The Locality and Topography of Ormiston Parish
Reviewed by Admin on Jul 3
Rating:
The Parish of Ormiston is bounded by Humbie to the South, Pencaitland on the East, Tranent on the North and Cranston on the West. It is about 5 miles in length and very irregular in breadth, varying from 1.5 to about 0.5 mile; its narrowest part being on the Eastern extremity and it is broadest at its centre.
Ormiston itself stands on the north bank of the River Tyne, at an elevation of about 276 ft. consisting chiefly of a broad open straight Main Street with a row of double story houses along each side is the oldest part of the village in the East with the newer parts to the West generally. The road now snakes through the village and crosses two bridges one, over the now redundant railway route and the other narrow bridge is located over the river. It was dreamt by John Cockburn that Ormiston would become a market town but it never materialised.
The general topography of the Parish is low and flat. The Parish is very well supplied with water and since 1922 the village has been connected to County Supplies now owned by the East of Scotland Water Authority. The only river in the Parish is the River Tyne, not to be confused with the one in Northern England. It runs through the Parish in a North Easterly direction and was once used to supply water to a Mill which no longer exists. It floods in periods of heavy rainfall and floods adjacent lands. The river rises in Middleton Moor, in the Parish of Borthwick in Midlothian and flows into the sea a little south of Tyninghame, near Dunbar. The bed of the river where it passes Ormiston is upwards of 250 ft above sea level.
Though according to a account of the Parish in 1627 there was no indication of limestone or coal within the Parish, both of which were found in great abundance as time went on. The Ormiston Coal Company’s director, Mr James Hyde J.P. lived on the North side of the Main Street in Ormiston at Market-gate.
Ormiston was one of the earliest and best cultivated parishes in Scotland as a consequence of the work by the Cockburn’s ownership of the Parish.
