History of Leith, Edinburgh

This Project began with a stroke of luck. I have been working on the history of the area covered by the parish of Newton in midlothian,since a local history society began 21/2 years ago. Being a relative incomer,and a librarian,I opted to pursue written material, and set out to comb the indices of any likely looking books, making a chronological card index of anything that I found
MARION M. T. RICHARDSON ©
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IN 1493, Robert Ballantyne, Abbot of Holyrood, first spanned the Water of Leith by a solid stone bridge of three arches, thus connecting South and North Leith. The bridge crossed the stream from a point now known as Old Bridge End, off the Coalhill. (more…)

This article was written for the 150th anniversity of St Thomas-Junction Road Church and shows their commitment to not only only their Parish, but to the Town of Leith, and to the openess and the inclusiveness of the Christian faith. Welcoming everyone of faith and doubt. It is a wonderful inheritance and an example to all. (more…)

This article was written by a young Girl sometime after the First World War and tells of her childhood experiences in Leith. It is written in the dialect and style of the period (more…)

The records from 4th January 1599 - 25th March 1613 for South Leith Parish Church (more…)

Compiled from the Parish Registers for the year 1588 to 1700 and from other original sources, D. Robertson LL.B S.S, Session Clerk Printed by the authority of the Kirk Session by William R. Duff & Co, Leith, Published by Andrew Elliot, 17 Princes Street, Edinburgh, 1911 (more…)

If you enter South Leith Parish Church by the West Porch, you will see in a glass case, what look like two riding caps and a couple of batons. Not very interesting you may think, however, if you do, you would be completely wrong because these objects date from the 18th century and they belonged to the Churchyard Guards who defended the churchyard against the “Resurrectionists” or “Grave Robbers”. (more…)

Adam White was a native of the Parish of Gifford and was born in 1760. He came to Leith at a very early age and after some training in business (more…)

Using in the main the Session Records of South Leith Parish Church this paper explains the close relationship that South Leith Parish Church has had with North Leith parish Church over several hundred years. (more…)

The most important place to start in any research of the history and genealogy of Leith is South leith Churchyard. (more…)

The story of the King James VI is central to the history of Leith and connects its early history with the modern world (more…)

Part 5 South Leith Records 1925. A record of a Commemoration Lecture given by Rev. William Swan.

David Lindsay returns to Leith to die but first he was involved in the Gowrie Conspiracy. One of the most mysterous in Scottish history. (more…)

Part 4 South Leith Records 1925. A record of a Commemoration Lecture given by Rev. William Swan.

The Life and Times of David Lindsay-A Strange dream of the apocalypse (more…)

Of Church,State and Civil War (The Life of David Lindsay (more…)

Part 2 South Leith Records 1925. A record of a Commemoration Lecture given by Rev. William Swan The story of Esme Stewart. (more…)

South Leith Records 1925. A record of a Commemoration Lecture given by Rev. William Swan (more…)

The history of Leith and Restalrig are closely tied together. This week we look at how Restalrig came into being.
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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…)

I recently got a phone call from my good friend George Scammel who has made many of the ship models which are now in the Ocean Terminal and was interested in Roman Leith as he was interested in building a model of a Roman Galley for the Ocean Terminal and required some information. As I didn’t have the information to hand I had to do some research on this.
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Like any town Leith has changed and evolved through time. The Leith of today and tomorrow is not the Leith of fifty years ago or a hundred years ago. The simple fact is that people live and die, houses and warehouse are built and demolished, ideas and employment’s which were applicable in past centuries are no longer viable today or in the future (more…)

This was the period when episcopacy was re-established in Scotland after the Cromwellian period and the restoration of the Monarchy all legal rights for Presbyterianism being removed. The records of Sir John Foulis of Ravelston give us a brief grimpse into life during theis turbulant time. (more…)

One of the greatest mysteries connected to South Leith Parish church is when it was built and the usual answer is 1483 or about that date but is this date correct ? (more…)

With the exile of James II and the succession of William and Mary (William was William of Orange,son of William II, prince of Orange and Mary, daughter of Charles I. William in 1677 married his cousin Mary daughter of James II) the Episcopalian Clergy were removed from the Leith Churches and Episcopacy came to an end in Scotland and the Church of Scotland was established as it now exists today (more…)

