Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

LEITH
1816 at a cost of £2500. The architecture is Grecian.
It replaced another Trinity House built in 1555, and
used as a seamen's hospital. From time immemorial
the mariners and shipmasters of Leith were accustomed
to receive from all vessels belonging to the port, and
from all Scottish vessels visiting it, certain dues called
' prime gilt ' or ' prinio gilt. ' The money thus acquired
was employed in assisting poor sailors. About the
middle of the 15th century a legal right to levy ' prime
gilt ' was obtained, and it was directed that the money
thus raised should be used in maintaining a hospital for
' poor, old, infirm, and weak mariners. ' In 1797 the asso-
ciation was legally constituted by a charter, and office-
bearers were appointed. Its character has since been
considerably modified. 'Prime gilt' was abolished in
1862, so that the association is now dependent upon the
income it derives from certain properties in Leith, said
to amount to about £2000 a year. This money is dis-
bursed in small pensions to old members and their
widows. The chief duty of the board now is the im-
portant one of licensing pilots. In the hall, in which
their annual dinner takes place, there are some very
fine paintings and interesting models of ships. The
chief pictures are a portrait of Mary of Guise by Myteus,
a portrait of Admiral Duncan by Eaeburn, and David
Scott's well-known picture of Vaseo da Gama passing
the Cape of Good Hope. Among the models are those
of two or three line-of-battle ships and that of the
vessel in which Mary of Guise is said to have come to
Scotland. The floor of the hall is beautifully polished,
and the mouldings upon the ceiling, which represent
anchors, cables, etc., form an appropriate and unique
design, which was specially made for the Trinity
House. Leith Fort was built in 1779 to defend the
harbour, when both it and the town were threatened
by the ships of Paul Jones, the well-known privateer.
At first merely a battery of nine guns, it afterwards
became a large military barracks and the headquarters
of the royal artillery in Scotland. It lies J mile W of
the Custom House, and overlooks the shore. Other
public buildings worthy of notice are the markets, occu-
pying the site of the old Custom House and Excise Office
in Tolhooth Wynd, and erected in 1818, partly by
voluntary contributions and partly by a loan of £2000
from the Merchant Company ; the Slaughter-House in
Salamander Street, built in 1862 at a cost of £4000,
and embracing a central building and two wings ; and
the new post office, situated at the corner of Constitu-
tion Street and Mitchell Street, and erected in 1875 in
the Italian style.
In the town of Leith are 19 places of worship, divided
among 10 denominations. The Established Church of
Scotland, the Free and United Presbyterian Churches,
have each 4, and the Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Inde-
pendent, Baptist, Evangelical Union, Wesleyan Metho-
dist, and Scandinavian Lutheran have each 1. North
Leith parish church, built on rising-ground at the W
end of the town, and situated in Madeira Street, had
its foundation laid in March 1814, and was finished in
1826. Designed by W. Burn, it is oblong in form and
of a Grecian style of architecture. The front is adorned
by a portico of four Ionic pillars, and is surmounted by
a tower of three stages, of which the two first are four-
sided, while the third, which is eight-sided, is further
heightened by a spire built upon it. The building cost
£12,000, and has accommodation for 1700 persons. In
1881 it was reseated and renovated at an outlay of
£1100. In 1880 an organ, with 33 stops, which cost
£750, was introduced. This church supplanted the old
parish church of St Ninian, which had sunk in 1883
to being a drysalter's store, after haviug served as a
place of worship for more than 220 years. The building
stands close beside the river, distinguished by its paltry
spire from the surrounding works and houses, and
having near it the old churchyard, now quite uncared
for and desolate in the extreme. It contains, however,
some curious tombstones, notably a few with nautical
designs upon them. In it the poet Nicoll was buried
in 1837. St Mary's, the parish church of South Leith,
482
LEITH
with its surrounding graveyard, occupies a stretch of
land lying between Kirkgate and Constitution Street.
