South Leith used as a Mortuary
(c) South Leith Records
(c) South Leith Records
May 31, 2006
The Leith Blockhouse
The above comment and entry comes from the South Leith Record dated 17th June 1645 concerning the time of plague in Leith.
(c) South Leith Records
The first and last in Old Leith
This list of Elders of South Leith Church is interesting as it mentions Adam White who was the first Provost of Leith after Leith became independant of Edinburgh after 1833. Thomas Barker is also included and he was the last Baron-Bailie of St Anthony a title which had existed from the time of the Knight Templar’s in Leith.
This list can be found in the “South leith Records” at the entry dated Ist October 1843
May 30, 2006
An Account of the Life and Bloody Death of William Lawrie’s Dog
This ballad is the story of a dog that has a predilection for killing sheep rather than hunting wild animals, and which is eventually beheaded for its crimes. These are not the only Scottish verses to deal with the public execution of a dog: ‘The Dying Words of Bonnie Heck, a Greyhound in the Shire of Fife’ is an anonymous pastiche on broadsides that printed the supposed last speeches of condemned criminals. It is narrated by a greyhound that is about to be hanged. for more click here
Letter from Jimmy-the-Gum to his Big Brother Barney-the-Smasher
This broadside begins: ‘ROYAL HOUSE DISTILLERY, Eliventeenth of Cawnpore, Dear Barney, – I am writing these few lines on the top of an old Indian drum, with neather top, bottom, nor sides to it. We landed here when we got on shore. Our first battle was at Never-sa-dhi. There was many thousands killed but I am happy to state there were no lives lost.’ The broadside was published by the Poet’s Box in Dundee. It does not carry a date of publication. for more click here