![Leith.] THE OLD TOLBCTOTH. 229
During the persecution under the Duke of
Lauderdale, Mr. John Gregg, who had been
formerly minister at Skirling, in Peeblesshire, was
apprehended and imprisoned in the Tolbooth for
house of his
that he died, was sentenced to be scourged on her
bare back from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh to the
Nether Bow, and from the Tolbooth of Leith to
the door of Isabel Lesly, and from there to the
brother-in-law
at Leith Mills.
Bass, to be detained
there
among many
other sufferers
for conscience
the Bass for “ abusing and railing ’I at Mr. Thomas
Wilkie, minister of North Leith, but in the May
of the same year he was brought back to Leith,
and thrust into the Tolbooth, where he lay for
quired for service in Leith. In 1763, a thief, who
was discovered in a peculiar manner, became, till
tried, an inmate of this old prison,
A Scottish sailor, who had served on board the
In 1678, Fi
:Ill c- - Hector Allan, -
a Quaker seaman
in Leith, TOLBOOTH wy
TABLET OF THsee.
In April, 1713, a prisoner named Jean Ramsay,
who had dragged a weak and infirm man from his
bed in the house of Isabel Lesly in Leith, near
the South Church, and used him with such severity
the water, and he found it to be his own.
The subsequent inquiry did not prove pleasant
to the half-drowned thief, who was forthwith taken
into custody, and committed to the Tolbooth.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p048.gif "Volume 6 Page 229")
... Leith .] THE OLD TOLBCTOTH. 229
During the persecution under the Duke of
Lauderdale, Mr. John Gregg, who had ...
Vol. 6 p. 229 (Rel. 1)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith
chapel of St. Jamey at Newhaven, belonged to
the preceptory at Leith ; and also ...
Vol. 6 p. 216 (Rel. 0.97)
![OLD LEITH STACF.. Leith Walk.]
VIEWS IN PORTOBELLO.
I, Ramsag h e ; n, The Established Church ; & High Street, looking eart; + Town Hall ; 5 Episcopalisn Church.
116](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p164.gif "Volume 5 Page 153")
... LEITH STACF.. Leith Walk.]
VIEWS IN PORTOBELLO.
I, Ramsag h e ; n, The Established Church ; & High ...
Vol. 5 p. 153 (Rel. 0.97)
... from their proud
hill into the more fruitful plains (of Leith ?) to be
filled with the fa.tness and fulness ...
Vol. 5 p. 188 (Rel. 0.89)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
tyde to be a forewarning of some evil to
come.”
In 1644 the Leith timber ...
Vol. 6 p. 232 (Rel. 0.88)
![Leith.] CORNWALLIS’S REGIMENT. ‘93
“Are you uneasy about that fishing-party ? ” ‘‘ No,”
she replied, “I had no thought of it.” After she
had been asleep about an hour, she again exclaimed,
in a dreadful fright : ‘‘ I see the boat-it is going
down ! ” Again the major awoke her, on which she
said the second dream must have been suggested
Chambers conceives that, unlike many anecdotes
of this kind, Lady Clerk‘s dream-story can be traced
to an actual occurrence, which he quotes from the
CaZcdoniaiz Mercury of I 734, and that the old lady
had mistaken the precise year.
In 1740-for the first time, probably, since the
THE OLD TOLBOOTH, 1820. (&?er Slorcr.)
by the first. But no rest n-as to be obtained by
her, for again the dream returned, and she exclaimed,
in extreme agony : “They are gone !-the boat is
sunk ! Then she added : “ Mr. Dacre must not
go, for I feel that, should he go, I should be miserable
till his return.” In short, on the strength of
her treble dream, she induced their nephew to send
a note of apology to his companions, who left Leith,
but were caught in a storm, in which all perished.
121
days of Cromwell--we find regular troops quartered
in Leith, when General Guest, commanding in Scotland,
required the magistrates to find billets in
North and South Leith for certain companies of
Brigadier Cornwallis’s regiment, latterly the I I th
Foot.
