![The Royal Excharge.] THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. 183 -
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE-THE TRON CHURCH-THE GREAT FIRE OF NOVEMBER, 1824.
The Royal Exchange-Laying the Foundation Stonc-Ddption of the Exchange-The Mysterious Statue-The Council Cbarnber-hventiom
of Royal Burghs : Constitution thereof, and Powers-Writen? Court-The ? Star and Garter? Tavern-Sir Walter Scott?s Account
of the Scene at Cleriheugh?s-Lawyers? High Jinks-The Tron Church-Histor] of the Old Church-Tht Gnat Fire of rSa~-lnciden~s
of the Conflagration-The Ruins Undermined-Blown up by Captain Head of the Engineers,
Ira 1753 we discover the first symptoms of vitality
in Edinburgh after the Union, when the pitiful
sum of A1,500 was subscribed by the convention
of royal burghs, for the purpose of ? beautifying
the city,? and the projected Royal Exchange was
fairly taken in hand.
If wealth had not increased much, the population
had, and by the middle of the eighteenth
century the citizens had begun to find the inconvenience
they laboured under by being confined
within the old Flodden wall, and that the city was
still destitute of such public buildings as were
necessary for the accommodation of those societies
which were formed, or forming, in all other capitals,
to direct the business of the nation, and provide
for the general welfare ; and so men of tas?te, rank,
and opulence, began to bestir themselves in Edinburgh
at last.
Many ancient alleys and closes, whose names
are well-nigh forgotten now, were demolished on
the north side of the Righ Street, to procure a
site for the new Royal Exchange. Some of these
had already become ruinous, and must have been
of vast antiquity. Many beautifully-sculptured
stones belonging to houses there were built into
the curious tower, erected by Mr. Walter Ross at
the Dean, and are now in a similar tower at Portobello,
Others were scattered about the garden
grounds at the foot of the Castle rock, and still
show the important character of some of the
edifices demolished. Among them there was a
lintel, discovered when clearing out the bed 01
the North Loch, with the initials IS. (and the
date 1658), supposed to be those of Jaines tenth
Lord Somerville, who, after serving long in the
Venetian army, died at a great age in 1677.
On the 13th of September, 1753, the first stone
of the new Exchange was laid by George Drummond,
then Grand Master of the Scottish Masons,
whose memory as a patriotic magistrate is still remembered
with respect in Edinburgh. A triumphal
arch, a gallery for the magistrates, and covered
stands for the spectators, enclosed the arena.
?The procession was very grand and regular,?
says the Gentleman?s Magazine for that year.
each lodge of maSons, of which there were
thirteen, walked in procession by themselves, all
uncovered, amounting to 672, most of whom were
operative masons.? The military paid proper
honours to the company on this occasion, and escorted
the procession in a suitable manner. The
Grand Master and the present substitute were
preceded by the Lord Provost, magistrates, and
council, in their robes, with the city sword, mace,
&c., carried before them, accompanied by the
directors of the scheme.
All day the foundation-stone lay open, that the
people might see it, with the Latin inscription on
the plate, which runs thus in English :-
? GEORGE DKUMMOND,
Of the Society of Freemasons in Scotland Grand Master,
Thrice Provost of the City of Edinburgh,
Three hundred Brother Masons attending,
In presence of many persons of distinction,
The Magistrates and Citizens of Edinburgh,
And of every rank of people an innumerable multitude,
And all Applaudipg ;
For convenience of the inhabitants of Edinburgh,
And the public ornament,
Laid this stone,
Wdliam Alexander being Provost,
On the 13th September, 1753. of the Era of Masonry 5753,
And of the reign of George II., King of Great Britain,
the 27th yea.?
In the stone were deposited two medals, one
bearing the profile and name of the Grand Master,
the other having the masonic arms, with the collar
of St. Andrew, and the legend, ? In the Lord is
all our trust.?
Though the stone was thus laid in 1753, the
work was not fairly begun till the following year,
nor was it finished till 1761, at the expense of
A31,5oo, including the price of the area on which
it is built ; but it never answered the purpose for
which it was intended-its paved quadrangle and
handsome Palladian arcades were never used by
the mercantile class, who persisted in meeting, as
of old, at the Cross, or where it stood.
