Leith

Imported text from Britannica 1911

Leith is a seaport, in Midlothian, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, N.N.E. of Edinburgh, with which it is connected by Leith Walk, a continuous street. Lying at the mouth of the Water of Leith, it stretches along the shore of the Firth from Seafield in the east to near Granton in the west.

History

'Inverleith' was mentioned in the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey (now part of the Palace of Holyroodhouse) in 1128. In 1329, the Scottish king Robert the Bruce (Robert I) granted the harbour to Edinburgh magistrates, who did not always use their power wisely. They forbade, for example, the building of streets wide enough to admit a cart, a regulation that accounted for the number of narrow wynds and alleys in the town.

During the centuries of strife between Scotland and England, its situation exposed the port to attack both by sea and land. At least twice (in 1313 and 1410) its shipping was burned by the English. In 1544 and 1547, Leith (along with Edinburgh) was pillaged and burned by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. After the death of James V., Leith became the stronghold of the Roman Catholic and French party from 1548 to 1560, Mary of Guise, queen regent, not deeming herself secure in Edinburgh. In 1549 the town was walled and fortified by Montalembert, sieur d'Esse, the commander of the French troops, and endured an ineffectual siege in 1560 by the Scots and their English allies. A house in Coalhill is thought to be the "handsome and spacious edifice" erected for her privy council by Mary of Guise. D'Esse's wall, pierced by six gates, was partly dismantled on the death of the queen regent, but although rebuilt in 1571, not a trace of it exists. The old tolbooth, in which William Maitland of Lethington, Queen Mary's secretary, poisoned himself in 1573, to avoid execution for adhering to Mary's cause, was demolished in 1819.

The oldest industry is shipbuilding, which dates from 1313. Here in 1511 James IV. built the "St Michael, "ane verrie monstruous great ship, whilk tuik sae meikle timber that schee waisted all the woodis in Fyfe, except Falkland wood, besides the timber that cam out of Norroway." Charles I is said to have received the first tidings of the Irish rebellion while playing golf on the links in 1641. Cromwell in his Scottish campaign built the Citadel in 1650 and the mounds on the links, known as "Giant's Brae" and "Lady Fife's Brae," were thrown up by the Protector as batteries. In 1698 the sailing of the first Darien expedition created great excitement. In 1715, William Mackintosh of Borlum (1662-1743) and his force of Jacobite Highlanders captured the Citadel, of which only the name of Citadel Street and the archway in Couper Street have preserved the memory. A mile S.E. of the links lies the ancient village of Restalrig, the home of the Logans, from whom the superiority of Leith was. purchased in 1553 by the queen regent. Sir Robert Logan (d. 1606) was alleged to have been one of the Gowrie conspirators and to have arranged to imprison the king in Fast Castle. This charge, however, was made three years after his death, when his bones were exhumed for trial. He was then found guilty of high treason and sentence of forfeiture pronounced; but there is reason to suspect that the whole case was trumped up. The old church escaped demolition at the Reformation and even the fine east Leixoes window was saved. In the vaults repose Sir Robert and other Logans. The well of St Triduana, which was reputed to possess wonderful curative powers, vanished when the North British railway was constructed.

St Mary's in Kirkgate, the parish church of South Leith, was founded in 1483, and was originally cruciform but, as restored in 1852, consists of an aisled nave and north-western tower. Here David Lindsay (1531-1613), its minister, James VI's chaplain and afterwards bishop of Ross, preached before the king the thanksgiving sermon on the Gowrie conspiracy (1600). John Logan, the hymn-writer and reputed author of The Ode to the Cuckoo, was minister for thirteen years; and in its graveyard lies John Home, author of Douglas, and a native of Leith. Near it. in Constitution Street. is St James's Episcopal church (1862-1869), in the Early English style by Sir Gilbert Scott, with an apsidal chancel and a spire 160 ft. high. The parish church of North Leith, in Madeira Street, with a spire 158 ft high, is one of the best livings in the Established Church of Scotland. St Thomas's, at the head of Shirra Brae, in the Gothic style, was built in 1843 by Sir John Gladstone of Fasque, who - before he moved to Liverpool, where his son, W. E. Gladstone, was born - had been a merchant in Leith. The public buildings include the custom house (1812) built in the Grecian style; Trinity House (1817), also Grecian, containing Sir Henry Raeburn's portrait of Admiral Lord Duncan, David Scott's "Vasco da Gama Rounding the Cape" and other paintings; the markets (1818); the town hall (1828), with an Ionic façade on Constitution Street and a Doric porch on Charlotte Street; the corn exchange (1862) in the Roman style; the assembly rooms; exchange buildings; the public institute (1867) and Victoria public baths (1899). Trinity House was founded in 1555 as a home for old and disabled sailors, but became the licensing authority for pilots, and a new sailors' home was established about 1840 in a building adjoining the Signal Tower, and rehoused in a handsome structure in the Scottish Baronial style in 1883 -1884. Other charitable institutions include the hospital, John Watt's hospital and the smallpox hospital. A bronze statue of Robert Burns was unveiled in 1898.

Other important industries were engineering, sugar-refining (established 1757), meat-preserving, flour-milling, sailcloth-making, soap-boiling, rope and twine-making, tanning, chemical manures-making, wood-sawing, hosiery, biscuit-baking, brewing, distilling and lime-juice making. Of the old trade of glass-making, which began in 1682, scarcely a trace survives. As a distributing, centre, Leith occupied a prominent place. It was the headquarters of the whisky business in Great Britain, and also stored large quantities of wine from Spain, Portugal and France in its capacious warehouses, now largely converted into small businesses and flats. The two old docks (1801-1807) cover Victoria Dock (1852) 5 acres; Albert Dock (1863-1869); Edinburgh Dock (1874-1881); and the New Dock (1892-1901). There are several dry docks, of which the Prince of Wales Graving Dock (1858), the largest, measures 370 ft by 60 ft. Apart from coasting trade there are constant sailings to the leading European ports, the United States and the British colonies. In 1908 the tonnage of ships entering the harbour was 1,975,457; that of ships clearing the harbour 1,993,227. The number of vessels registered at the port was 213 (net tonnage 146,799). The value of imports was £12,883,890, of exports £5,377,188. In summer there are frequent excursions to the Bass Rock and the Isle of May, North Berwick, Elie, Aberdour, Alloa and Stirling. Leith Fort, built in North Leith in 1779 for the defence of the harbour, is. now the headquarters of the Royal Artillery in Scotland. Leith is the head of a fishery district.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Leith Races were held, the theme of a humorous poem by Robert Fergusson. Leith was made a parliamentary burgh in 1832, and was incorporated within Edinburgh in 1920. In 1998 the former royal yacht Britannia was permanently moored at the redeveloped wharf in Leith.

After decades of industrial decline, slum clearance and depopulation, Leith began to revive in the late 1980s. Several old industrial sites were developed with modest, affordable housing, while new small industrial business units were built. The Shore attracted a number of new restaurants, while the once polluted Water of Leith was cleaned up and a public walkway opened.

This revival was accelerated by the decision of the Scottish Office (now the Scottish Government) to purchase the disused Old East and Old West Docks as a site for civil service offices in the mid 1990s. Further service and tourist development followed, including the Ocean Terminal complex and the permanently moored Royal Yacht Britannia. From 2011 Ocean Terminal and the Scottish Executive building area will be connected to the new Edinburgh tram network.

In 2004 the owner of the Docks, Forth Ports, announced plans to close the port and carry out a major redevelopment, including about 17,000 new homes. The project includes two large parks and a number of pedestrian linkages across the docks, and is expected to be completed by about 2020.