Previous to 1745, the only place where troops
could be accommodated in a body at Leith was in the
old Tolbooth About that time, Robert Douglas,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p012.gif "Volume 6 Page 193")
... Leith .] CORNWALLIS’S REGIMENT. ‘93
“Are you uneasy about that fishing-party ? ” ‘‘ No,”
she replied, “I had no ...
Vol. 6 p. 193 (Rel. 0.85)
![c
152 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, [Leith Walk,
In I 748 the thoroughfare is described as “a very
handsome gravel walk, twenty feet broad, which is
kept in good repair at the public expense, and no
horses suffered to come upon it.” In 1763 two
stage coaches, with three horses, a driver, and
postilion each, ran between Edinburgh and Leith
every hour, consuming an hour on the way, from
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ; and at that time there were no
other stage coaches in Scotland, except one which
set out at long intervals for London.
Before that nothing had been done, though in
1774 the Week0 Magazine announced that “a new
road for carriages is to be made betwixt Edinburgh
and Leith. It is to be continued from the end of
the New Bridge by the side of Clelland’s Gardens
and Leith Walk. [Clelland‘s Feu was where Leith
Terrace is now.] We hear that the expense of it
is to be defrayed by subscription.”
In I779 Arnot states that “so great is the concourse
of people passing between Edinburgh and
HIGH STREET, PORTOBELLO.
In 1769, when Provost Drummond built the
North Bridge, he gave out that it was to improve
the access to Leith, and on this pretence, to conciliate
opposition to his scheme, upon the plate in
the foundation-stone of the bridge it is solely described
as the opening of a new road to Leith;
and after it was opened the Walk became freely
used for carriages, but without any regard being
paid to its condition, or any system established
for keeping it in repair ; thus, consequently, it fell
into a state of disorder “from which it was not
rescued till after the commencement of the present
century, when a splendid causeway was formed at
a great expense by the city of Edinburgh, and a
toll erected for its payment.”
Leith, and so much are the stage coaches employed,
that they pass and re-pass between these towns
156 times daily. Each of these carriages holds
four persons.” The fare in some was 2hd.; in
others, gd.
In December, 1799, the Herald announces that
the magistrates had ordered forty oil lamps for
Leith Walk, ‘‘ which necessary k~iprovement,” adds
the editor, will, we understand, soon tzke place.”
Among some reminiscences, which appeared
about thirty years ago, we. have a description of
Anderson’s Leith stage, ‘ I which took an hour and
a half to go from the Tron Church to the shore. A
great lumbering affair on four wheels, the two fore
1 painted yellow, the two hind red, having formerly](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p163.gif "Volume 5 Page 152")
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, [ Leith Walk,
In I 748 the thoroughfare is described as “a very
handsome gravel ...
Vol. 5 p. 152 (Rel. 0.82)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
and cleaning the channel of the river at Leith .
(Burgh Records.)
In 1510, on ...
Vol. 5 p. 168 (Rel. 0.8)
... I64 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
*
LElTH WALK, FROM GAYFIELD SQUARE, LOOKING SOUTH.
CHAPTER XVII.
LEITH ...
Vol. 5 p. 164 (Rel. 0.79)
... says Robertson, prominent
in the maritime records of Leith , doubtless descendants
of the respective ...
Vol. 6 p. 276 (Rel. 0.7)
... Leith .: PAUL
pinnaces were hourly expected ; but, thanks to the
west wind, Leith was saved.
“ We continued ...
Vol. 6 p. 197 (Rel. 0.7)
![Leith] SHIPPING OF COVENANTERS FOK BARBADOES. I80
of Edinburgh,” by order of the Privy Council and
magistrates, were ordered to make up lists of all
the dwellers in these districts, while nightly lists of
all lodgers were to be furnished by the bailies to
the captain of the City Guard.
was a profane, cruel wretch, and used them barbarously,
stowing them up between decks, where
they could not get up their heads except to sit or
lean, and robbing them of many things their friends
sent for their relief. They never were in such
~ ~
OLD HOUSE IN WATER’S CLOSE, 1879. (Aftw U Sketch hy /. RomiZh Allnr.)
