170 years of curling history.
The first reference to the club is when Sir David Baird attended a meeting in 1837 on behalf of " East Linton Curling Club." The purpose was to discuss setting up the Grand Caledonian Curling Club, (now the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.) The new organisation was then formed in 1838 and East Linton was a founder member.
The club's archives suggest that the early games took place at Lawhead, the home of an Andrew Howden who was a tenant farmer on Tyninghame estate. In February 2008, an 18th century curling stone with a prominent H was located which had been acquired by its present owner from a pond at Lawhead farm. It provides a real link with the formation of the club but also poses the question as to what its own history was before 1830!
Some time after 1830, the club played at either Newbyth estate, the home of the Baird family who were its early patrons or Smeaton Lake, which was created by the Buchan-Hepburn family from a peat bog between 1820 and 1830.
170 years on, the East Linton club is one of the largest in East Lothian playing most of its club games at Murrayfield Ice rink in Edinburgh.
You can find out more from the web site for the www.royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org Click on clubs and locate East Linton in the East Lothian Province listing