THE MUSSELBURGH BOWLING CLUB
Musselburgh is an ancient town on the shores of the River Forth approximately 5 miles to the east of Edinburgh. It can date its history to Roman times and many historical artifacts from this period have been discovered in several architectural digs in the town.
The name of the town is derived from the mussel beds from which the earliest inhabitants of the town made their living, an industry which lasted for centuries but sadly these mussel beds have long been farmed out and are no longer able to sustain a viable industry.
Throughout its long history, Musselburgh (and the local fishing port of Fisherrow) has also supported many industries - fishing, farming, paper-making, woollen and wire-rope making mills being particularly associated with the town.
Musselburgh is known as the "Honest Toun" from an incident in 1332 when Randolph Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, was cared for by the people of Musselburgh during his last days from a long illness. His successor, the Earl of Mar, offered to reimburse the people of the town for their care but they refused payment saying it was their duty to attend to the sick. Impressed by their loyalty, the Earl exclaimed that they were surely honest men and thus gave rise to the town's motto - "Honesty".
The Musselburgh Bowling Club was founded in 1855 and is the oldest bowling club in the Midlothian District and one of the older clubs in Scotland. The club badge displays the town motto of mussels and anchors reflecting the industry which gave the town its name and the motto of "Honesty" from the story related above.
Musselburgh Bowling Club has a long and distinguished history and more information can be found in the history section on this website. The members are particulary proud of the fact that two of its members were Presidents of the Scottish Bowling Association - namely, J B Henderson in 1904 and J Love in 1977.
We also have presented the Midlothian Bowling Association with three Presidents - Sydney Hilton from 1974 - 76, George Langlands in 2000 - 01 and Colin Ritchie in 2006 - 07.
We hope you enjoy visiting this website and should you find yourself in the Musselburgh area at any time we would be delighted to extend a personal welcome should you drop into the club for a visit.