The November of the same year saw those poor
victims of a dire system of misrule, the Covenanters,
who had been for months penned up like wild
animals in the Greyfnars’ Churchyard, Edinburgh,
marched through Leith. To the number of 257,
who had refused the bond, they were on the 15th
shipped on board an English vessel for transportation
to Barbadoes, there to be sold as slaves !
The captain, says the Rev. Mr. Blackadder,
strait and peril, particularly through drought, as
they were allowed little or no drink, and pent up
together till many of them fainted and were almost
suffocated.” This was in Leith Roads, and in
sight of the green hills of Fife and Lothian, on
which they were looking their last.
Their ship was cast away among the Orkneys ;
the hatches were battened down ; zoo perished
with her, while the captain and seamen made their](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p198.gif "Volume 5 Page 187")
... Leith ] SHIPPING OF COVENANTERS FOK BARBADOES. I80
of Edinburgh,” by order of the Privy Council and
magistrates, ...
Vol. 5 p. 187 (Rel. 0.7)
![Leith] SHIPPING OF COVENANTERS FOK BARBADOES. I80
of Edinburgh,” by order of the Privy Council and
magistrates, were ordered to make up lists of all
the dwellers in these districts, while nightly lists of
all lodgers were to be furnished by the bailies to
the captain of the City Guard.
was a profane, cruel wretch, and used them barbarously,
stowing them up between decks, where
they could not get up their heads except to sit or
lean, and robbing them of many things their friends
sent for their relief. They never were in such
~ ~
OLD HOUSE IN WATER’S CLOSE, 1879. (Aftw U Sketch hy /. RomiZh Allnr.)
The November of the same year saw those poor
victims of a dire system of misrule, the Covenanters,
who had been for months penned up like wild
animals in the Greyfnars’ Churchyard, Edinburgh,
marched through Leith. To the number of 257,
who had refused the bond, they were on the 15th
shipped on board an English vessel for transportation
to Barbadoes, there to be sold as slaves !
The captain, says the Rev. Mr. Blackadder,
strait and peril, particularly through drought, as
they were allowed little or no drink, and pent up
together till many of them fainted and were almost
suffocated.” This was in Leith Roads, and in
sight of the green hills of Fife and Lothian, on
which they were looking their last.
Their ship was cast away among the Orkneys ;
the hatches were battened down ; zoo perished
with her, while the captain and seamen made their](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p200.gif "Volume 5 Page 189")
... Leith ] SHIPPING OF COVENANTERS FOK BARBADOES. I80
of Edinburgh,” by order of the Privy Council and
magistrates, ...
Vol. 5 p. 189 (Rel. 0.7)
... is no proof that the shallow waters of the
Leith , as they debouched upon the sands of what
must have been ...
Vol. 5 p. 165 (Rel. 0.69)
... -
CHAPTER XXVII.
LEITH -CONSTITUTION STREET, THE SHORE, COAL HILL, AND SHERIFF ...
Vol. 6 p. 396 (Rel. 0.68)
![Leith.] AN ANCIENT BEACH. 2 49
and here, too, stands South Leith Poor-house, with
the parochial offices facing Junction Road.
When the foundations of the hospital here were
dug in 1850, indications were discovered of how
of the ocean, at some time posterior to Noah,
ebbed and flowed over the ground on which
these buildings are at present erected.” As the
place was in the line of the fortifications, relics
ANCIENT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, PARLIAMENT SQUARE.
purpura, buccinum, ostrea, myths, and balanus,
were found (Robertson). These were seen in
extensive layers under marine sand, twelve and
fifteen feet below the surface, and twenty-five
above high water. “Being marine shells of existing
species, the great mass not edible, and so densely
compacted in layers from the hospital to the
Junction Road-nearly an acre of land-it may
rationally be concluded that the green waters
12 8
as a forty-eight pound ball of a cannon-royale,
some antique harness, a large fore!ock, and
the wheelcap or stock-point of a piece of artillery.
