Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MTTSSELBURGH
covers, was commenced in 1820, and in 1838 employed
nearly 200 persons, but has now died out. The making
of nets and twine is an important industry, dating from
1820. It was carried on in a factory built in 1854 near
the station, which was doubled in size in 1867, and
superseded a smaller factory of 15 years' standing. The
present establishment is probably the largest net-factory
in the country, and produces a very large quantity of
goods. It includes a weaving shed with 300 looms ;
hemp repairing and hemp spinning departments, with
3500 spindles ; and a fine cotton mill with 2000 spindles,
and machinery driven by 2 engines of 100 horse-power
each. There are 450 net machines ; and in addition to
1200 bales of cotton annually prepared in the mill
within the factory, about 5 tons of cotton per week,
brought from Manchester, etc., are used in the manu-
facture. About 700 hands, many of them women, are
employed in this industry. Beside the net-factory
stands a paper-mill, which has two large machines ;
employs 300 hands ; and turns out about 50 tons of
paper per week. There are also an extensive wire-mill
and tinning and galvanizing work, and an iron and
brass foundry. Seed-crushing, oil-refining, glue-making,
and salt-extraction also employ a number of hands in
Musselburgh. There are 3 corn-mills in the burgh.
The employment of a large number of boys and youths
as 'golf-caddies,' and the manufacture of golf clubs
and balls deserve also to be included among the indus-
trial resources of the inhabitants.
Fishing and Harhcmr. — The fishing industry of the
burgh has its seat entirely in Fisherrow, on the W side
of the Esk. White fishing has been from a very early
date a staple source of income ; but the Fisherrow boats
are also in the habit of actively carrying on the
herring fishery, both in the Forth and on the E coast
of England, and even on the Irish coast. The fisher
population of Fisherrow share in great part the exclusive-
ness and other peculiarities of the Newhaven fisher folk ;
and the women of the two places are dressed in similar
costume. There are about 40 first-class and 11 second-
class boats, with 250 resident fisher men and boys.
Seven men were lost in the great gale of 14 Oct.
1881. The harbour of the burgh is usually spoken
of as Fisherrow harbour ; and is situated more than
half a mile W of the mouth of tlie Esk. An attempt
was made in the beginning of the 18th century to
change its position to the mouth of the river, but the
basin was quickly filled up by the deposits of the
stream ; and before the middle of the century a return
had to be made to the former and present site, which is
believed to have been used as a port, even in Eoman
times. In the Middle Ages some commerce seems to
have been carried on between Holland and Mussel-
burgh ; and before Leith attained its present predomin-
ance, Fisherrow was probably of some little importance.
It is believed that the sea has even in modern times
receded at this point of the coast, from the fact that
English vessels could command the bridge in 1547
with their guns ; while there is ample geological evi-
dence to prove that at one time the inland hill on which
Inveresk church now stands was the sea-cliff. The pre-
sent harbour is a small tidal basin, enclosed by two
substantial stone piers. Standing on the inner edge of
a broad expanse of sand, it is shallow at the best of
times ; and when the tide is out is quite inaccessible to
boats. The average depth at high water is 7 feet in
neap tides and 10 in spring tides. The burgh is pro-
prietor of the harbour, but for many years nothing has
been done to it, except in the way of necessary repaii's.
About forty years ago the present W pier was built, and
the expense left a debt of £6000 on the harbour, while
the annual income, barely and irregularly £100, has
been quite insufficient to pay the interest on this
capital sum, and the debt of unpaid interest has been
steadily growing. The fishing boats belonging to this
harbour vary from the smallest size up to 46 tons.
Between 200 and 300 fishermen (besides women ami
children) make their living by these ; and the wealth
brought into the town by them in the shape of fish per-
MXJSSELBURGH
haps counterbalances the deficit in the revenue. The-
dues leviable by the town, which are believed to be in-
creasable only by Act of Parliament, are 2s. 6d., 5s.,
and 7s. 6d., according to the size of boat. The harbour
still carries on a little coasting-trade, importing rock-
salt from Carrickfergus, and salt, pipeclay, linseed, and
a little tanner's bark from England. There are no ex-
ports, though rails were laid on the unfortunate W pier
in the expectation that the shipping of coal and minerals-
would develop. Even the existing trade, small though it
is, appears to be on the wane. The custom house is in-
New Street ; and the port ranks as a creek under Leith.
Municipal i?istori/.— Musselburgh, before being con-
stituted a parliamentary burgh, was a burgh of regality.
David I. granted the manor of Great Inveresk or Mussel-
burghshire, including Musselburgh, Fisherrow, Inveresk
Church, with their pertinents, to the monks of Dun-
fermline ; and this was confirmed by Gregory IX. in
1236 ; while subsequent grants by certain of David's
successors increased the original baronial jurisdiction to
one of regality. Alexander II. added the right of fre&
forestry, and Robert III. gave the monks all the new-
customs leviable within the burgh. The church of
Inveresk was administered by 'vicars of Muscilburg, "■
whose names occasionally appear among those of dis-
tinguished and influential men as witnesses to charters.
After the Reformation the regality and the appertain-
ing property passed to John Maitland, Lord Thirle-
stane, with whose descendants (the Earls and the Duke
of Lauderdale) it remained till 1709, when it was
finally purchased by the Duchess of Monmouth and
Buccleuch. In 1747, when hereditary jurisdictions
were abolished, the Duke of Buccleuch claimed £3000'
for the regality of Musselburgh ; but for that and certain
other rights he only received £3400. The Duke of
Buccleuch remained, however, the superior of the burgh.
The burgh holds a charter from John, Earl of Lauder-
dale, confirming various grants and charters of the-
monks of Dunfermline ; and especially, of a charter by
Robert, commendator of Dunfermline, dated 1502.
This last charter secured various rights and privileges
to the bailies, councillors, and community of the burgh ;
and permitted the magistrates to hold courts for the
punishment of ofi'enders, and to levy small dues and
customs. This charter of Lord Lauderdale was con-
firmed by Charles II. on 21 July 1671 ; and under
this last confirmation the property of the burgh is now
held. In 1632 a charter under the great seal erected
Musselburgh into a royal burgh ; but in the same year
the magistrates of Edinburgh prevailed upon those of
Musselburgh to consent to renounce that privilege.
Practically, however, it continued to enjoy most of the
rights of the royal burgh except that of parliamentary
representation, which, however, was at last secured for
it by the Reform Bill of 1833. In connection with the
above-noted action of the Edinburgh magistrates, it is.
interesting to recall the old rhyme :
' Musselburgh was a burg-h
When Edinburgh was nane.
And Musselburgh '11 be a burgh
When Edinburgh is gane.' *
Present Municipal Government. — JIusselhurgh is
governed by a provost, 3 bailies, a treasurer, and 7
councillors, whose jurisdiction extends equally over
Fisherrow and other parts of the burgh, but does not in-
clude the -village of Inveresk. The council are also com-
missioners of police, the harbour, and the water trust.
The magistrates hold small debt courts for sums not ex-
ceeding £5, and for minor criminal offences. The police
force is amalgamated with the county constabulary.
In 1881 an arrangement was put in force, accordingto
which the Edinburgh Water Trust supplies the burgh
with water, superseding an older system of waterworks.
The gasworks on the links, erected in 1832, supply
both Musselburgh and part of Portobello. Extensive-
* It may be interesting to note that this rhyme has been ex-
plained as a pun, as brogk or brugh signifies a ' mussel-bed ; ' but
the honest men of Musselburgh reject this interpretation as un-
satisfactory.