The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the major management, social and also geographical centre for East Lothian, which as a result of late-nineteenth century Scottish local government reforms took the kind of the region of Haddingtonshire for the period from 1889-1921. It exists concerning 17 miles (27 kilometres) eastern of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the sixth or 7th century AD when the area was included into the kingdom of Bernicia. The town, like the remainder of the Lothian region, was ceded by King Edgar of England as well as entered into Scotland in the tenth century. Haddington got burghal condition, among the earliest to do so, during the regime of David I (1124-- 1153), giving it trading civil liberties which encouraged its development right into a market community. Today Haddington is a small town with a population of fewer than 10,000 individuals; although throughout 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 House, built in 1748 according to a plan by William Adam. When first constructed, it inheld a council chamber, jail and also constable court, to which assembly rooms were included 1788, and a brand-new appear 1835. Nearby is the Corn Exchange (1854) as well as the County Courthouse (1833 ). Other close-by significant websites include the Jane Welsh Carlyle House, Mitchell's Close and the birthplace of writer and federal government reformer Samuel Smiles on the High Street, marked by a celebratory plaque.