All About Edinburgh
Leith Edinburgh
History, Attractions and Activities
Leith Area Edinburgh
Leith area Edinburgh or originally inverlet ‘the mouth of the Water of Leith’ which was two villages one on each side of the river estuary North and South Leith which were first joined by a bridge in 1493 and the oldest building that remains is St Ninian’s at the shore. Leith was chartered to Edinburgh by Robert the Bruce in 1329 giving the powers of Edinburgh control of Leith. In 1920 Leith became a part of Edinburgh.
The Leith Area Timeline
The first recorded mention of Leith was in 1143, when the area near the river estuary was granted to the Holyrood monks by David I. Known by the name Inverlet. Edward II mentions Leith in 1313 before the Battle of Bannockburn. The incorporation of institution of the Mariners’ happened in Leith 1380. Leith became a ship building area circa 1520. The French invaded Leith in 1548 for 12 years they took control. Finally in 1560 after many battles and a siege the french left Leith in the wake of destroying what they could. Mary Queen of Scots returned to Scotland from France in 1560 at the shore in Leith. Cromwell took control of Leith in 1650 and had a base at the Citadel.
Leith Area 17th Century On
The Bank of Leith opened in 1806 with its own Leith currency. King George VI set foot on Scottish soil at the Shore invited by Sir Walter Scott in 1822. The “Leith Act” was passed by Parliament in 1827. Leith Nautical College was opened in 1855 The building resembling a ship. The Leith Improvement Act was passed in 1880. A free home for retired Sailors’ was built in 1883 at the Shore. Now the building is a Hotel. The first trains arrived in Leith when Leith Central station opened at the junction of Leith Walk and Duke Street in 1903. Finally Leith became a part of Edinburgh in 1920.
Queen Victoria
Kirkgate Leith
This Statue was to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria and her visit to Leith in 1842. She died in 1901. It is also a war memorial to the memory of the Scots Guards from the area that died in the Boar War. It was unveiled by Lord Rosebery who was the Liberal Prime Minister 1894-5 and the ceremony was watched by a crowd of over 20,000 people. Leith became a part of Edinburgh in 1920. The meaning of Leith is broad river.
Trinity House Museum
Leith Edinburgh
The original mariner’s house built in 1555 on this site was an Almshouse for the retired and poor that wished to stay within the seafaring community. The present building replacing the original Almshouse was built in 1816. Explore Trinity house and see the treasures the mariners returned home with from their travels. There are old marine maps, navigation equipment and ships models. There are also paintings and manuscripts that tell the stories of the sailors of the 14th century to this day.
South Leith Parish Church
Leith Edinburgh
The first church built was St Mary’s in 1483, over the centuries famous people have used the church such as Mary of Guise and Oliver Cromwell. The church has been used as a prison and the General Assembly was held here. Many parts of the church have been replaced since first built, with the ceiling being replace during the renovations of 1847, a Hammer beam ceiling was installed which is still present and will take your breath away.
St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church
Leith Edinburgh
St Mary Star of the Sea was built mainly due to the emigration of Irish families due to the potato famine between 1845 and 1849. Many Irish Catholics families came to Leith and there was a lack of Catholic churches to satisfy the large congregations. The Church of St Mary Star of the Sea was Completed in 1854 and is within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
Leith Town Hall
Leith Edinburgh
The Town Hall on the corner of Constitution Street and Queens Charlotte Street was built in 1828. A new Town Hall was open in 1929 after leith joined Edinburgh but was nearly destroyed by bombings in 1941 during the 2nd World War.
Stone Plaques Maritime Street Leith
1893 Javance (Uncover)
Stone Plaques Maritime Street Leith
Spe vires augentur.
(Our powers are augmented by hope.)
Leith Assembly Rooms
Exchange Building
Leith Edinburgh
The exchange buildings were built by subscription as a meeting place for merchants, which included the Assembly Rooms that opened in 1783 and an extension in 1810 which was the Leith Exchange. This was where everything from commerce to entertainment was centred.
