Series 1 > Tours in Scotland 1747, 1750, 1760

LEITH.
309
Cittadel, which consists of two Bastions to the land; It was,
when in repair, a Pentagon : It now belongs to the City of
Edinburgh, and the Sea is gaining on it; it was formerly a
burial place and there is a stone gateway to it. The Harbour
is formed by stone and wooden piers, & small vessels come up
to the bridge; it is said it will hold 100 vessels, being the har¬
bour of Edinburgh. The Leith is crossed on a stone bridge
from which one enters from North Leith to South Leith. The
only Convent of the Canons of the order of St. Anthony in all
Scotland was at Leith : it is said to be called the South Kirk,
and to be situated at the south west corner of St. Anthony’s
Wind, near the Kirkgate, but I did not see any remains of it.
On their Seal was this legend, Sigillum commune capituli
Sancti Anthoniiprope Leith:1 Their houses were called hospitals,
and their governors Preceptores, which I suppose is the reason
why this Monastery has by mistake been called, A Preceptory
and Hospital of the Knights Templars of St. Anthony. The
Canons were brought from St. Anthony of Vienne in France.
A Chapel was built in Leith about the 15th Century which
was then in the parish of Lestalrig: It is a plain Gothic build¬
ing : And near it is King James 6th’s Hospital with his Arms
over the door. They build ships at the harbour and there is a
great rope yard at the east end of the town: As the people of
this trade cannot work in wet weather, so they must keep an
exact account of the weather, and ’tis said at Glasgow they
work 40 days less in a year than here, and at Greenock 56,
which is but 16 miles west of Glasgow.
Leith was fortified by the French in the 16th Century, and
the Engsh being called to the relief of the Scotch, anno 1560,
it was agreed that the French should evacuate Leith, after
having been in possession of the fortress from the time they
built it in 1596. Leith belongs to Edinburgh and one of its
Magistrates is Baron Bailiff and Judge Admiral of the town,
whose Deputy resides here constantly : North Leith was in the
parish of holy Rood house, and the Abbot built a Chapel here,
which by Act of Parliament is made a parish Church, and
North Leith a distinct parish by itself. It is computed that
there are 7,000 souls in Leith.
1 See Roger’s Hist. Notices of St. Anthony's Monastery, Leith, 1877, p. 13.