To the Humane Society we have referred, in its
cradle at the Burgess Wynd. It would appear that
soon after its formation a complete set of apparatus
for recovering the drowned was presented to it, and
, to the town of Leith, by the Humane Society of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p068.gif "Volume 6 Page 249")
... Leith .] AN ANCIENT BEACH. 2 49
and here, too, stands South Leith Poor-house, with
the parochial offices facing ...
Vol. 6 p. 249 (Rel. 0.68)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
prisoners, who were praying intently, when Sir
Adolphus Oughton stepped ...
Vol. 6 p. 196 (Rel. 0.67)
... Leith the additional accommodation required by
its shipping and commercial interests, including the
provision of ...
Vol. 6 p. 284 (Rel. 0.64)
... ’ OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
remainder of the structure cannot be earlier than
the close of the sixteenth ...
Vol. 6 p. 252 (Rel. 0.64)
... insurrection,
and, marching with all his adherents to
Leith , offered battle between that town and Edinburgh
to ...
Vol. 5 p. 169 (Rel. 0.63)
... by the
hands of him, namely, who is called Hood of Leith ,
from me and my heirs for ever, as freely, ...
Vol. 5 p. 132 (Rel. 0.63)
![Leith.] WITCHCRAFT IN LEITH; I81
-
dated 15th March, 1603, among many enumerations,
all in favour of Edinburgh, power is again
given the magistrates to enlarge and extend the
port towards the sea, with bulwarks on both sides
of theaiver; and to build, strengthen, and fortify the
Andrew Sadler, through the agency, in the former
case, of a little bag of black plaiding, wherein she
put some grains of wheat, worsted threads of divers
colours, hair, and nails of “ mennis fingeris ;” and
I in the latter case by a shirt dipped in a certain
GRANT’S SQUARE, 1851.~ (A&r a Dmwiw by W. Chanring.)
same in a substantial and durable manner for the
safety of shipping.
As the sixteenth century was drawing to its close,
the criminal records give many instances of the
dark and gross superstition that had spread over
the land even after the days of Knox. Thus, in
1597, Janet Stewart, in the Canongate, and Christian
Livingstone, in Leith, were accused of witchcraft
and casting spells upon Thomas Guthry and
well ; for which alleged crimes they were sentenced
to die on the Castle Hill, “ thair bodies to be
Grant’s Square has entirely disappeared. “It was,“ writes Dr.
Robtrt Paterson, “the square in which existed the old Parliament
Houu, once occupied in Mary’s time. The m m in which the Par-
L i e n t met must have been a spacious one, as when I remember it it
was divided into numerous smaller rooms for poor tenants, but yet tkc
carved oak panelling and the richly-decorated mof told of former
magnificence. All has, however, now been cleared away, and replaced
by a granary.”](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p192.gif "Volume 5 Page 181")
... Leith .] WITCHCRAFT IN LEITH ; I81
-
dated 15th March, 1603, among many enumerations,
all in favour of Edinburgh, ...
Vol. 5 p. 181 (Rel. 0.63)
![A ,
k i t h Walk.] JOHNNIE WILKES”
himself in her bedroom, “with the intention of
carrying off a sum of money after she fell asleep.
But the noise of opening her desk awoke her; he,
for fear of detection, seized a knife which by accident
lay there, and mangled her throat so dreadfully
that she died next day. He then leaped from
a window of the second storey, but fractured one of
his legs so much in the fall that he was unable to
walk, and sustained himself for several days, eating
peas and turnips, until his hiding-place was discovered
He afterwards graced the gibbet in Leith
Walk, where his body hung for many a long year.”
