History of Leith, Edinburgh

The purpose of this article is to show how the internet can be used in researching local history and its increasing importance in the years to come

Have you ever wondered who lived in your house before you, or who developed what building in your local area, or what was life like five hundred or a thousand years ago in your Town or locality or what things in the past have effected the development of your locality. To find out about these things is the province of Local History. However you may think why bother? Why should something that happened hundreds of years ago effect us now? The answer is quite simple and that is because it has shaped the way we are, and how we think, our prejudices and attitudes are by and large the product of History. History is not, how it is taught in school, as separate periods of time marked by the reign of a monarch or an event, which was done as a historical convenience, but is a process and it is that process that has shaped the world and our locality. To understand this process and the events and people who indirectly or directly created it requires not great knowledge or intelligence but you must have curiosity, and the ability to say why? This curiosity will take you on the highways and byways of time and something’s that you will find on the way will shock or surprise you but there is one thing that you must never forget and that is intellectual integrity and honesty because without that the local historian is left peddling old prejudices and half truths which are worse then lies. The best example of this is the story of Alexander Campbell who lived in the early nineteenth century and he would go to people’s houses in the Leith to ask if anyone famous lived in their house in the past. They may say Oliver Cromwell or Mary de Guise and this information he would put down in his notebook. However the one thing he would never do and that was to check what he was told was actually true. He simply accepted everything he was told and that is how we are told that the two hills on Leith Links in Edinburgh were Elizabethan Gun mounts dating from 1560 and the Siege of Leith and to this day we have a plaque at the bottom of each hill announcing this to the world and it is all completely wrong. Nor is local history meant to support racism or your own particular brand of politics. Local History deals in one thing and one thing only and that is facts, no perhaps, or ifs or buts just simple facts and the function of this activity is to show how by using the internet these facts can be found. However there will be times that facts from a period that we are interested in can’t be found, then we should simply say we don’t know. There is one thing also that you should never forget and that is to truly understand the history of any period you must think in the mindset of the period that you are looking at without being judgemental and that is the only way understanding comes.

Getting Started

I should give a word of caution first before explaining some of the sources of information used by the local historian. What you will find once you start is that the history of your locality is a lot larger and more extensive then what you imagine when you first start out. A very good example of what I mean is the story of Campbell Irons. He was a solicitor who lived in Leith at the end of the 19th century and one day he thought that he would write a history of Leith just a few pages long because he thought Leith didn’t have a history. However after three years and two massive volumes later called “The Antiquates of Leith” he finished and in the preface to his work he said that he wished he had never started. And to this day the work on the history of Leith isn’t finished as more of the early history of Leith is coming to light as more archaeological digs are now taking in Leith then ever before. This isn’t to put people off local history it is only to suggest that people pick a subject within the local area that interests them and research that while having a working knowledge of the rest of the local history of the area. For example if you have a local Church specialise in finding out about that and the congregation through the centuries or the history of Shipping, farming, or industry in your area and so on. If you try to cover absolutely everything in Local history you will soon find it is impossible as the subject is unfortunately just too large for one person. It is for this reason that in many areas in Scotland you will find local history societies, in which local knowledge is pooled together for the benefit of everybody, and local history magazines are now being produced.

Before approaching the internet the first thing to do is to read everything that has been written about your area and learn everything that is applicable. Ensuring the important facts is noted in a notebook. Then visit the main historical buildings in your area. This may be a Church, or Castle or the site of a Bronze Age Hill fort, taking notes all the time. Then return to your reading about your area but this time looking at the 18th and 19th century authors (eg the Statistical Account of Scotland written in the 18th century) as sometimes they include information which are not mentioned by modern authors again taking notes Then return to your historic sites to see if your ideas have changed in the light of this new information. Again return to your reading but this time pay a visit if possible to the “North Reading Room of The National Library of Scotland” this will give you access to the original charters of your area. While there have a look at the “Ballentyne Record” this book was produced in the early 19th century by the “Ballentyne Club” founded by Sir Walter Scott, and the Club visited many old libraries of the Scriptoriums of the Border Abbeys such as Melrose and Kelso, and they were able to rescue many old documents from oblivion and the interesting thing is they contained much of the local history of areas from all over Scotland. All you have to do is look up the index of the book for the name of your town and the early history of your area is opened up to you. Photocopies can be taken if required.

