History of Leith, Edinburgh

I feel that I should make a comment about the human remains found in and around Leith. What doesn’t seem to be realised is that south Leith is built, so to speak on a graveyard. Especially, in and around the foot of the Walk and Leith Links.
For example when gas pipes were being laid in the 19th century in St Anthony Street bones were discovered because unknown to the pipe layers they were digging in the graveyard of the Preceptory of St Anthony (on the site of the present day South Leith Halls in Henderson Street)

Now go to Wellington Place under which is a vast Plague pit which a very old lady I spoke to actually seen opened in the 1920’s dating from 1645
When the Old Leith Hospital was being built human remains were found in what was the defensive ditch in front of the walls of Leith during the Siege of Leith 1560. The ditch was full of weapons and bones.

People originally were buried under the floor of South Leith Church as in the past people thought this was the only decent place to be buried. From time to time when work is being done in the church human remains are still found and are reburied in the Churchyard with respect.

In Laurie Street Cist Graves have been found dating back to the Bronze Age. A Cist grave is a hole in the ground lined with stone and the body is placed in the grave in a foetal position and a capstone placed on top

What also seems to be forgotten is the central role that Leith has played in Scotland’s story. However it has paid a very high price for that “honour” and so it should come as no surprise that human remains lie buried to this day under our feet in Leith because of war and plague in the past

Can I mention talking about remains there was a well which stood outside what was Queen Margaret College (The Old Leith Academy) which doesn’t exist now but did in the early 19th century. The Well had been sealed for many years and when it was opened it was found to be packed with horses heads. This was the remains of French horses eaten during the Siege of Leith in 1560.

So watch where you are walking you never know what you may find!!

Click on image to enlarge
(c) john Arthur

The Leith Shoppers Facebook page has been running some local history pieces by South Leith Church historian John Arthur. The latest installment is less history and more mystery. It is titled ‘Haunted House of Leith.’

Here’s an excerpt:

“Just along the road from the Cat Neuk was a house next to what was the Council Chamber and was haunted this time by a woman and she enjoyed breaking dishes. The last occupant “Pig Jamie” was constantly accused of breaking the dishes when he was drunk. However people came to the house including a minister and left convinced of the existence of the spirit.”

Click here to read more about the haunted houses of Leith.

for more click here

LEITH http://www.leithhistory.co.uk
On this website of Leith, Scotland’s historic oldest port, you can discover more about its significance through time and the many momentous visitors to the area. There’s also an old map of Leith and ideas for guided walks around the area, so you can discover the port for yourself.

source-BBC

Saint Margaret (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), canonised by Pope Innocent IV, was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. She married Malcolm III, King of Scots, becoming his Queen consort. for more click here

source-nls

Many years ago a strange tale was told by a group of party goers. They were returning home one night from a party in the Kirkgate and when they past the old Tobacco Warehouse in Quality Street (now Maritime Street) they heard a Tap.Tap.Taping noise from within. They peered through the keyhole of the door, banged on the door and shouted demanding entrance. However their cries were ignored and the Tap, Taping just went on and on and through the keyhole all they could see was a flickering candle light.

Puzzled by all of this they resolved to return the following night and again they heard the Tap, taping noise of a ghostly hammer at work but then a clattering noise followed by a sigh and a groan. This decided the young men to return the following night, but this time with a ladder, to see what was going on and solve the mystery.

The following night they returned and set up their ladder and one of them climbed up and peered through the bars of the window and in a far dark corner he could see a Cooper at work beside a burning candle. With great skill he gathered the staves and iron hoops. And gradually the barrel took shape until he tried to place the last stave and give one last tap to finish the barrel the barrel suddenly collapsed and all there was, was a jumble of broken staves around his feet. Then the candle went out and the ghostly cooper sighed and groaned and disappeared.

The origins of the above story are unknown but according to one source it began at the Preceptory of St Anthony several hundred years ago. The Monks were allowed to take a Scots Quart of Wine out of every ton of wine coming into Leith. A Scots Quart was the same as an English gallon. They would use the wine and sell the rest.

Now the monk in charge of the Preceptories accounts realised that the Wine account was short and a large amount was going missing. However the amount of wine going astray was too great for any of the Monks to have done it. The only person was Henry Douglas who worked in the wine vaults repairing the wine casks. When questioned he of course said he knew nothing about it but the wine kepted on going astray.

This continued until the Cooper was visited by the Hermit from St Anthony’s Chapel and after a while they started to talk about the missing wine. The Cooper said that he hoped the culprit would soon be discovered and punished. And the Hermit looking at Douglas and said “Amen”. At that very moment the barrel he was working on fell apart and Douglas fled into the great vaults and was never seen again.

From that moment the ghostly taping was heard but later after the Preceptory was cleared away and the Tobacco warehouse the taping seemed to stop and for very many years now the ghostly taping hasn’t been heard. But perhaps he has taken residence in some other building in Old Leith or he could be at rest at long last. Who knows?

Adopted from “Tales of Old Leith” by J.S.Marshall

Leith became famous for the following story. The Fairy boy of Leith acted as the drummer to the elves who met every week on the Calton Hill.

The Circumstances of the story are related by Captain George Hill and is told in his own words. About fifteen years ago having had business in Leith and being detained there. I met with some of my friends in a certain house and there we would drink wine. The woman who kepted the house was honest and which made me pay close attention to what she told me one day about a Fairy Boy (as they called him) who lived in the Town. She gave me such a strange account of him that I disired to see him and she agreed to help.

A few days later the woman shouted me to the window and there in the street the strange Boy was pointed out to me playing with the other children and I rushed out and by smooth words and some money I got him to come into the house. I started to ask him questions about astrology and without hesitation he answered in a way beyond his years and all the time his fingers were drumming on the table. I then noticed this and asked if he could beat a drum “Yes,Sir, as well as any man in Scotland” he replied in a shot and added that he played the drum. To the folks that live under yonder hill. To this I laughed What folk are you talking about. Och he says A great company of men and women and they have plenty of meat and wine. In fact we go to France or Holland in a night and return again. Thinking this was utter nonsene I asked, I demanded to know how anybody got inside the hill. The reply came quick as a flash by a gate on the side of the hill which only spirits, elves and fairies could see and not mortal man.

To prove that this was all nonsense I devised a plan to hold the boy in the house to see what would happen. The boy sat and stared and the druming fingers got louder and louder and then he disappeared and was never seen again. I searched Calton Hill for the gateway and of course it couldn’t be found. But for many years after people walking over Calton Hill late at night swore that they could hear a distant drumming coming from beneath their feet

Click on image to enlarge
(c) John Arthur