CLAN chief Sir Wayne Broun visited the John Gray Centre to see first-hand the extraordinary Colstoun collection of his ancestors.

Sir Wayne was welcomed to the Haddington archives by former provost and relative Ludovic Broun-Lindsay, who allowed the centre to store and catalogue his family’s collection, which had previously been kept at Colstoun House.

Sir Wayne, who travelled to East Lothian from his home in Australia, took part in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo – which celebrated Scottish clans and invited chieftains from around the world to join in this year’s celebrations – while visiting.

But he made sure to include a visit to the centre to see the collection, which details his family history through several centuries.

The Colstoun Trust allowed archivists from the centre to take possession of the collection, which charts 700 years of the Broun family history, on a long-term loan earlier this year.

From the Royal Charter issued by King David II – which grants David Broun the land at ‘Segaryston’, by Haddington, in 1358 – to a Barony gifted by Mary Queen of Scots two centuries later, ancient documents have been preserved in immaculate condition.

Still bearing the wax seals denoting their royal authors, one carrying the seal of King James VI in 1625 retains the detail of the seal on both sides. There is even a letter from Oliver Cromwell from 1648.

The collection also includes documentation of the Broun family’s time in India, where Christian Broun lived with her husband George Ramsay, the 9th Earl of Dalhousie, while he served as commander-in-chief.

The John Gray Centre currently has an exhibition of items from the Colstoun collection in its display case, including passionate Victorian love letters, 19th-century travel journals from India (complete with pressed flowers and squashed dragonflies) and letters from the front during the First World War.