Our Heritage Guides
We have created a series of guides that tell the story of our cultural and historical heritage.
The leaflets have been distributed in a number of key locations around the town. They have been particularly popular in the North Berwick library and we thank the team there for their support.
Do you have knowledge of our history or heritage you think would make a great guide?
Digital downloads of the Heritage Guides
To view and download one of our Heritage Guides, click on the links below.
If you are exploring the area, why not use the map view to locate a Guide near you? Many of the Guides include suggested walking routes, and you can connect a few of the locations together.
The Lodge Park area
West side of North Berwick
The Law
Further afield
The graves and tombstone Old St Andrew’s Kirkyard
Background to the Series
Jonathan Best tells us why he developed the leaflets:
“What gave you the idea to write about the heritage/history of North Berwick?
During self isolation during the pandemic I researched the answers to two questions I had been asked by visitors to the Coastal Communities Museum and had not known the answers. The notes I made developed into the idea for the leaflets.
What was your idea for the first leaflet and how did you choose future topics?
The two questions I was asked were 1) Where is the tomb of Rev. John Blackadder and 2) What is the tower on the way into town just before you pass the Law? (Balgone Windmill). Some ideas for leaflets have been suggested to me - others are the result of finding something interesting that other people want to know more about.
What has been the most exciting /interesting aspect of writing the leaflets so far?
Getting to the point when a leaflet 'works' as you planned and hoped it would.
What has been the most challenging aspect?
It can be a challenge to reduce the information about the subject into the length of the leaflet and retain a proper balance of all the necessary elements.
What is your hope now we have the first suite of leaflets underway?
I would like other people to contribute leaflets to the series, to encourage residents and visitors to find out more about the history of the town. I'm hoping that the leaflets will be seen as more than conventional guides by adding 'why, when and how' to the more usual 'where and what'.
And finally, why does it matter to have an interest in the history of our place?
Knowing where you have been and where you are now lets you plot a course to where you want to go. It's important to recognise that heritage is the past seen through the prism of present fashion and changes as fashions change. History does not change, it gets added to. ”
