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March 2nd, 2011
The Landing of Mary
On the 20th of August, 1560, Queen Mary landed at the town to take possession of the throne of her ancestors. The time was about eight in the morning, and Ieith must have presented a different aspect than in the preceding year, when the cannon of the besiegers thundered against its walls. No vestige now [...] Read more...March 2nd, 2011
A Story of the Wall of Leith
The wall near the third bastion, when it became reduced to a mere mound of earth, formed for a time a portion of South Leith burying-ground. ” An unfortunate and unthinking wight of a sea captain,” says Carnpbell, in bis ” History,” “tempted, we presume, by the devil, once took it in his head to [...] Read more...March 2nd, 2011
The Bastions of Leith (Now removed)
Ramsay’s Fort, usually called the first bastion, adjoined the river in the line of Bernard’s Street with a curtain nearly 500 feet long, the second bastion terminating the frontage described as to the Links. The present line of Leith Walk would seem to have entered the town by St. Anthony’s Fort, between the third and [...] Read more...March 1st, 2011
Robert Ballantyne
when Robert Ballantyne, abbot of Holyrood, ” with the consent of his chapter and the approbation of William,Archbishop of St Andrews,” first spanned the river by a solid store bridge, thus connecting South and North Leitli, holding the right of levying a toll therefor. It was a bridge of three arches, of which Lord Eldin [...] Read more...March 1st, 2011
Early Leith
The earliest reference to Leith in history is in King David’s famous charter to Holyrood, circa 1143-1147, wherein he gives the water, fishings, and meadows to the canons serving God therein, ” and Broctan, with its right marches; and that Inverlet which is nearest the harbour, and with the half of the fishing, and with [...] Read more...March 1st, 2011
North Leith-c1885
North Leith is bounded on the north by the Firth of Forth, on the south and ea&t by the stream which gives its name to the whole locality, dividing it from South Leith, and on the south and west by St. Cuthbert’s. It is oblong in form, and has an area of only 517 acres. [...] Read more...March 1st, 2011
In from the cold: After 5,300 years, Oetzi the iceman finally shows his face
He doesn’t look half bad for a 5,300-year-old. Since his discovery in 1991, Oetzi the iceman’s true identity has been shrouded in myth and mystery. Just a faceless corpse that has embodied a bygone era of humankind. But experts have finally worked out what the world’s most famous natural mummy actually looked like. for more [...] Read more...
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