History of Leith, Edinburgh

A FAINT but distinctive aroma of yeast, hops and malt seems to linger over the deserted shell of Fountain Brewery, seeping through the concrete jungle of buildings and miles of metal pipework that once flowed with a dark brown ale which would fill millions of barrels.

Along the empty corridors, up and down the precarious metal staircases, through the underground tunnels connecting brewhouse with fermentation hall, the familiar odour is now almost all that remains of a once thriving industry.

Today an eerie stillness has descended on a sprawling site, once the beating heart of an industry which at one time boasted at least 30 breweries within a few miles of each other. Now the only sounds are the low drone of the air conditioning and the occasional swish as cleaning fluids swill around redundant pipework.
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A good source of information and photographs on Leith. For more click here

Organisations noted in the NRA with records held at Edinburgh City Archives. for more click here

The early history of the national archives of Scotland reflects Scotland’s own troubled history. Many records were lost as a result of being taken out of the country first in the 13th century by Edward I during the Wars of Independence and later by Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century.

As a result, the earliest surviving Scottish public record is the Quitclaim of Canterbury of 1189; the oldest private record is a charter by David I to the church of St Cuthbert in Edinburgh, 1127. The earliest surviving exchequer roll belongs only to 1326; the records of the Great Seal survive only from 1315; and, although there are a few early rolls starting in 1292, full records of Parliament do not begin until 1466. Click here to see the oldest document in the National Archives.
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A very large collection of Old and New Leith and Edinburgh. For more click here

This month’s document is a pamphlet printed in 1700 entitled The People of SCOTLANDS’s Groans and Lamentable Complaints, Pour’d out before the High Court of Parliament. Hugh Paterson, the author of the pamphlet wrote:

“…Our Soveraignty and Freedom is Violated, Our Laws trampled upon, and our Trade interrupted, how Our Brethren have been Starved and made Slaves, Our Colony deserted, and Our Ships burnt and lost Abroad; whilst Our Petitions have been rejected, Our Company baffled, Our People Famish’d, Our Metropolis burnt, and flames of Division kindled amongs Us at Home. We entreat You to consider how they that ought in Kindness, nay in Gratitude, to have let Us had Provisions for Our Money, whilst they enjoyed Plenty, and ought to have Protected Us with their Ships, since We are under one Sovereign, and have lost so many Men in their Service by Sea and Land.”

The background to this emotive publication was the Darien Scheme. At the end of the 17th century, Scotland was a country struggling with poverty and destitution. In June 1695, an Act of Parliament was passed which set up the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies. The act gave the Company very wide powers: the right to establish and defend colonies, a monopoly on trade between Scotland and Asia, Africa and America for 31 years; and freedom from customs duty for 21 years.
A Scottish merchant by the name of William Paterson, one of the founders of the Bank of England, suggested that the Company settle in Darien, part of what is now Panama. His reason for choosing Darien was that it joined Central and South America and was the narrowest point between east and west. He saw this as the perfect trading position where cargoes could be transferred overland, eliminating the need to sail the lengthy and dangerous journey around Cape Horn. As a consequence the Company of Scotland became known as the Darien Company and its enterprise the Darien Scheme. The idea that this enterprise would help to end Scotland’s poverty enticed Scots from all walks of life to give what money they had to be part of the dream. England and Holland had been approached to support the scheme but both refused and Scotland raised all the capital itself.
The English were not keen on the establishment of the Company and neither were the Spanish. The English felt that it was stifling their trading abilities while the Spanish objected to the Scots being on what they regarded as their land: land which was an important route for transporting silver from Peru to Spain. England was also keen to preserve peace with Spain and did not want to be seen to support the Darien Company. Consequently, when the first Scots who had arrived in Darien found themselves in severe difficulties, toiling with deadly diseases and an unforgiving climate, and without the trading success they were expecting, King William ordered English colonies in the area not to give the Scots any assistance.

National Archives of Scotland reference PA7/17/1/21A

In 1699, unaware that the first of the Darien Scots were about to leave the colony, another ship left Leith. The new colonists arrived to find the New Caledonia settlement deserted and began rebuilding it. The Spaniards were not happy with this and tried to oust the Scots from the area. Sick and exhausted, the Scots surrendered to the Spanish in 1700. Of the 2,500 Scots who went to Darien 2,000 perished. Most of the survivors lived out their lives in Jamaica or America but very few returned to Scotland. £500,000 had been lost in the Scheme and Scotland’s economy nearly became bankrupt. With such a dramatic outcome to an enterprise of such optimism, Hugh Paterson’s pamphlet was almost certainly reflecting the feeling of the Scots at home. Although both he and the pamphlet printer, James Watson, were imprisoned, a rioting crowd freed them from the Edinburgh tolbooth. While the Darien Scheme had clearly been a disaster, it would be fair to say the vision of William Paterson and the Company of Scotland was not entirely misguided, as some 200 years later the Panama Canal was built and remains an important trading route to this day.
The National Archives of Scotland holds a good number of records relating to the Darien scheme including personal letters, wills left by those who perished in Darien, hearings at the Admiralty Court, petitions to the Privy Council and minutes from proceedings in the Scottish Parliament. To find out more go to the online catalogue.
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THE route of a gentle two-hour stroll along the Water of Leith isn’t perhaps the place where you’d have expected a famous Scottish climber prepare to tackle Everest.

But among the sites to be sighted along a guided walk from Balerno to Currie this Sunday will be the spot where Dougal Haston, the first Scot to climb the south-west face of the mountain, practised.

Helen Brown, manager for the Water of Leith Trust which is running the walk, says: “He was from Currie and he used to practise up the walls on the sides of the old railway line.”
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THE bicentennial of the battle of Trafalgar does not fall until October 21st. But a long season of festivities begins next week with a fleet review off Spithead involving 35 navies—including, gallantly, those of France and Spain. A battle re-enactment in the Solent will use ten tonnes of gunpowder. That’s about as much as one ship, HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship, used during the battle itself, but still enough for a most satisfying pop. Along the British coast, nearly every harbour will hold some sort of activity. Events are also planned at Toulon and Cadiz, principal naval bases of France and Spain, and at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, where Horatio Nelson’s body was buried after the battle.
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IT was a bitterly cold morning in September 1929. From his training base in Leith, young professional boxer Johnny Hill had spent a gruelling morning perfecting his jabs and powerful right hook for an upcoming title defence.

The following evening, he was expected to trade blows with Italian-American Frankie Genaro inside a London ring for the flyweight championship of the world – a title that the Edinburgh boxer had won the previous year.

Hill looked a clear favourite to keep the crown, only 23 months after turning professional.

But after finishing his early morning training session, he decided to go for a brief jog in the snow to cool down and clear his head for the fight before heading back to his home in Strathmigloe, Fife, where he had moved from Edinburgh a few years earlier.
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THE Very Rev Professor James Whyte was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1988-89 and was in the chair for the famous “Sermon on the Mound” by the then prime minister, Mrs Thatcher. Later in his term he preached to a worldwide TV congregation at the memorial service for victims of the Lockerbie Pan-Am bombing.
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