A Leith Hero Eric “Winkle” Brown
Leith Edinburgh
Eric Melrose Brown 21 January 1919 – 21 February 2016. Eric was born in Leith Area a port outside of Edinburgh.
Captain Eric Melrose Brown known as Winkle due to his slight stature was an amazing man and record holder.
His father was a pilot and as a young boy Eric was involved in aviation. Captain Eric Brown’s first flight was on his fathers’ knee.
He became Britain’s most decorated test pilot in the Royal Air Force. Flying 487 different types of aircraft.
He was also the first person to land a plane on an aircraft carrier.
He saw Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics, witnessed the horrors of Belsen and awarded and the CBE, MBE and OBE. He was to continue flying aircraft until he was 70 years old.
He also was a published author of books and lived till he was 97 years of age.
Robert Burns Statue
Leith Edinburgh
Robert Burns died at the age of 37. He was known as the Ploughman poet. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. Burns was born two miles south of Ayr, in Alloway South Ayrshire, Scotland. Robert Burns was the eldest of seven children. He travelled the world and had many love interests and had 9 children. Robert Burns is buried in St. Michael’s Churchyard, Dumfries, Scotland. Robert Burns’ brother Gilbert Burns (1760 – 1827) and mother, Agnes Broun 17 March 1732 – 14 January 1820 (and later his sister Annabella) moved to Bolton East Lothian from Ayrshire. Gilbert oversaw the building of the new Bolton parish church which was completed in 1809. The cottage at Grant’s Brae is no longer there, the house was demolished and a roadside monument stands in its place. No more than one hundred yards northeast lies the drinking well used by the Burns family. It was lovingly restored in 1932 and dedicated to Agnes Broun. The dedication states: “Drink of the pure crystals and not only be ye succoured but also refreshed in the mind. To the mortal and immortal memory and in noble tribute to her, who not only gave a son to Scotland but to the whole world and whose own doctrines he preached to humanity that we might learn?
Burns 1759 – 1796
“The priest-like father reads the sacred page –
from scenes like these old Scotia’s grandeur springs,
that makes her loved at home, revered abroad:”
“I there wi something did forgather,
that pat me in an eerie swither:”
Presented by Robert Meikle
“When Vulcan gies his bellows breath
an plowmen gather wi’ their graith”
“In order, on the clean hearth-stane
the luggies three are ranged:”
Hallow’een
Presented by William Tulloch
Leith Bank Building
Leith Edinburgh
Leith Bank was established in 1792 and printed Leith bank notes and was trading from its premises in Bernard Street from 1806. It was common place for towns in Scotland to print their own money. The funding would come from local wealth merchants. Leith Bank did not stay open long as it closed due to lack of funds in 1842.
Reverend John Home
Leith Edinburgh
Reverend John Home was a poet and playwright and was born in Maritime Street Leith in 1722. He is remember for his play Douglas which was first performed in the Playhouse Theatre Canongate in 1756
Corn Exchange
Leith Edinburgh
The Corn Exchange building was built in 1861 marketing hall to deal with the sale and purchase of agricultural goods. The building has a frieze which runs down the Constitution Street side of the building which depicts cherubs at work in the agricultural services. The frieze was sculpted by John Rhind.
West Bowling Green Street
Bridge
Leith Edinburgh
William Beatson was the engineer that built the bridge in west Bowling Green Street in 1886. It is a Single span bridge with a single cobbled road which spans the Water of Leith. The road is now pedestrian only and can be accessed from The Quilts or west Bowling Green Street.
Leith Fort
Leith Edinburgh
Leith fort was designed by James Craig of Edinburgh and the Fort was constructed in 1780. The Royal Artillery occupied the fort in 1793. The Fort was increased in size during the Napoleonic War to accommodate French prisoners. Leith Fort saw no action and was man with a battalion until 1957. A that remains of the fort is part of the walls and the two gate houses. There are also a number of canon still on site.
