History of Leith, Edinburgh

October 31, 2007

The Killing Times

It’s recorded in the records of the Kirk Session of South Leith Parish Church the following statement “12th May 1644 Being ye Lords day it was intimat be ye minister befor noon yat those persons were excomunicat viz Erle of Montrose,Lodovick Erle of Crawford, Robert Erle of Nithsdail, James Vicont of Aboyn, James Lord Ogilvie and John Lord Heres.” All these nobles were leading Royalists in Scotland against whom the Covenanters were waging war. The sentence of excommunication (which still exists to this day in the Church of Scotland ) carried with it serious Civil as well as spiritual penalties. In fact they could be declared rebels and were liable to be shot on sight.
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James Graham, Marquess Of Montrose

JAMES GRAHAM MONTROSE, MARQUESS OF (1612-1650), was born in 1612, and became 5th earl of Montrose (see above) by his father’s death in 1626. He was educated at St. Andrews, and at the age of seventeen married Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Carnegie (afterwards earl of Southesk). Not long after the outbreak of the Scottish troubles in 1637 he joined the party of resistance, and was for some time one of its most energetic champions. He had nothing puritanical in his nature, but he shared in the ill-feeling aroused in the Scottish nobility by the political authority given by Charles to the bishops, and by Hamilton’s influence with the king, and also in the general indignation at the scheme of imposing upon Scotland a liturgy which had been drawn up at the instigation of the English court and corrected by Archbishop Laud. He signed the Covenant, and was told off to suppress the opposition to the popular cause which arose around Aberdeen and in the country of the Gordons. Three times, in July 1638, and in March and June 1639, Montrose entered Aberdeen, where he succeeded in effecting his object, on the second occasion carrying off the head of the Gordons, the marquess of Huntly, as a prisoner to Edinburgh, though in so doing, for the first and last time in his life, he violated a safeconduct. for more click here

Some views of old Leith

Leith over the past thousand years has changed so much that it is difficult to keep track of what buildings we have lost and to have some idea what Leith looked like not only sixty years ago but a hundred or two hundred years ago. (more…)

October 30, 2007

Campaign for museum goes to parliament

A PETITION calling for a Leith museum is set to go before the Scottish Parliament.

As part of a high-profile campaign, the document will go to the Petitions Committee on November 6. for more click here

Jealousy of Edinburgh

It is an odd fact that when visitors come to Leith they are in a different place from Edinburgh. Somehow, even today, there is a community feeling that just doesn. t exist anywhere else in the city
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The “Last Supper” in detail

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Farming in the Restalrig

From the records of the Land holdings and medieval Charters of Restalrig that we can find not only the names of the farmers who farmed around the area but we can also reconstruct in our minds eye what Rstalrig would have looked like several hundred years ago. (more…)

John Home, Patriot, Minister, Dramatist.

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. Prov. xviii. 24.
Two centuries ago there lived in Quality Street Alexander Home, Town Clerk of Leith. He was of honourable descent, being a descendant of Sir John Home, with whom came into prominence the family of which the head is the Earl of Home. His son, the subject of our lecture this evening, was always pardonably proud of his family connection. (more…)

October 29, 2007

Life and time of Lady Anne Mackintosh

The story of Lady Anne Mackintosht takes us back to the 1745 rebellion and the time of Charles Edward Stuart and the Stuarts last desperate attempt at the throne of Great Britain. (more…)

The Darien Scheme

The story of the creation of a Scottish colony the Isthmus of Darien in Central America. (more…)

 
 

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