is split into separate walled sections (marking its various stages of extension) which can be broadly bracketed as original (mainly 18th century), a late Victorian extension, an Edwardian/ early 20th century extension to the north, and a modern section to the far west.

The current church is by Robert Nisbet and dates to 1805 and has a stone spire of Wren-influence.[5]

Noteworthy graves
Major William Norman Ramsay's grave, Inveresk

The graveyard has a number of interesting graves:-

Other notable persons linked to Inveresk
  • Mary Levison served as Deaconess in St Michael's Church in Inveresk from 1954,[7] and was the first person to petition the Church of Scotland for the ordination of women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1963.
  • James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl, buried here.
  • Robert Mylne, architect/master mason, 1633-1710, lived and died here
  • Clarissa Dickson Wright the chef and broadcaster lived here until her death in March 2014.[8]
  • Henry Yule (1820-1899), Scottish Orientalist, born here

References
Citations
  1. Groome 1882, p. 296.
  2. Burnet,JEM (1999) A reason for Inveresk. Courtyard Press, Inveresk. ISBN 0-9537450-0-7
  3. Dixon, Norman. "The Placenames of Midlothian" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2012. "'The mouth of the R. Esk' v. G. inbhir, inbhear: 'the confluence of a stream with the sea.'"
  4. Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer
  5. McWilliam, Colin (1978). Buildings of Scotland Lothian except Edinburgh. Penguin Books.
  6. http://glosters.tripod.com/allwat.htm
  7. "Obituary: Rev. Mary Levison, minister of the Church of Scotland". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  8. Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2012). Clarissa's England: A gamely gallop through the English counties. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9781444729139.
Sources
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