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Norwegian Seaman’s Church
Leith
Norwegian Seaman’s Church Leith was built in 1868 by Johan Storjohn a divinity graduate from Bergen Norway who arrived in Edinburgh in 1863 and could not find a church for Scandinavian people. At the time there were many Scandinavian sailors as the whaling fleet of Christian Salvesen was registered in Leith.
Norwegian King Olav V visited the church in 1962.
Miracle at Sea
Norwegian Church Leith
“Vim Stone”
In the Garden of the Church is a stone named the “Vim Stone”. The stone was named after a Norwegian ship which ran aground in 1937 and was letting in water and would have sunk with loss of life. The rocks the ship hit, part broke off and plugged the hole and saved the ship, which finished its journey to Leith. . The sailors on the ship removed the rock fragment and took it to the church, where it can be seen in the garden to this day.
The inscription reads
DENNE STEN FRA NORGES BUNN BRAGTE ‘VIM’ SOM GIKK PA GRUNN
David Kilpatrick Public School
Leith Memorial Stone
David Kilpatrick School was built between 1913 and 1915 and was first used as a barracks before becoming a school in 1919, which it was its original purpose.
The inscription on the memorial stone reads: “David Kilpatrick” Public School, Leith. The Memorial Stone of this public school was laid on 27th September 1913 by the Right Honourable R.C. Munro Ferguson P.C. L.L.D. M.P. For Leith District of Burghs members of the school board. Rev. David Kilpatrick (Chairman) Mrs. Elizabeth Logan Calder, Mr. James Murphy, Mr. J. Duncan Cran, Rev. M. O’Reilly, Mrs. Janet Cruickshank, Rev. James M. Stott M.A., Mr. James Dempster, Mr. Thomas Scott, Mr. John Garden, Mr. Wm. L. Sharp, Miss Clarice M. McNab, Mr George W. Tait S.S.C. Mr Frank J. Trotter, clerk and treasurer, Mr George Craig, licentiate, R.I.B.A., architect. The building was ready for occupancy on 1st September, 1915; but owing to the premises being required for military purposes in connection with the great European war, they were not fully utilised for educational work until 2nd September 1919.
Leith Town Hall Complex
Leith Town Hall Complex consists of Thomas Morton Hall a venue that holds upto 200 people. The Theatre which concerts and weddings are held plus the public Library building.
Thomas Morton Hall Leith
Thomas Morton was born in Leith in October 1781 and became a shipbuilder. Opening his own company. In 1818 Thomas Morton was the inventor of the slipway, a way to haul ships in and out of the water. Thomas Morton lived at 1 Pilrig Place Leith. He died in 1832 and is buried in South Leith church burial grounds. The hall that is part of the Town Hall Complex was named in his memory.
Leith Theatre
The Leith Theatre complex was a gift fro Edinburgh Council when Leith became a part of Edinburgh in 1920. After many years of building the theatre opened in 1932. With the complex being bombed in 1941 the theatre did not open again until 1961 when renovations and rebuild was complete. The theatre building now operates by a trust and is a creative hub for all.
Leith Public Library
The Library was built in 1929 and bombed in 1941 then rebuilt and opened in 1955.
Mount Falcon Battery Site
Leith Edinburgh
This is said to be where Officer Falcon had an artillery battery in the siege of Leith in 1560
prior to the French disregarding Leith du to Mary Queen of Scots intervention.
Leith Provident Buildings
Leith Edinburgh
The Leith Provident Co-operative Society built their first department store in 1911 on Great Junction Street Leith
Gurdwara Nanak
Leith Edinburgh
The first Sikh families to arrive in Edinburgh were in 1958 from the Punjab. The Sikh place of worship is a Gurdwara and the first Gurdwara was a house in Leith in 1964. In 1976 the present Gurdwara was opened at 1 Sheriff Brae Edinburgh. Previous to the Gurdwara it was St Thomas’s Church which was built in 1843. The Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak, he was born in 1469 A.D. It is believed that the Sikh religion was first preached in 1496 in the Punjab by Guru Nanak.