In more than one instance on the King‘s birth-
BRWNSTME HOUSE.
day the effigy of Johnnie Wilkes,” that noted
demagogue, Lord Mayor of London and English
M.P., who made himself so obnoxious to the Scots,
figured at the Gallow Lee. The custom, still prevalent
in many parts of the country, and so dear to
the Scottish schoolboy, of destroying his effigy
with every indignity on the royal birthday, is first
mentioned, we believe, in ‘‘ Annals of the Reign of
George 111.f 1770.
But when only fields and green coppice lay between
the city and the seaport, the gibbet at the Gallow
Lee, with its ghastlyadditions,must have formed
a gloomy object amid the smiling urban landscape.
IN the beginning of the present century fields
and nursery grounds chiefly bordered Leith Walk,
CHAPTER XVI.
LEITH WALK (concZdd).
respectively Trotteis, Jollie’s, Ronaldson’s, and
King‘s Buildings-had been erected, with long open](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p168.gif "Volume 5 Page 157")
... was discovered
He afterwards graced the gibbet in Leith
Walk, where his body hung for many a long ...
Vol. 5 p. 157 (Rel. 0.62)
![The Water of Leith.] CEMETERY.
VIEWS IN THE DEAN CEMETERY. (Secjuof-note,p. 70.)](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p080.gif "Volume 5 Page 69")
... Water of Leith .] CEMETERY.
VIEWS IN THE DEAN CEMETERY. (Secjuof-note,p. ...
Vol. 5 p. 69 (Rel. 0.62)
![Leith.] OLD LEITH MEN AND MANNERS. 209
CHAPTER XXII.
LEITH HISTORICAL SURVEY (concluded).
Leith and Edinburgh Peopk in the First Years of the Nineteenth Century-Gorge 1V. Pmkied-His Landing at Leith-Temtory Of the
Town defined-Landing of Mons Meg-Leith during the Old War--The Smacks.
UNLESS it be among the seafaring class, no difference
is perceptible now between the inhabitants of
Edinburgh and Leith ; but it was not so once, when
the towns were more apart, and intercourse less frequent
; differences and distinctions were known
even in the early years of the present century.
A clever and observant writer in 1824 says that,
as refinements and dissimilarities existed then between
the Old and New Town, so did they exist
in the appearance, habits, and characteristics of the
Leith and Edinburgh people.
‘‘ Not such,” he continues, as accidentally
take up their residence there for a sea prospect and
a sea-breeze, but those whose air is Leith air from
their cradles, and who are fixtures in the placemerchants,
traders, and seafaring persons : the
latter class has a peculiarity similar in most maritime
towns; but it is the rich merchants and
traders, together with their wives and daughters,
who are now before us.” (“ The Hermit in Edin.?”
The man of fortune and pleasure in Edinburgh,
he remarks, views his Leith neighbours as a mere
Cit, though in point of fact he is much less so than
the former. “The inan of fashion residing in
Edinburgh for a time, for economy or convenience,
and the Scottish nobleman dividing his time betwixt
London, Edinburgh, and his estates, sets
down the Leith merchant as a homespun article.
Again, the would-be dandy of the New Town eyes
him with self-preference, and considers him as his
inferior in point of taste, dress, living, and knowledge
of the beau monde-one who, if young, copies
his dress, aspires at his introduction into the higher
circle, and borrows his fashions ; the former, however,
being always ready to borrow his name or
cash; the first looking respectable on a bill, and
the second not being over plenty with the men of
dress and of idle life in Edinburgh. Both sexes
follow the last London modes, and give an idea
that they are used to town life, high company,
luxuries, late hours, and the manner of living in
polished France.”
All this difference is a thing of the past, and
the observer would be a shrewd one indeed who
detected any difference between the denizen of the
capital and of its seaport.
But the Leith people of the date referred to
Vol. 11.)
