Featured Posts
May 16th, 2012
James Tytler
From Peter Williamson’s Directory it appears that Restalrig was the residence, in 1784, of Alexander Lockhart, the famous Lord Covington. In the same year a man named James Tytler, who had ascended in a balloon from the adjacent Comely Gardens, had a narrow escape in this quarter. He was a poor man, who supported himself [...] Read more...May 16th, 2012
Logan’s lands
Logan’s lands, in part, with the patronage of South Leith, were afterwards bestowed upon James Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino; but the name still lingered in Restalrig, as in 1613 we find that John Logan a portioner there, was fined ,£1,000 for hearing mass at the Netherbow with James of Jerusalem. Logan was forfeited in 1609, but [...] Read more...May 16th, 2012
Logan’s connection with The Gowrie Conspiracy
Logan’s connection with The Gowrie Conspiracy remained unknown till nine years after his death, when the correspondence between him and the Earl of Gowrie was discovered in possession of Sprott, a notary at Eyemouth, who had stolen them from a man named John Bain, to whom they had been entrusted. Sprott was executed, and Logan’s [...] Read more...Regular posts
May 16th, 2012
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell
Francis Stewart, Earl Bothwell (b. c. December 1562 – d. April 1612, Naples), was Commendator of Kelso Abbey and Coldingham Priory, a Privy Counsellor and Lord High Admiral of Scotland. Like his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, Parson of Douglas, he was a notorious conspirator, who died in disgrace. Francis was the first cousin of King James [...] Read more...May 16th, 2012
The Mad Earl of Bothwell
In 1594 Restalrig was the scene of one of those stormy raids that the “mad Earl of Bothwell” caused so frequently, to the torment of James VI. The earl, at the head of an armed force, was in Leith, and broke out in open rebellion, when, on the 3rd of April, the king, after sermon, [...] Read more...May 15th, 2012
The twelve o’clock coach
The Tolbooth Wynd is about five hundred and fifty feet in length, from where the old signal-tower stood, at the foot of the Kirkgate, to the site of a now removed building called Old Babylon, which stood upon the Shore. The second old thoroughfare of Leith was undoubtedly the picturesque Tolbooth Wynd, as the principal [...] Read more...May 15th, 2012
Meeting-house Green (Now removed)
Near Cable’s Wynd, which adjoins this alley, and between it and King Street, at a spot called Meeting-house Green, are the relics of a building formerly used as a place of worship, and although it does not date farther back than the Revolution of 1688, it is oddly enough called “John Knox’s Church.” The records [...] Read more...May 15th, 2012
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James’ Way (Spanish: El Camino de Santiago, Galician: O Camiño de Santiago, French: Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, German: Jakobsweg, Basque: Done Jakue bidea) is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle [...] Read more...May 15th, 2012
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet (also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard) (died traditionally in 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin (region) of France. Read more...May 15th, 2012
St. Leonard’s (as described in 1883, Now removed)
This part of the town—about the foot of St. Andrew’s Street—is said to have borne anciently the name of St. Leonard’s. There the street diverges into two alleys : one narrow and gloomy, which bears the imposing title of Parliament Court; and the other called Sheephead Wynd, in which there remains a very ancient edifice, [...] Read more...
