St. Mary’s Church, Haddington

St Mary's emerged from destruction, replacing churches lost when Edward III burned Haddington in 1356. Construction began around 1380 and continued until 1462. The church witnessed the Treaty of Haddington in 1548, which sent Mary Queen of Scots to France, and became a Protestant parish church after the Reformation. John Knox, who transformed Scottish Christianity, was born across the river.

In February 1356, Edward III of England led his army through the Lothians in a campaign so fierce it was called the Burnt Candlemas. Haddington burned. The Franciscan church that had earned the Lamp of Lothian name was destroyed. The townsfolk, recovering over decades, built St Mary's on a site nearby, beginning work around 1380.

The church grew gradually. Bishop Henry Wardlaw of St Andrews, who would also found the University of St Andrews, consecrated it around 1410. Construction continued until 1462, by which time St Mary's had reached its present extent: a cruciform building longer than many cathedrals, with a massive tower at the crossing. Around 1540, it was formally constituted as a collegiate church, with canons maintaining perpetual prayer.

But siege returned. In 1548, during the conflict known as the Rough Wooing, English forces occupied Haddington. The Scottish Parliament, meeting at the nearby Abbey, signed the Treaty of Haddington on 7 July, promising the six-year-old Mary Queen of Scots to the French Dauphin in exchange for military assistance. The siege damaged the choir so severely that it stood roofless until the 1970s restoration.