Dr Andrew Bell School
Leith Edinburgh
Dr Bell's School Junction Street Leith was built in 1838 and acquired by Leith school board in 1882 from the Bell Trust. Dr Andrew Bell founded schools worldwide using the educational system that he founded.
Andrew Bell was born in St Andrews in 1753. He became a Scottish Episcopalian priest and teacher who pioneered
the Madras System of Education. He was founder of The Madras College St Andrews.
More on St Andrews on www.traveltourscotland.com/st-andrews-attractions
He first was a teacher in the Americas during the 1770’s.
He returned to Britain in 1871 and was a minister at Episcopal Chapel in Leith.
Leith Swimming Baths
Leith Edinburgh
Leith swimming baths is a part of the original Bell’s School which was acquired by the Leith school board in 1896.
Leith Vaults
Leith Edinburgh
The oldest warehouse and cellar for wine in the Leith Area is the Vaults previously known as the Black Vaults. The oldest part of the Vaults now is 1682, but were on this site much earlier possibly circa 1540.
Porters’ Stone
Leith Edinburgh
The Porters Stone or Stingmans Plaque was originally in Tolbooth Wynd before it was moved to Sugarhouse Close Leith, then was put for safekeeping in the National Museum Edinburgh, the copy in Henderson street of the original carving 1670 gives a picture of how wines and spirits were transported from Leith. Leith was the main supplier of Wine to Edinburgh with circa 250,000 p.a. The Stingmen were the workers at the warehouse that moved the barrels of wine.
Leith Improvement Scheme
Memorial Stone
First Artisans Dwellings
Henderson Street was built as part of the Leith Improvement Scheme, a Bill which became an Act of Parliament known as the Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Act, Henderson Street was named after Dr John Henderson the lord Provost of Leith from 1875 to 1881 The area Henderson street was built on was previously over a dozen close’s which had terrible living conditions.
Leith Links
First Written Rules of Golf
Leith Links is where the first rules of golf where written in 1744 for a golf tournament, 13 rules in all. There had only been 5 rules players had played to before. The oldest golf course to be mentioned in history is in fact Bruntsfield Links with the oldest golf club house the Golf Tavern. Which is where the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers were first based as were the oldest golfing society the Burghers (Royal Burgess Golfing Society) incorporated in 1735. Leith Links course has the honour of the first official tournament to rules.
Giants’ Brae
Leith Links Edinburgh
The are two small hills on Leith Links which both have names, the one pictured is “Giant’s Brae” and the other is
“Lady Fyfe’s Brae”, these were said to be constructed as artillery mounds dated from 1560 when the siege of Leith took place.
Pilrig House
Leith Area Edinburgh
The original Pilrig House was owned by Sir Patrick Moneypenny and he sold the land to Gilbert Kirkwood in 1623 who rebuilt the house in 1638. The Balfour family purchased the house in 1718. James Balfour’s great-grandson was Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson, Robert’s father married a member of the Balfour family and his great grandfather was born in Pilrig house in 1777. The Balfour family remained in Pilrig House till 1941. In 1971 a fire destroyed the house but luckily the history of the house and owners were seen to be important enough for the house to be rebuilt and restored to its original look in 1982 when the work started and is now complete
Professor John Barlow
Blue Plaque
Professor John Barlow eminent Quaker scientist. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the Royal Veterinary College Edinburgh. He was a highly respected member of the Edinburgh scientific community. Much loved member of the Religious Society of Friends. Husband of Eliza Nicholson (1813-1894) and father of Alfred (1851-1899). He was a leading Quaker pacifist and first manager of the Bourneville Village Trust. John Henry Barlow (1855-1924) lived here 1851-1856.