Another important source of information is the Scottish Record Office in Princes Street Edinburgh. The information held here is vast covering everything from Land Grants to Court cases, shipping records to Kirk Records. In fact the Kirk Records are important sources of information in local History as the Parish church in most parts of Scotland ran the locality up to the Burgh Reform act in 1833 which introduced local Councils and the Kirk Sessions lost most of their power. Within these records you will find evidence of Witch Trials, Court Cases, marriages, deaths, baptisms, Plague, wars, the list is endless. In these records the names of important local people are mentioned some even of national or international importance. The problem at this stage is one that I mentioned earlier is the necessity of getting into the mindset of the people writing and compiling these Records in order to understand what they are talking about and why they are doing the things they are doing. The second problem is language, medieval Charters are written in an abbreviated form of Latin and many Kirk Records from the 15th to the early 18th century are written in old Scots. To complicate things further many trades are not called by there modern names for example a Cordwainer is the old name for a shoemaker, or a Baxter was a Baker, or a Webster for a Weaver and so on. Another thing you will find in the Records is the name of Streets which do not exist in your area nowadays and the only way to find out about them is by paying a visit to the Map Room of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh which holds maps for most of Scotland from the 16th century or from your main public Library. These old Maps hold a wealth of information for the local historian. Again you must get used to how they are laid out because they are not like modern maps, in many cases they lack prospective and so appear distorted. However once this is understood the wealth of local information is incredible. For example the Petworth Map of the Siege of Leith produced for Queen Elizabeth shows Edinburgh and Leith as they were in 1560 along with the position of the Scots and English armies before the walls of Leith with details of Edinburgh of that Period. Showing for example what Edinburgh Castle was like before the half-moon battery was built. However besides the big events of history these maps show buildings, brew houses, fields and farms and so on and by collecting a number of maps of different dates you will see how your area developed through time and you will come to understand why your area has developed as it has.

Another good source of local history information is the local graveyard and the burial records of the area. From this the whole social history of the locality can be worked out. This is because from the tombs and monuments can be found something of who the people were and what they did and from the style and what is inscribed on the stone can be seen what these people believed and hoped for. It should be noted that in Parish Churchyards anyone from the Parish can be buried there and it made no difference what their religious persuasion was and so in local Churchyard’s we have a perfect record of the history of the locality. From the large ornamental Tombs of the rich to the unmarked graves of the poor. Unmarked graves were recorded in the Burial book of the Church and are now held by the Local Councils and earlier Records are held in the Scottish Record Office. In these burial Records are not recorded only the names of the people buried but also where they are buried in the Churchyard, where they lived during their life and how they died. They may even mention the type of funeral and how much it cost. In the burial Records it is sometimes found that statistics are kept showing how many people died in a certain year by age. It is from such information combined with the information from maps, Kirk Records and the records of the Lady Visitors forerunners of today’s Social workers, medical records and census records that living conditions can be worked out. It is from this that questions like, why was the death rate so high in the 19th century? Or what was housing conditions like? And so on, can be answered. Remember let the evidence speak for itself and bear in mind not to be judgemental as they didn’t have access to the medical and technological knowledge we have today. However on a positive note evidence such as gained above spurred on improvement in housing and health in Scotland and because of the work done by the early pioneers all over Scotland brought forth later the National Health Service. The National Health Service didn’t just happen after the Second World War it came about after about a hundred years of hard struggle and it was fought by using the records and evidence that you are looking at.

Another source of useful information is paintings and photographs done in the past and a collection of old photographs should be started. It is only through old prints, paintings and photographs that we can get a real idea of what places and buildings really looked like in the past as many would have been removed by developers over the following years. A further source is old local newspapers which don’t only give the national news of the period but also what was happening locally along with adverts giving the fashions of the period, time tables of local trains and ship sailings and so on.

Another source of local History is stories, legends; Myths even Ghost stories because they come from our past and are part of the local culture of the people and in all of them there is a grain of truth. However if these stories aren’t recorded then they will be lost with the passing of the years and that would be a loss not only to Scottish History and Literature but to local history as well. Furthermore the key to an important local event may lie buried within a legend. For example as with the legend of St Triduana in Leith. So they can’t be just ignored.

Onto the Internet

Only once you have done the basic work as above should you attempt to use the internet. The reason for this is that the local Historian must have a feel for his material. He must see the Castle or Church; he must see the original records that he is dealing with if at all possible or at least a copy. To be able to examine real buildings or artefacts, and examine real monuments and documents is of the utmost importance. Also to get the full benefit out of the internet you must be able to understand what you are looking at and this only comes through experience.

However where the internet comes into its own is the ability to allow access to records and photographs from different sources or from around the world. For example, and this can apply to many places in Scotland, take South Leith Church in Leith, it looks like a typical Scottish Church built of good Scottish stone. However the founder was St Triduana who was Greek and the Church was built by French knights from Lille. In fact to find out about the Church, records have to be accessed not only at Lille but also at the Vatican Library and this can be done via the internet. Also you may not be able to visit the depositories were records are kept but you may be able to order copies through the internet.

In the past Historians would plough through mountains of records and books and most of this information would have been dross just to find some fact that they were looking for. Needless to say this was all very time consuming but in the past this was the only way it could be done. That is why some historical facts were misunderstood in the past because at times there is so much information that it confuses the mind and the point is missed. Now by using the internet it is quicker and easier to find information and to be able to get a fuller picture of what you are looking for. Furthermore the amount of information on the internet is growing so fast that it is hard to imagine not using it. However it must be remembered that the internet is only a tool and the information on it is only as good as the people who put it on in the first place. Always check any information given with at least two or three independent sources on the internet before accepting it as fact and this can be done very quickly. An example of this is from the Mormon (LDS) Website used by Genealogists the world over and it is a good website for family Research. However some of the information that you would expect to find is not there or is simply wrong and the reason for this is because they depend on people sending them information on their family histories and if they get it wrong the wrong information gets put on. However as a basis for further research it can’t be matched. It is also quick and easy to use, and I would recommend it to anyone, but with caution.

