Built on a gentle slope, about 90 metres (300 ft) above sea level it is one of the oldest towns in East Lothian.

The name is thought to be of Brythonic origin, possibly containing the elements Tre and Nant, meaning town over the stream Travernant.

[5] One of the 12 victims, Jackie Crookston, is depicted on the memorial that commemorates the dead in Tranent's Civic Square.

There are several historic buildings in and around the town, including the ruins of the old parish church, parts of which date from the 11th century and which was demolished in 1797, while a few miles south-west of the town stands Fa'side Castle, sometimes known as Falside or Fawside, a fourteenth-century L-shaped tower house.

Longniddry, St. Germains, Fa'side, Ormiston (much later town) and Elphinstone, all parts of old Tranent, had their collieries and for the next 750 years, the industry prospered.

Other industries grew to employ increasing populations: distilleries, breweries, tanneries and metal implement works.

William Dunbar's poem the Lament for the Makaris includes the name Clerk of Tranent as a poet, probably of the fifteenth century, citing him as an author of the Anteris of Gawain.

On the east of the town's High Street, there is an Asda supermarket which opened in August 2015, replacing the Co-operative Food.

It also provides geriatric services, including continuing care for the elderly and the nearest Accident and Emergency hospital is the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Most bus services in the town are operated by Lothian Buses and its division East Coast Buses which provide services The town is also served by Prentice, a bus & coach company based in nearby Haddington.

The men took five hours to find an alternative way out, but all were rescued and survived thanks to the early warning given by George Johnstone.

The building accommodates a range of services including a large library with a computer suite, and council offices allowing residents to access housing and tenancy advice, report a housing repair, report minor crimes to Police Scotland and make Council Tax and rent payments and general enquiries.

The Juniors play their football at Foresters Park in the centre of the town and compete in the Lowland League.

The church was granted by Richard, Archbishop of St Andrews and later confirmed by Saer de Quincy, the local baron.

Tranent parish came under the jurisdiction of the canons of Holyrood Abbey and the building was described as being of a higher standard than the normal country church.

There are also canonical records of a chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, situated on a ridge overlooking a coal-bearing ravine at Travernant.

St Martins of Tours (Roman Catholic) – This is the third church building on the site in one hundred years and was built in 1969, to designs by the prolific church architect Charles W Gray, in an octagonal shape using a Scandinavian compressed timber girder design.