The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a community in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the primary administrative, social and 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 lies about 17 miles (27 kilometres) eastern of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th or seventh century AD when the location was integrated into the kingdom of Bernicia. The town, like the remainder of the Lothian area, was delivered by King Edgar of England and entered into Scotland in the tenth century. Haddington received burghal standing, among the earliest to do so, during the regime of David I (1124-- 1153), giving it trading civil liberties which urged its growth into a market town. Today Haddington is a small town with a population of less than 10,000 people; although during the High Middle Ages, it was the fourth-biggest city in Scotland after Aberdeen, Roxburgh as well as Edinburgh. In the middle of the community is the Town hall, built in 1748 according to a plan by William Adam. When first built, it inheld a council chamber, prison as well as sheriff court, to which assembly rooms were added in 1788, and also a brand-new clock in 1835. Close-by is the Corn Exchange (1854) and also the County Courthouse (1833 ). Other close-by significant sites consist of the Jane Welsh Carlyle House, Mitchell's Close as well as the native home of author as well as federal government reformer Samuel Smiles on the High Street, marked by a celebratory plaque.