Leith Walk

There was a rough pathway in the vicinity of modern-day Leith Walk in the time of James II in the mid 15th century. Archaeological investigation in relation to the Trams to Newhaven project uncovered evidence of a cobbled roadway thought to be between 900 and 600 years old.

According to Robert Chambers, Leith Walk, as we know it, owes its existence to a defensive rampart which was constructed between Calton Hill and Leith in 1650. Chambers says the attack on Edinburgh by Cromwell's army in that year was halted at this line by the Scots under Sir David Leslie (whose army was subsequently defeated at the Battle of Dunbar).

From 1702 until 1711 a Robert Miller employed four coaches to travel between Edinburgh and Leith but his route may have employed Easter Road. From 1722 until 1743 the first reasonably priced coach began and this was certainly on Leith Walk. This carried six passengers and had a fare of 3d in summer and 4d in winter. Respective prices rose to 4d and 6d in 1727.

The rampart developed later into a footpath described by Daniel Defoe, writing in 1725 and recalling his time in Edinburgh in 1706, as "a very handsome Gravel-walk, 20 Feet broad, continued to the Town of Leith, which is kept in good repair at the public Charge, and no Horse suffered to come upon it."[1]

The majority of traffic was pedestrian which is why the street became known as "the Walk", the name by which it is still known locally. At the time of its creation it provided an alternative (and shorter) route to Edinburgh compared with the older Easter Road and its counterpart Wester Road (present-day Bonnington and Broughton roads) although it did not supersede these routes as the main road to Leith until after the building of the North Bridge, traversable from 1769 and completed in 1772. From 1769 both carriages and horses with riders were permitted on Leith Walk.[2]

To deflect possible opposition to the building of the bridge if it was admitted to be for access to the New Town, the development of which was still controversial, the foundation stone of the bridge, laid by Lord Provost George Drummond, bore the inscription that it was part of "a new road to Leith". As early as 1763 (when work began on building the North Bridge) the Walk had become a coach route with a regular service running from Leith to Edinburgh, departing on the hour, from 8am to 8pm, and run by the Balfours of Pilrig House. The journey took an hour each way, with a rest at the Halfway House at Shrubhill (which existed as a pub until it closed in 1981). At this time it is stated that there were no other coaches in Scotland except the infrequent service from Edinburgh to London.

In 1779, Hugo Arnot, an Edinburgh historian who was born in Leith, stated that 156 coaches travelled the route daily, each carrying 4 passengers at a cost of 2.5d or 3d per person.[2] The road apparently fell into disrepair because of its frequent use by coaches and was not repaired until 1810 when it was relaid as a "splendid causeway" raising the road level by around 6 feet. This was "at great expense by the City of Edinburgh and had a toll erected for its payment".

In April 2023, the tramline was completed, connecting Leith and Newhaven to the City Centre and Edinburgh Airport (EDI). Trams were tested daily for several weeks before opening to the public in June 2023. [3]

Shrubhill is a distinct area of Leith Walk just south of Pilrig. It was once the site of a gibbet known as the Gallow Lee, literally the "field with the gallows"

Several infamous executions took place on the site including that of five male witches in 1681, and of Norman Ross, servant and murderer of Lady Margaret Billie, in 1752.

In 1670, Major Thomas Weir, who had admitted to several sex crimes and accused of witchcraft, was garroted and burnt at the stake at nearby Greenside. His remains were later taken to the Gallow Lee and hung on display in the gibbet.

The bodies of the condemned were buried at the base of the gallows, or their ashes scattered if burnt. The piles of sand and bones at the foot of the gallows were sold to builders constructing the New Town, with the proceeds being used to purchase shrub, a mix of rum and lemon - allegedly where the name Shrub hill originates from.

Shrubhill House was a 17th-century mansion and the home of Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon and her parents Lord and Lady Maxwell. It was demolished around 1960, to be replaced with a brutalist office block built in the early 1970s. Also named Shrubhill House, the building was occupied by the city council's social work department until 2007, then quickly becoming derelict until its eventual demolition in 2015.

Until the late 1890s, Shrubhill housed stables for horse-drawn trams operated by Edinburgh Street Tramways. In 1898 a major tram depot with extensive workshops and a power station was built to run a new cable-tram system being rolled out by Edinburgh and District Tramways which began operating in 1905. The network was later electrified in 1926 running until the closure of the tram network in 1956. Afterwards it was a bus depot for Edinburgh Corporation Transport and later Lothian Region Transport, the predecessor of Lothian Buses.

Some of the tramworks' exteriors now form part of a new residential-led mixed use development called The Engine Yards, and a new student accommodation block now occupies the old council offices site, with retail units on Leith Walk.

Before the sudden surge of tenement construction in the 1870s the street was largely rural in character with several nurseries along its length. The separate mansion houses which had been built in the early 19th century were more numerous on the west side than the east. When the tenements were built, it was easier (cheaper) to buy up the few mansions on the east side, which is why the two sides still have different characters to some extent. A large number of tenements were built in a very short time period, between Smiths Place and Brunswick Street, stretching eastwards to Easter Road along Albert, Dalmeny, and other streets. These are all by John Chesser (architect).