.
were, like their predecessors, more of the old
school, and, with their second-class new fashions,
and customs were some time in passing into desuetude,
old habits dying hard there as elsewhere. The
paterfamilias of Leith then despised the extremes
of dress, though his son might affect them, and hn
was more plodding and business-like in bearing
than his Edinburgh neighbour; was alleged to
always keep his hands in his pockets, with an expression
of independence in his face ; while, continues
this writer, in those “of the Edinburgh
merchants may be read cunning and deep discernment.
Moreover, the number of Leith traders is
limited, and each is known by headmark, whilst
thpse employed in commerce and trade in the
northern capital may be mistaken, and mixed up
with the men of pleasure, the professors, lawyers,
students, and strangers j but an observing eye will
easily mark the difference and the strong characteristic
of each-barring always the man of pleasure,
who is changeful, and often insipid within
and without.”
In 1820 the Edinburgh and Leith Seamen’s
Friendly Society was instituted.
In the same year, when some workmen were
employed in levelling the ground at the south end
of the bridge, then recently placed across the river
at Leith Mills (for the purpose of opening up a
communication between the West Docks and the
foot of Leith Walk), five feet from the surface they
came upon many human skeletons, all of rather unusual
stature, which, from the size of the roots of
the trees above them, must have lain there a very
long time, and no doubt were the remains of some
of those soldiers who had perished in the great
siege during the Regency of Mary of Lorraine.
The proclamation of George IV. as king, after
having been performed at Edinburgh with great
ceremony, was repeated at -the pier and Shore
of Leith on February grd, 1820, by the Sheriff
Clerk and magistrates, accompanied by the heralds,
pursuivants and trumpeters, the style and titles 01
His Majesty being given at great length. At one
o’clock the ship of the Admiral and other vessels
in the Roads, the flags of which had been halF
hoisted, mastheaded them at one p.m, and fired
forty-one guns. They were then half-hoisted till
the funeral of George 111. was over.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p026.gif "Volume 6 Page 207")
... Leith .] OLD LEITH MEN AND MANNERS. 209
CHAPTER XXII.
LEITH HISTORICAL SURVEY (concluded).
Leith and Edinburgh ...
Vol. 6 p. 207 (Rel. 0.61)
... Scotland was the long stretch of bare
sand at Leith ,
LEITH LINKS.
informer for the double thereof, ...
Vol. 6 p. 268 (Rel. 0.61)
... mentioned, contains the offices of the
Leith Chamber of Commerce, instituted in 1840,
and ...
Vol. 6 p. 245 (Rel. 0.61)
... THE LEITH RACE WEEK. 269
afterwards James VII., during the time he was
Royal Commissioner at Holyrood. ‘‘ ...
Vol. 6 p. 269 (Rel. 0.61)
... years ago Mr. Macfie was a well-known
sugar refiner in Leith . His establishment stood
in Elbe Street, South ...
Vol. 6 p. 236 (Rel. 0.6)
... it.
The castle was afterwards demolished by order of
LEITH HARBOUR ABOUT 1700. (Fronr am Oil Paint ng in fhe ...
Vol. 5 p. 173 (Rel. 0.6)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
sion opposite to the church of St. Ninian, but is
now rebuilt into a modern ...
Vol. 6 p. 256 (Rel. 0.58)
![Leith.1 THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 259
EASTWARD of Leith lie those open downs called
the Links, once of much greater extent than we
find them, and doubtless at one time connected
ground to the westward of the pier, when it was
blowing fresh, with a heavy sea, and before any
assistance could be given she was driven upon
the beach, near the citadel, having beaten off her
rudder and otherwise considerably damaged herself
[sic]. They are employed in taking out the
cargo, and if the weather continues moderate, it
is expected she will be got off.”
The waves of the sea are now distant nearly two
thousand feet north from the spot where the wreck
took place.
Three of the bastions, and two of the gates of
the citadel, were standing when the old “Statistical
Account ” was published, in 1793.
Before quitting this quarter of North Leith we
may quote the following rather melancholy account
given of the latter in 1779, in a work entitled “The
Modem British Traveller,” folio, and now probably
out of print.