A brief history of the Port of Leith itself, looking at how Leith developed into the commercial center it is, and how various industries impacted on the development of the port. (more…)

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 first rules of golf in the world formulated not at St Andrews but on the Links of Leith. Not only this but the first Golf House in the World was on the site of what is now Queen Margaret University College in Duke St (the old Leith Academy building). Furthermore it was from Leith that St Andrews got the Rules of Golf. So in fact the true home of golf is not St Andrews but Leith! (more…)

The turmulant times around Scotland under Charles II and Cromwell
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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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The year was 1746 and at a place called Culloden the Duke of Cumberland defeated the Jacobites and at long last the dreams of the Jacobites of regaining the throne of Great Britain came to a very bloody end. So what impact did this have on Leith with the first flood of displaced people from the Highlands after 1746? (more…)

You may not consider yourself important enough to be remembered but you are because what we do affects what other people do and in turn affects and creates what sort of society we live in (more…)

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

After the brutal and bloody cival war between Leith and Edinburgh…revenge was wanted…whose blood would appease the Nobles? (more…)

Going down Henderson St from Great Junction St and going towards the Shore you will see on the left hand side opposite the . Vaults. , Parliament Street and it was from here a brutal Civil War was controlled (more…)

The Black Death swept across Europe killing millions in its path and desimating entire communities…how did the town of Leith cope through the dark times it was faced with? (more…)

The plague of Leith started in April 1645 with a brief mention in the records of the Kirk Records of South Leith Parish Church. All it says is Desyn Jon Kellas to furnish James Thomsone and Jon Dinlop till this day 8 dayes being inclosit for fear of ye plague” it also mentions Desyrs Jon Aldinstone to furnish (ie give provisions to) ye women at ye Yarde heads who is steeket up for feare of ye plague”. This is the 3rd April 1645 and by the time the plague ended in November 1645 2736 people would have died an agonising death. (more…)

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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arrested, the Templar fleet stationed at La Rochelle quietly slipped away. According to tradition and a lot of evidence it carried the records of the Order, and the treasure of the Templar Preceptory of Paris, taking them to the West and East coast of Scotland. Some of these ships must have come to Leith as Berwick was in English hands (more…)

Surely a port on the east coast of Scotland couldn’t have a link with the Cup of Christ…or could it?
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Find out about the connection between Leith and the religous military order of the Knights Templar
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The Tau is a figure constructed of five lines and is considered an important emblem or badge in Royal Arch Masonry and was the symbol of the Knight Templars of St Anthony of Leith. Find out why….

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So who was Mary, Queen of Scots who after the death of Francis II on the 5th December 1560 set sail for Scotland? A country she had not seen for almost thirteen years and which had changed so much in that time.

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The Nelson of Scotland…find out about some of his greatest sea battles and his connections with the port of Leith

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The siege went on day after bloody day. Eventually the French troops were reduced to eating horsemeat. Confirmation of this was found in the last century with the discovery of a well at the foot of what is now Easter Road with the discovery of a well full of horse’s heads.
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The Lords of the Congregation sent a demand to Leith in October 1559, for the Town of Leith to surrender within twelve hours or war would start in earnest. This was ignored…Find out what happened in the blood soaked weeks that followed….
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On the Firth of Forth near to Scotland’s Capital city is the Port of Leith. Not a large Port by international standards but despite this one of the most famous ports not only in Scotland but also in the United Kingdom. Within its small compass the story of Scotland can be told. It has seen war and death, times of plague, battles on the Forth, Kings and Queens of Scotland, days of high adventure, the Reformation of the Church of Scotland started here and was completed in Leith in 1560 decided on the battle field between Leith and Edinburgh at the Siege of Leith, it has seen Trials for Witchcraft, The Knight Templars (Crusaders) and the Knights of St John from Torphican, The Industrial Revolution which brought wealth to a few and misery to the many (the industrial Revolution was the period from the late 18th century to throughout the 19th century which saw people move from the countryside into the large towns and cities to find work in the new factories driven by the newly invented steam engines, it also seen the development of steam trains, the replacement of wooden hull ships by steam ships (eg the Sirius which was built in Leith in the 19th century was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic), the list of famous people and events in the history of Leith is endless. So where to begin the Story….
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