The Clan Watson Society
The Watsons of Cranston
This page is still under development and will cover the Watsons of Cranston, who may have been the ancestors of the The Watsons of Saughton.
Please bear with us while we develop the content for this page. In the meantime, we recommend that you check out the two articles on the Watsons of Cranston that Scott Watson has published on his Substack site - see the links below.
Where is Cranston?
The modern Parish of Cranston is in Midlothian, some 11 miles southeast of the centre of Edinburgh. Charters of the 12th century refer to the parish as Cranestone, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Craenston meaning "crane's district", a reference to the large number of cranes (the wading birds) that used to frequent the area, although it can often be found spelt as Cranstoun. The Cranston family of the time lived in Cranston Castle, of which nothing now remains. The crane features on the arms of all families that went by the name of Cranston at the time. In the 12th century, Cranston was divided into two baronies, Upper Cranston and Nether Cranston, which later respectively became known as New Cranston and Cranston Riddel. Cranston Riddel acquired its name from Hugo de Riddel, a knight who was the proprietor of the district. The parish church was built in New Cranston, the larger of the two baronies.
Notes & References
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The Watsons of Cranston (Part 1) (external link).
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The Watsons of Cranston (Part 2) (external link).