Local History doesn’t sit in a vacuum by itself it fits into the larger picture of Regional and National History because what happens in one part of the country can and does effect what happens locally. For example if your local Church is of any age at all, it would have been affected by the Reformation. So to get a clearer picture as to what the Reformation was and why it happened information can be found on the internet. In fact the whole of Scottish and British history can be found on the internet and not only this but information on related subjects of interest to the local Historian can also be found.

Suggested Web Sites for the Local Historian.

An excellent site for the person first starting out in Local history and how to get started can be found at BBC Learning at www.bbc.co.uk/library/history.shtml. the information found here is applicable all over the country. Also BBC-History-Scottish History, ancient, Dark ages, Early Church History, Wars of Independence, Renaissance, Reformation and so on. www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/index.shtml.

The General Register Office for Scotland, who are responsible for keeping the records of Birth, Deaths and marriage. This information is important to the local Historian as the historian is not only finding out about the built heritage and artefacts but also about people. www.gro-scotland.gov.uk. Also at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

The National Library of Scotland is Scotland’s largest library and the world centre for the study of Scotland and the Scots and can be found at www.nls.uk.

For maps go to www.nls.uk/pont to see Timothy Pont’s maps. These maps are the earliest surviving detailed maps of Scotland produced over four hundred years ago in the 1580’s and 1590’s.

Local History Magazine the UK’s only independent national magazine for anyone with an interest in local History. www.local-history.co.uk.

The National Archives of Scotland. Formally known as the Scottish Record Office is the National Archives of Scotland and has information covering the whole of Scottish history from the early middle ages to the present day .www.oz.net/~markhow/scotsros.htm

Scottish History Online, visit the history of Scotland online covering nearly 8,000 years of Scottish History. There is also the Scottish History Club. www.north-scotland.co.uk.

Scottish History-Culture, Battles, Literature and more. Electric Scotland’s, Scottish History, a great site offering information on early Scottish History, battles, culture, literature. www.electricscotland.com/history

Scotland; Notable Dates in History. A note on the time and dates in Scotland. www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/histdtes.html.

Robert Gunn’s Scottish, Celtic & Medieval History Online. Online Celtic & Medieval history from the Mesolithic to the 19th century members.aol.com/Skyelander/

Scottish and Local History Web links www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/libraries/sihweblinks.htm.

Angus Council/Local history/History Links, Scottish Museums Council, Centre for Maritime Research, National Maritime Museum, Local History Magazine.
www.angus.gov.uk/history/lhlinks.htm.

The National Museums of Scotland of Scotland. www.nms.ac.uk. Apart from having one of the largest collections of Scottish artefacts in existence they also have the Antiquarian Library of the Society of Antiquarians which holds important information concerning local History. Access to the library is by appointment only.

History of Leith, Edinburgh, Local history and Websites of Local Leith Churches and Leith related links leithhistory.co.uk.

Genie and History Links-Australia-Australian Genealogy Websites and links Heritage, family & local History. www.zades.com.au/genlink.html. Included due to the large number of Scots who have left Scotland to go to Australia.

Local History Links-labour history archives, collections, on line research sources and websites www.local-history.co.uk/links/historical.html.

HistoryLink. More than 500 links to Historical websites created by a team of local historians and writers. www.historylink.org/intro.htm.

The above is only a very small taste of the available information on Local History on the internet. However, there is still much that is known locally along with locally held records in many parts of Scotland which have not been made available to other researchers through the internet. Which it must be if this information is not going to be lost for ever. This must happen, if our knowledge of our local history is not only to be broadened but to be deepened as well. However what is starting to happen more and more is the creation of local history websites such my own at leithhistory.co.uk or at www.aboutscotland.com which is concerned about the Georgian New Town of Edinburgh and so on. Go onto any Local Council website and you will find local history Websites. Local History websites may appear to be just concerned about their own history however they may hold information that will help researchers not only in this country but overseas as well. It is with the advent of local History websites that not only will Local History develop and more new relevant information will become available but also Scottish History will benefit as a whole.

What you will find in Local History is the truth of what John Dunn said “That no man is a island unto himself” no history of any area in Scotland can be truly understood simply by itself in a vacuum as it were, as it is part and parcel of the whole European and American experience. People left Scotland from Glasgow after 1746 to go to the American Colonies just in the same way that Scots left Scotland to go to Europe in the 15th-18th centuries to fight in European wars through ports on the East coast of Scotland with many settling in Eastern Europe. Scotland traded with Europe and fought with England and along with many other experiences shaped and produced our local history and will continue to do so as long as there is a Scotland.