Habits

The habits of the people were vastly different from those of today, and might on the whole be shortly described as a pattern of ‘early to bed and early to rise’. Much of the rhythm of town life was regulated by the burgh officials, the Town Drummer and Town officer keeping the citizens acquainted with the passing of time and the march of events. In 1760 the retired Town Officer who had held the position for 30 years and was ‘old and upon decline of life’ petitioned the Council to grant him the ‘Benefit of the Town’s Drum as there was no Established Drummer at present’. Daily in the morning and evening, the Town’s cattle would be seen being driven to and from the Inner Common by the Town’s Herd. In 1803, when Mrs Hay, Dowager of Spott, came to live within the Burgh, she was granted “the liberty of pasturing her cow upon the Common of Dunbar”.