It was erected into a parish in 1607, after having served
as a chapel to the Virgin Mary, with altars to various
saints, from the beginning of the 15th century. At
first it was cruciform and of great size ; but, owing to
the rough usage which it underwent from time to time
at the hands of the English, its extent has been some-
what curtailed, so that it now consists of central and
side aisles, which are ancient, and of a western front
and tower, which are modern. In 1848 it was restored,
after designs furnished by Thomas Hamilton, which
included the construction of a square tower, adorned at
the top with a balustrade elaborately carved. St Mary's
is seated for 1350 persons. David Lindsay, who bap-
tized Charles I., and John Logan, known as a poet, but
better known from his having assumed the authorship
of certain pieces of poetry composed by Michael Bruce,
' the Scottish Kirk White, ' his friend and fellow student,
were ministers of St Mary's. The body of John Home,
the author of Douglas, lies buried in the churchyard,
interred Sept. 1808. St Thomas's quoad sacra parish
church, on the Sheriff Brae, was erected in 1843 at the
expense of Sir John Gladstone of Fasque. The church,
with the manse and a school and asylum, was designed
by John Henderson of Edinburgh, and erected at a cost
of £10,000. The four buildings form a harmonious
whole, the style of their architecture being Gothic. St
Thomas's served first as a chapel of ease, but was after-
wards constituted a quoad sacra parish church by the
General Assembly in 1840 and by the court of teinds in
1847. St John's quoad sacra parish church is situated
on the E side of Constitution Street, adjoining the town
hall. It was originally a large plain building, but it
was afterwards adorned by the addition of i fine front
in Early Gothic style and of a massive tower. The
tower consists of two stages, the first of which is four-
sided with pinnacles at the corners, and the second is
eight-sided, surmounted by a balustrade and pinnacles.
On either side of the main building are wings, built in
a style which harmonises with the rest of the edifice,
and used for schoolrooms. St John's was a Free church
from the Disruption (1843) to 1867, when it reverted to
the Church of Scotland. It was constituted a quoad
sacra parish church in 1S69, and was the church of
which Dr Colquhoun was ordained pastor in 1781.
North Leith Free church stands at the north-western
extremity of the town, in the Ferry Road ; was built in
1858-59, after designs by Campbell Douglas ; and is in
the German Pointed style. A congregational hall was
added to it in 1876. South Leith Free church is situated
at the foot of Easter Road. Built in the Early English
style, it is a handsome edifice, consisting of nave, aisles,
transepts, and tower. The spire has yet to be added.
It cost £4000, and was opened on 22 Dec. 1881. St
Ninian's Free church, situated in Dock Street, is a con-
spicuous building in the Early Gothic style, with a
handsome doorway and main window, flanked by two
octagonal towers. It was reopened in October 1880,
after alterations which cost £300. Free St John's
church, in Charlotte Street, was built in 1870-71 in the
Gothic style, after designs by John Patterson of Edin-
burgh. It cost nearly £7500. It is surmounted by a
tower 130 feet high. North Leith U.P. church, in
Coburg Street, was built in 1S19, and has accommoda-
tion for 1100 persons. It has a Gothic front, with
central pediment and balustrades and towers. The Kev.
Dr Harper was minister of North Leith U. P. church in
1819. Junction Street U.P. church was built in 1825 ;
has a Roman front with Doric pillars ; and is able to
contain 1230 persons. Kirkgate U.P. church is a plain,
unadorned building. It was erected in 1775, and has
1025 sittings. St Andrews Place U.P. church, situated
near the Links, was erected in 1S26 ; has accommoda-
tion for 1254 persons ; and has for chief architectural
feature a tetrastyle Ionic portico. St James's Episcopal
church, in Constitution Street, is a handsome building,
erected in 1862-63 in the Pointed style of the 13th
century after designs by the late Sir Gilbert Scott. It