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March 13th, 2011
The begging Hospitallers of St Anthony
Their preceptory at Leith was of the most magnificent description, and the southern gate there was named St Anthony’s Port, from its proximity to the establishment The lofty steeple was long a conspicuous object; but in the siege of Leith in 1559-60 it was beaten down by an English eight-gun battery, as we have elsewhere [...] Read more...March 13th, 2011
The Baron Bailie
By an Act of Parliament passed in 1587 the prcceptory of St. Anthony and the chap«l of St James at Newhaven were, with other benefices, annexed to the Crown. Maitland observes that the vestry of Leith, after the Reformation, having purchased the lands and properties of diver* religious houses there and in Newhaven, King James [...] Read more...March 13th, 2011
The Property of St Anthony
The ancient church of Hailes (now called Colinton), and the chapel of St. James at Newhaven, belonged to the preceptory at Ieith; and also the little chapel and hermitage of St. Anthony on Arthur’s Seat is said to have been the property of these Hospitallers, but of this there right is no proof. They had [...] Read more...Regular posts
March 15th, 2011
Cromwell and South Leith
When the, troops of Cromwell occupied Leith, as the parish registers record, Major Pearson, the town major of the garrison, by order of Timothy Wiikes, the English governor-depute, went to James Stevenson, the kirk aeasurer.and demanded the keys of St, Mary’s, informing him that no Scots ministerwas to preach till further orders ; so eventually [...] Read more...March 15th, 2011
The Rev.John Logan
The Rev John Logan, the author of various poetical works, but known as the inglorious aad but lately-detected pirate of some manuscripts of Michael Bruce, the Scottish Kirk White, was appointed minister of this church in I?7J. He was certainly a highly-gifted man ; and though his name is, perhaps, forgotten in South Britain, he [...] Read more...March 15th, 2011
Walter,First Earl of Buccleuch
Walter,First Earl of Buccleuch commander of a Scottish regiment under the States of Holland, having died in London in the winter of 1634, his body was embalmed, and sent home by sea in a Kirkcaldy ship, which, after being sorely tempest tossed and driven to the coast of Norway, reached Leith in the June of [...] Read more...March 15th, 2011
David Lindsay
The first Protestant minister of Lcith, at the settlement of the Reformation in 1560, was David Lindsay, who was Moderator of the Assembly in 155? and 1582, and who, in the year 1573, attended Sir Willyiam Kirkady of Grange on the scaffold. He accompanied James VI. to Norway, married him to Anne of Denmark, and [...] Read more...March 14th, 2011
The Foundation of South Leith Church
A chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, patroness of the town and port, and situated in South Leith, preceded by more than a century the origin of the present edifice, and was enriched by many donations and annuities for the support within it of altars and chaplainries dedicated to St Peter, St. Barbara, St, Bartholomew, [...] Read more...March 14th, 2011
South Leith used as a Prison
The English advanced, and took possession of Leith immediately after the battle of Pinkie, and remained there for some days, after failing in their unsuccessful attempt on Edinburgh. During that time the Earl of Huntly and many other Scottish, prisoners of every rank and degree were confined in St Mary’s Church, while treating for their [...] Read more...March 14th, 2011
A Letter from Sir Thomas Fisher
Robertson, an acute local antiquary, held the same theory. That the church (South Leith) was partially destroyed after the battle of Pinkie is obvious from the following letter, written by Sir Thomas Fisher to the Iord Protector of England:—” i ith October, 1548. Having had libertie to walke abroad in the town of Edinburghe with [...] Read more...
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