McDonald Road Library, in 2010

The McDonald Road Library is arguably the most architecturally distinguished building on the Walk. Originally a Nelson Hall, funded by its benefactor, the publisher and printer Thomas Nelson, it is now a public library run by the City of Edinburgh Council. It was built in 1902 in a Baronial Renaissance style to designs by H Ramsay Taylor.[7]

Several notable buildings have disappeared in the past half century. The Alhambra Cinema, which stood at the end of Springfield Street, was replaced by a Tyre and Exhaust Centre (now a wine warehouse). This Egyptian style building was originally a theatre. Now it is remembered only in the name of a pub on the opposite side of the street. The Halfway House was a coaching inn at Shrubhill, dating from the 17th century. It survived in truncated form as a pub. At the time of its demolition in 1983 the central horseshoe bar was salvaged and reused in the Shrub Bar/Horseshoe Bar to the north.

The Gardener's Cottage at Haddington Place, dating from 1765, originally served the first Edinburgh Botanic Garden to its rear. It was demolished in 2009 and has been re-assembled in the current Botanic Garden in Inverleith.[8][9][10]

Former Leith Central Station and the Central Bar, in 2011

The main station building of Leith Central Station still stands at the Foot of the Walk. Although the huge columnless railway shed was demolished in the late 1980s, the building which housed the station bars and waiting rooms survives, including the Central Bar which is decorated from floor to ceiling with over 250,000 Staffordshire Potteries tiles with four tiled murals depicting sporting pursuits such as golf, mainly by Minton, Hollins & Co.[11]

The Bier Hoose bar, formerly known as The Boundary Bar and City Limits bar, stands on the old boundary line between Leith and Edinburgh. Prior to 1920, when Leith and Edinburgh merged, it was necessary to use both entrance doors because Leith and Edinburgh magistrates set different licensing rules. The main effect of this was that the bar on the Leith side served until 9.30pm and after that the customers could adjourn to the Edinburgh side to enjoy additional drinking time.[12]

19thC industrial dwellings at the former Victoria India Rubber Mills (rear view)

Pilrig Church (now Pilrig St Paul's Church) is visible along the entire length of Leith Walk. It was designed by architects Peddie and Kinnear and constructed (1861–63) originally for the Free Church of Scotland. It has a fine interior, including early examples of stained glass by Daniel Cottier and a historic organ by Forster and Andrews (1903). The hall to the rear blends in perfectly but is a later addition from 1892[13]

On the upper Elm Row section, midway between Brunswick Street and Montgomery Street, are the remains of what was built as William Williams' New Veterinary College. Only the front building remains, as the complex of stables and support buildings were demolished to create student housing in 2014. The front building was designed in 1872 by William Hamilton Beattie with sculpture by John Rhind.[14] The sculpture was removed and ornate ground floor lost in the 1970s when converted into studio space for Scottish Television's Gateway Studios. The main college structure stood to the rear and contained a fascinating combination ranging from stained glass to stables. The huge rear college complex was demolished in 2014 to make room for student housing.

Other recent losses include the "Craig and Rose" paint and varnish works at Steads Place and Springfield Street, famous suppliers of the red paint used on the Forth Bridge (which was used as their company logo). This site has been redeveloped as housing. Leith Walk terminates (in colloquial terms at least) at the Omni Centre and St James Quarter at its southern end. The lower northern end terminates where Great Junction and Duke streets meet.

• Grace Cadell (1855-1918), Scotland's first female surgeon. Ran a suffragette refuge at 145 Leith Walk.[15]
• George Coull (1862-1936), Scottish pharmaceutical chemist; lived in the main villa on Smiths Place[15]
• John Crabbie, founder of Crabbie's whisky and Crabbie's Green Ginger, lived at 4 Smiths Place
• Mary Fee, Scottish Labour politician
• F. A. Fitzbayne (1878-1935), creator of Leith's electric tram (1906) lived at 5 Smiths Place
• Alexander Henderson of Press (d.1826) Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1823 to 1825 lived at the mansion at the Old Physic Garden (built over by Haddington Place)
• William Allan of Glen (1788-1868) Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1829 to 1831 lived at Hillside House, demolished to build Elm Row
• McCulloch of Ardwell lived in Springfield House (which gives its name to Springfield Street) and was often visited by Samuel Foote[16]
• Andrew Macdonald (poet) (1757-1790)
• John Smart RSA lived at 13 Annandale Street

Iona Street was originally called Falshaw Street after Lord Provost James Falshaw and Dalmeny Street was Colston Street. Both names only lasted from 1876 to 1885.[17]

• The 1948 documentary film "Waverley Steps" contains footage of trams on Leith Walk at the Pilrig junction.[18]

• Leith Walk (Edinburgh ward)

• Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh: Its History, its people and its places, oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk; accessed 2 September 2017.
• Bartholomew's Chronological map of Edinburgh (1919), nls.uk; accessed 2 September 2017.
• The burial of the heads of the Covenanters hanged at the Gallow Lee, geograph.org.uk; accessed 2 September 2017.
• Descriptions of Leith Walk in the 19th century, geograph.org.uk; accessed 2 September 2017.
• Leith Walk news – award-winning local charity set up to champion better public spaces in the area, greenerleith.org; accessed 2 September 2017.