Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1903, Part 2 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland ... (Royal National Directory of Scotland.) With ... map, etc

VI
EDINBURGH.
[slater's
contracts approved by the Trust the valley of the Talla in
Peeblesshire was dammed and the water thus accumu-
lated carried by tunnels and aqueducts to a reservoir at Fair-
milehead, near the city ; and the pipe service is calculated
to carry 24,000,000 gallons daily, while the tunnels are
capable of conveying 30,000,000 gallons.
The lightmg of the city is in the hands of the Corporation
and is carried out by both gas and electricity ; the former
is supplied from works managed by the Edinburgh and
Leith Gas Commissioners. The electric lighting, finally de-
cided on in 1893, was commenced at the station and in the
streets in May, 1S94, and the station ^vas opened for a con-
tinuous supply on the nth of April, 1895.
TRADE.
Edinburgh, independent of Leith, its shipping port, pos-
sesses but few manufactures ; still there are some depart-
ments in which it may justly boast a superiority. Printmg
and publishing are carried on to a considerable extent, and
many valuable works of the age have emanated from the
Edinburgh press. The making of paper machinery, type
founding, and the manufacture of gas and water meters,
iron and wire fencing, india-rubber goods, vulcanite &c.
are all branches of importance. Edinburgh ale lias long
been famous, and there are many extensive breweries in the
city.
The Bank of Scotland, established in 1695 by an Act of
the Parliament of Scotland, is the oldest hanking company
in Scotland, and thus naturally assumed the name which it
still bears ; but it has nothing of that national character
which as an institution is possessed by the Bank of England.
Next to it in antiquity is the Royal Bank of Scotland, in-
corporated by royal charter in 1727. The British Linen
Company, now merely a bank, but at first also engaged in the
linen trade, was incorporated by royal charter in 1746. After
this came the Commercial Bank, established in 18 10, and the
National Bank of Scotland, founded in 1825. The Union
Bank of Scotland, established in iS30,aud incorporated by Act
of Parliament in 1S62, is the representative of several banks,
one of which was originally a company engaged not only in
banking, but in the tobacco trade, and was founded in Edin-
burgh not very long after the Royal Bank. After it had become
a mere banking company, it was long one of the chief banks
opening of railways. The basin of the canal is situated
about half a mile south-west of the castle, and is called
Port Hopetoun. The sea route is from Leith, and Granton
and from the Trinity pier on the Forth.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The parochial churches of Edinburgh were erected and
maintained out of the funds of the burgh ; from the same
source and from certain port dues at Leith and Port Hope-
toun the stipends of the ministers were derived. There
were only thirteen parishes within what was the old City
Parish of Edinburgh. The ministers of these old city parishes
now receive their stipends of ^600 a year through "the Edin-
burgh Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in whom is vested the
administration of the ecclesiastical revenues of the city. A
large number of churches have also been erected and en-
dowed by voluntary subscription, the ministers of which
are maintained without burden to city funds. The follow-
ing are some of the principal churches, including the three
cathedrals : — St. Giles, the ancient cathedral of the Carolan
diocese of Edinburgh, and now the High Kirk of the Church
of Scotland and the official church for all Government cere-
monials ; the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Mary, the seat of
the bishop of the revived see of Edinburgh ; and the Roman
Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, the Cathedral church of the
Archiepiscopal diocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh.
The see of Edinburgh was founded by Charles I. on his
visit to the city for his coronation at Holyrood in the sum-
mer of 1633, and it then consisted of the shires of Edin-
burgh, Haddington and Linlithgow, and parts of Berwick-
shire and Stirlingshire ; but the diocese now comprises the
first three, the shires of Berwick, Peebles, Roxburgh and
Selkirk, and parts of Alloa and Stirling. The diocese was
abolished in 1689 by the Scottish " Convention of Estates "
parliament, but was revived in 1720, when John Fullartou
was appointed bishop and administrator, and several of his
successors have held the office of Primus.
The ancient cathedral of St. Giles, which occupies an
elevated site in the High street and Parliament square, was
originally simplj^ the parish church, and a cell to the Abbey
of Dunfermline, but during the reign of James III. (1460-
88) it was made collegiate, and on the formation of the see
of Edinburgh was raised to the rank of a cathedral. There
are records of the existence of a church here as early as the
of Edinburgh, under the name of Sir ^^lIllam Forbes and 1 gth century, said to have belonged to the Benedictine priory
Go. Having united with a Glasgow bank, it assumed its of Lindistarne, in Northumbria ; Alexander 1. in 1120,
present nanie, and it has head othces both in Edinburgh and | erected a new church, and a richly carved doorway of this
Glasgow. The Clydesdale Bank Limited, established in ' . . .. . -^ - . < . .
