A PROLIFIC author has again delved into Haddington’s history for his latest book.

Gerald Urwin has been fascinated by local history since moving to East Lothian 25 years ago.

Since retiring in 2000, he has been putting pen to paper to create a number of books.

He said: “I have always been a keen reader from as far back as I can remember.

“I used to sit on my mum’s knee and she read comics to me.

“I have never stopped and could not exist without a book.

“Usually, I’ve got two or three going at the same time.

“I always wanted to write a book and was always keen on it.”

Since retiring, he has penned 16 books, with the vast majority non-fiction.

His latest book examines what Haddington was like during the Victorian age.

The 85-year-old, who lives in the town, said: “Life In Victorian Haddington compares everything going on with new inventions and ideas – all that tremendous upsurge of activity in a sleepy market town like Haddington, which did not really come into line until the railway lines came in the 1840s.”

Mr Urwin, who worked in the public and private sectors, spent a year putting the book together, with even the coronavirus pandemic not slowing him down.

He hopes the self-published book will be available in both Kesley’s, on the town’s Market Street, and The Reading Room, on neighbouring High Street.

And no sooner had his book hit the shelves than he had turned his attention to another slice of the county’s history.

He said: “That’s 16 books and I have got another one in progress.

“That’s about the Rough Wooing. It is the full story and I have done a book about the Siege of Haddington before but this is the full story of Mary.”