Assemby Rooms Dunbar

Exploring East Lothian’s rich archaeology isn’t just about the dim and distant past. The Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland provides a rich catalogue of wasting assets in East Lothian. Dunbar and its environs is particularly rich with buildings in need of investment, care and restoration.

The Assembly Rooms are a good example, although the interior has now been lost. Built in ironstone rubble and ashlar quoins with a slate roof the entrance bridges the basement level, with classic arrowhead railings. Note the tall blind sash windows and small blind windows above.

Another, rural example are the cottages at Papple, which may not be remarkable as architectural structures, but provide an insight into farm working conditions in the 19th century. In addition, a corpus of pencil graffiti in cottages 7-10 provides a record of the people who travelled from Ireland to find seasonal work on the farms of East Lothian into the mid 20th century.