About a mile from the city is Leith, which may
be called the warehouse of Edinburgh. It is
divided into two parts by a small rivulet, over
which is a neat bridge of three arches. That part
called South Leith is both large and populous ; it
has an exceeding handsome church, a jail, a
custom-house [the old one in the Tolbooth Wynd],
but the streets are irregular, nor do any of the
buildings merit particular attention. It was
formerly fortified, but the works were destroyed
by the English in 1559 [?I, and not any remains
are now to be seen. That part called North
Leith is a very poor place, without any publick
building, except an old Gothic church ; there is a
small dock, but it is only capable of admitting
ships of a hundred and fifty tons. The harbour is
generally crowded with vessels from different parts;
and from here to Kinghorn, in Fifeshire, the
passage-boat crosses every tide, except on Sundays. . . . Great numbers of the citizens of Edin-
’burgh resort to Leith on parties of pleasure, and
to regale themselves with the sea air and oysters,
which are caught here in great abundance. . . .
with the wide, open, and sandy waste that extended
beyond the Figgate Burn to Magdalene
Bridge,
The town is under the jurisdiction of a bailiff CT],
but it may be called a part of, and is subject to the
jurisdiction of, Edinburgh, in virtue of a charter
granted by King Robert the Eruce.”
The Manners’ Church, a rather handsome building,
with two smail spires facing the east, is built
upon a portion of the site of the citadel, and
schools are attached to it. The church was designed
by John Henderson of Edinburgh, and
was erected in 1840.
In this quarter Sand Port Street, which led to the
then beach, with a few old houses neax the citadel,
and the old church of St. Ninian, comprised the.
whole of North Leith at the time of the Union.
There the oldest graving-dock was constructed in
1720, and it yet remains, behind a house not far
from the bridge, dated-according to Parker
Lawson-162 2.
The present custom-house of Leith was built in
1812, on the site where H.M. ship Fu~y was built
in I 780 ; and an old native of Leith, who saw her
launched, had the circumstance impressed upon
his memory, as he related to Robertson (whose
“Antiquities ” were published in 185 I), “by a carpenter
having been killed by the falling of the
shores.”
The edifice cost A12,617, is handsome, and in
the Grecian style, adorned in front with pillars and
pediment It stands at the North Leith end of the
lower drawbridge.
The officials here consist of a collector, twb
chief clerks, three first and seven second-class
clerks, with one extra ; eight writers, two surveyors,
eighteen examining officers, and a principal coast
officer for Fisherrow. The long room is handsome,
and very different from its predecessor in the Tolbooth
Wynd, which was simply divided by long
poles, through which entries were passed.
In May, 1882, the building at Dock Place (in
this quarter) known as the Sailors’ Home, was
converted into the Mercantile Marine Department
and Government Navigation School.
C H A P T E R XXIX.
LEITH -THE LINKS.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p078.gif "Volume 6 Page 259")
... Leith .1 THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 259
EASTWARD of Leith lie those open downs called
the Links, once of much greater extent ...
Vol. 6 p. 259 (Rel. 0.58)
... OLD AKD NEW EDINBURGH, [ Leith .
1596-7. In 1578 an Act of Parliament was passed
to prevent “ the taking away ...
Vol. 5 p. 180 (Rel. 0.58)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith .
to extinguish the flames. On the same daya grand
assault was to be made.
By ...
Vol. 5 p. 176 (Rel. 0.57)
![kith.] THE CITADEL 2S7
General Monk no doubt used all the stones of
the two edifices in the erection of his citadel, which
is thus described by John Ray, in his Itinerary,
when he visited Scotland in the year 1661 :-
“ At Leith we saw one of those citadels built by
and stores. There is also a good capacious chapel,
the piazza, or void space within, as large as Trinity
College (Cambridge) great court.”