1838 with a head office in Glasgow, has its chief office in
structure existed until 1797, when it was destroyed during
the alterations made at that period. The 12th century
George Street, Edinburgh, as the Edinburgh and Glasgow 1 church was destroyed in 1385, when the city was burnt by
"*"''• I an English force under Thomas (Plantag'enet), Duke of
The Union Bank has the greatest authorised note cireu- i Gloucester ; but a new and much larger structure was at
lation of any bank in Scotland, ;^454,346. Next to it is the j once begun, and of this church much is still extant in the
- . . . present fabric. The cathedral, as now existing, is in plan
exceedingly irregular, and may be described as consisting
principally of a choir of five bays, with clerestory and aisles
of equal length, transepts, clerestoried nave of five bays,
with aisles and a central tower ; but appendant to the aisles,
both of the nave and choir, and clustered about the tran-
septs, are a number of other aisles or chapels, besides several
British Linen Company, £^-^^,02^. The authorised circu-
lation of the Commercial Bank is ^374,880 ; that of the
Bank of Scotland is ^343,418 ; of the Royal Bank, ^^216,451 ;
the National Bank, 7^297,024 ; and tlie Clydesdale Bank,
;/^274,32i. The price of stock or shares of all the banks
gives proof of their prosperity. The banking business of
Glasgow is in great part conducted by the banks having
their head offices in Edinburgh, as is also that of all the j additional structures erected for various purposes in recent
provincial towns of Scotland. The Scottish banking coni'
panics were at one time far more numerous, but the ten
dency of late has been towards the incorporation of the
minor banks with the great banks of Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
In fire and life assurances there are many establishments
of high standing, having branches in the principal towns of
the United Kingdom, and who have commodious business
premises in the city. Amongst these may be mentioned
the Scottish Widows' Fund, the Life Association of Scotland,
the Scottish Provident Institution, the Standard, the Cale-
donian, the Edinburgh, the Scottish Union and National,
the North British and the English and Scottish Law Life
Insurance Companies.
Edinburgh possesses various means of communication
with all parts of the United Kingdom, by rail, road, sea
and inland navigation. There are two terminal stations m
the city — that of the North British Company, b,>tween
Princes street and the Old Town, and that of the Caledonian
Company, at the west end of Princes street. The first-
mentioned, known as the " Waverley " station, is one of the
largest in Great Britain, covering twenty-three acres, one
half of which is under roof, having nineteen platforms, those
for the main lines being each 560 yards in length. There
are eight main lines of railway through the station, and
fifty-six dock roads and sidings. From this station lines
radiate in all directions, except to the south-west, to which
those of the Caledonian Company chielly extend, '^^■ater
carriage between Edinburgh and Glasgow is furnished by
the Union canal, joining the Forth and Clyde canal near
Larbert, but the traffic on it has much diminished since the
years. The oldest portion of the fabric belongs to the
church as rebuilt in the 14th century, and comprises the
three westernmost bays of the choir, with those parts of the
aisles corresponding thereto, the transepts and tower piers,
the nave and its aisles, and the incorporated portions of the
west front ; the whole "was vaulted in stone, and the greater
part of this work remains, but the vaulting of the nave and
south aisle was removed in 1829, and replaced by a plastered
ceiling : during the period 1387-1416, five chapels were built
on to the south aisle of the nave and two to the north aisle,
one by Robert Stewart, Earl of F'ife and Menteith, and sub-
sequently Duke of Albany, and the other by William, Earl
of Douglas and Mar ; the two westernmost of the southern
chapels, erected c. 1513, irere removed in 1758, and the
vaulting and roofs of the others taken down in 1829: the
Albany aisle or chapel, on the north side, and St. Eloi's chapel
on the west side of the north transept remain, but the latter
was altered in 1S29 and made to correspond with Cham-
bers' aisle on the east side of the transept ; about 1460 the
choir was lengthened by two bays, a clerestory added, and
the vaulting renewed after a more elaborate design ; the
easternmost pier of the north arcade, forming part of the
new work, was erected as a memorial to James II. of Scot-
land, who was killed at Roxburgh Castle, 3 Aug. 1460, and
its capital is enriched with heraldic shields : at the same
time, or rather later, the Preston aisle was added on the
south of the choir, as a memorial to William Preston, who
bequeathed to the church a relic of the patron saint ; this
aisle has elegant vaulting, similar to that of the choir, and is
now fitted with stalls and a special pew for the royal family ;
the royal entrance, a spacious porch at the east end of the