The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a community in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the primary management, cultural and also geographical centre for East Lothian, which as a result of late-nineteenth century Scottish local government reforms took the kind of the area of Haddingtonshire through from 1889-1921. It exists about 17 miles (27 km) eastern of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th or seventh century AD when the area was included into the kingdom of Bernicia. The community, like the remainder of the Lothian region, was delivered by King Edgar of England and became part of Scotland in the tenth century. Haddington got burghal condition, one of the earliest to do so, during the reign of David I (1124-- 1153), offering it trading rights which urged its growth right into a market town. Today Haddington is a small town with a population of fewer than 10,000 people; although during the High Middle Ages, it was the fourth-biggest city in Scotland after Aberdeen, Roxburgh and Edinburgh. In the middle of the town is the Town hall, built in 1748 according to a strategy by William Adam. When first constructed, it inheld a council chamber, prison and also constable court, to which assembly rooms were included 1788, as well as a brand-new appear 1835. Neighboring is the Corn Exchange (1854) as well as the County Courthouse (1833 ). Various other nearby significant sites include the Jane Welsh Carlyle House, Mitchell's Close and the birthplace of author and federal government reformer Samuel Smiles on the High Street, noted by a celebratory plaque.