Save that its front and western arcades have
been converted into shops, it remains unchanged
since it was thus described by Arnot, and the back I
view of it, which faces the New Town, catches the
eye at once, by its vast bulk and stupendous height,
IOO feet, all of polished ashlar, now blackened with -
the smoke of years :--.?The Exchange is a large
and elegant building, with a court in the -centre.
,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p195.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 183")
... Royal Excharge.] THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. 183 -
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE-THE TRON CHURCH-THE GREAT FIRE OF ...
Book 1 p. 183
(Score 1.53)
... though in a foreign army. After suffering
a month's imprisonment, they were glad to profess
PLAN OF ...
Book 2 p. 197
(Score 1.53)
... TO THE PORTRAITS, ETC. 433
No. Page
Hind, Captain, of the 55th Rcgiment of
Foot ...
Book 8 p. 606
(Score 1.51)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
excepting such as had become attached to him during his attendance at ...
Book 9 p. 61
(Score 1.51)
![c
152 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, [Leith Walk,
In I 748 the thoroughfare is described as ?a very
handsome gravel walk, twenty feet broad, which is
kept in good repair at the public expense, and no
horses suffered to come upon it.? In 1763 two
stage coaches, with three horses, a driver, and
postilion each, ran between Edinburgh and Leith
every hour, consuming an hour on the way, from
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ; and at that time there were no
other stage coaches in Scotland, except one which
set out at long intervals for London.
Before that nothing had been done, though in
1774 the Week0 Magazine announced that ?a new
road for carriages is to be made betwixt Edinburgh
and Leith. It is to be continued from the end of
the New Bridge by the side of Clelland?s Gardens
and Leith Walk. [Clelland?s Feu was where Leith
Terrace is now.] We hear that the expense of it
is to be defrayed by subscription.?
In I779 Arnot states that ?so great is the concourse
of people passing between Edinburgh and
HIGH STREET, PORTOBELLO.
In 1769, when Provost Drummond built the
North Bridge, he gave out that it was to improve
the access to Leith, and on this pretence, to conciliate
opposition to his scheme, upon the plate in
the foundation-stone of the bridge it is solely described
as the opening of a new road to Leith;
and after it was opened the Walk became freely
used for carriages, but without any regard being
paid to its condition, or any system established
for keeping it in repair ; thus, consequently, it fell
into a state of disorder ?from which it was not
rescued till after the commencement of the present
century, when a splendid causeway was formed at
a great expense by the city of Edinburgh, and a
toll erected for its payment.?
Leith, and so much are the stage coaches employed,
that they pass and re-pass between these towns
156 times daily. Each of these carriages holds
four persons.? The fare in some was 2hd.; in
others, gd.
In December, 1799, the Herald announces that
the magistrates had ordered forty oil lamps for
Leith Walk, ?? which necessary k~iprovement,? adds
the editor, will, we understand, soon tzke place.?
Among some reminiscences, which appeared
about thirty years ago, we. have a description of
Anderson?s Leith stage, ? I which took an hour and
a half to go from the Tron Church to the shore. A
great lumbering affair on four wheels, the two fore
1 painted yellow, the two hind red, having formerly](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p163.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 152")
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, [Leith Walk,
In I 748 the thoroughfare is described as ?a very
handsome gravel ...
Book 5 p. 152
(Score 1.5)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LHol~lrood.
and intriguing apostbte as one of the greatest and
best men of his ...
Book 3 p. 60
(Score 1.49)
![West Church.] MR. NEIL MWICAR. I33 -
those of other sections of the city, took courage, and
sought to retrieve their past ill-conduct by noisily .
preparing to raise forces to defend themselves in
case of a second visit from the Highlanders.
the General Assembly met in the church, and
passed an Act, which, however necessary, perhaps,
in those harassing times, concerning ?? the sine and
guilte of the king and his house,? caused much
suffering to the Covenanters after the Restoration.
It was known by the name of the West Kirk Act,
and was approved by Parliament the same day.
Subsequently, during his siege of the castle
Cromwell made the church a barrack; hence its
roof and windows were destroyed by the guns of
the fortress, and soon little was left of it but the
bare walls, which were repaired, and opened for
service in 1655.