This important stronghold, which must have
measured at least 400 feet one way, by 250 the
NORTH LEITH CHURCH.
the Protector, one of the best fortifications we ever
beheld, passing fair and sumptuous. There are
three forts (bastions?) advanced above the rest,
and two platfomis ; the works round about are
faced with freestone towards the ditch, and are
almost as high as the highest buildings therein, and
withal, thick and substantial. Below are very pleasant,
convenient, and well-built houses, for the
governor, officers, and soldiers, and for magazines
other (and been in some manner adapted to the
acute angle of the old fortifications there), costing,
says Wilson, “upwards of LIOO,OOO sterling, fell a
sacrifice, soon after the Restoration, to the cupidity
of the monarch and the narrow-minded jealousy
of the Town Council of Edinburgh.”
All that remains of the citadel now are some old
buildings, called, perhaps traditionally, ‘‘ Cromwell’s
Barracks”-near which was found an old](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p076.gif "Volume 6 Page 257")
... he visited Scotland in the year 1661 :-
“ At Leith we saw one of those citadels built by
and stores. ...
Vol. 6 p. 257 (Rel. 0.57)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith
cost of .&3oo, and has two ornamental fronts;
respectively with Ionic ...
Vol. 6 p. 244 (Rel. 0.57)
... Bridge-Rrunstane House . . . . . . . . . . . . I43
CHAPTER XV.
LEITH WALK.
A Pathway in the 15th ...
Vol. 6 p. 395 (Rel. 0.57)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith .
beneath it “ The Triumph of Bacchus,” beautifully
executed in ...
Vol. 5 p. 72 (Rel. 0.56)
... of the building were ornamented
ST. MARK’S (SOUTH LEITH ) CHURCH, 1882.
by buttresses finished with ...
Vol. 6 p. 220 (Rel. 0.56)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Leith
One of the greatest events of its time in Leith
was the landing there of George ...
Vol. 6 p. 208 (Rel. 0.55)
... FIRST THOROUGHFARE. Leith 1
THE KIRKGATE.
CHAPTER XXIII.
LEITH - THE KIRKGATE.
The Kirkgate-Eastside-Tavern ...
Vol. 6 p. 213 (Rel. 0.55)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH .
~
PACE
Leith Roads. 1824 . . . . . . . 276
Tlu East and West Piers. Leith . . To ...
Vol. 6 p. 402 (Rel. 0.55)
![253 Leith.] ST. NINIAN’S CHURCH.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p072.gif "Volume 6 Page 253")
![Leith.] MONSON'S SUGGESTIONS. 185
12 0](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p196.gif "Volume 5 Page 185")
![Leith.] JAMES IV. AND THE SCOTTISH NAVY. 205](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p024.gif "Volume 6 Page 205")
![Leith.] THE KING'S WARK. 237
~
Arnot adds. It was to keep one of the cellars in
the King's Wark in repair, for holding wines and
other provisions for the king's use.
This Bernard Lindsay it was whom Taylor
mentions in his '' Penniless Pilgrimage " as having
Moreover, the King's Wark was placed most
advantageously at the mouth of the harbour, to
serve as -a defence against any enemy who might
approach it from the seaward. It thus partook
somewhat of the character of a citadel; and this
BERNARD STREET.
given him so warm a welcome at Leith in
1618.
That some funds were derivable from the King's
Wark to the Crown is proved by the frequent
payments with which it was burdened by several
of our monarchs. Thus, in the year 1477 James
111. granted out of it a perpetual annuity of twelve
marks Scots, for support of a chaplain to officiate
at the altar of c'the upper chapel in the collegiate
church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at
Restalrig."
seems to have been implied by the infeftment
granted by Queen Mary in 1564 to John Chisho!ia,
Master or Comptroller of the Royal Artillery,
who would appear to have repaired the buildings
which, no doubt, shared in the general conflagrations
that signalised the English invasions of 1544
and 1547. and the queen, on the completion
of his work, thus confirms her grant to the
comptroller :-
U Efter Her Heinis lauchful age, and revocation
made in parIiament, hir majestie sett in feu farme](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p056.gif "Volume 6 Page 237")