For some years subsequent the sole troubles
of the incumbents were breaches
of ?the Sabbath,? such as when
William Gillespie, in 1659, was
?fund carrying watter, and his
wyfe knoking beir,? for which
they had to make public repentance,
or filling people for
?taking snuff in tyme of sermon,?
contrary to the Act of
18th June, 1640; till 1665,
when the ?? great mutiny? in
the parish occurred, and the
minister, William Gordon, for
? keeping of festivals,? was
railed at by the people, who
closed the doors against him,
for which a man and a woman,
according to Wodrow, were
scourged through Edinburgh.
At the Revolution, those
of ground to the west was added to it (including
the garden,with trees, shown in Gordon?s Map), from
the old boundary to the present west gate at the
Lothian Road. About the same time several
heritors requested permission to inter their dead
in the little or Wester-kirk, which had been a
species of ruin since the invasion of Cromwell.
In 1745, after the victory of the Highlanders at
Prestonpans, a message was sent to the ministers
of the city, in the name cf ?Charles, Prince Regent,?
desiring them to preach next day, Sunday,
as usual; but many, alarmed by the defeat of Cope,
sought refuge in the country, and no public worship
was performed within the city, save by a
ST. CUTHBERT?S CHURCH.
(From Cmdm of Potkicmay?s Mu@.)
ministers who had been ejected in 1661, and were
yet alive, returned to their charges. Among them
was Mr. David Williamson, who, in 1689, was
settled in St. Cuthbert?s manse ; but not quietly,
for the castle, defended by the Duke of Gordon,
was undergoing its last disastrous siege by the
troops oC William, and the church suffered so much
damage from shot and shell, that for many months
after the surrender in June, the people were unable
to use it, and the repairs amounted to LI,~OO.
If tradition has not wronged him, Mr. Williamson
is the well-known (? Dainty Davie? of Scottish
song, who had six wives ere the seventh, Jean.
Straiton, survived him. He died in August, 1706,
and was buried in the churchyard, where the
vicinity of the grave is alone indicated by the
letters D. W. cut on the front of the tomb in which
he lies.
The ancient cemetery on the knoll having been
found too small for the increasing population and
consequent number of interments, in 1701 a piece
clergyman named Hog a t t h e
Tron.
It was otherwise, however,
at St. Cuthbert?s, the incumbent
of which was then the Rev.
Neil McVicar, yho preached
to a crowded congregation,
many of whom were armed
Highlanders, before whom he
prayed for George 11. and also
for Charles Edward in a fashion
of his own, recorded thus by
Ray, in his history of the time,
and others :-
?(Bless the king! Thou
knowest what king I mean.
May the crown sit long on his
head. As for that young man
who has come among us to
seek an earthly crown, we](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p145.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 133")
... Church.] MR. NEIL MWICAR. I33 -
those of other sections of the city, took courage, and
sought to retrieve ...
Book 3 p. 133
(Score 1.47)
... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
On the following day her Majesty unveiled the Albert Memorial in
Charlotte Square. ...
Book 11 p. 87
(Score 1.46)
... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORATION. 107
south, as having been the scene where poor Ferguson, that unhappy ...
Book 10 p. 117
(Score 1.45)
... House
PARLIAMENT HOUSE IN THE PRESENT DAY.
the Earl of Marchmont
Earl of Cromarty . . . . 300 0 ...
Book 1 p. 164
(Score 1.44)
![High Street.] THE STREETS OF EDINBURGH. I93
case with the High Street. -The mansions in the
diverging streets, narrow, steep, gloomy, and illventilated,
became perilous abodes in times of fire
or pestilence.
Those who dwelt in the upper storeys avoided
the toil of descending the steep wheel-stairs that
led to the street, and the entire dkbris of the household
was flung from the windows, regardless of who
or what might be below, especially after nightfall ;
hence the cries of ? Haud your hand ! ? ? Get
lanterns, were ordered to be hung up, by such persons
and in such places as the magistrates should
appoint, there to continue burning for the space of
four hours--i.e., from five till nine o?clock in the
evening.
In consequence of the great assiduity oi the
Provost (Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie), the
Town Council added to his annual allowance 6100
Scots for his clothing and spicery, with two hogs.
heads of wine for his greater state ; and soon after
THE OLD TRON CHURCH. (From am Engraving itr Amt?s ?Nistwy ozEdinbrrwh.?)
out 0? the gait!? or ?Gardez Peau!? a shout
copied from the French, were incessant. Another
source of filth and annoyance was the circumstance
that every inhabitant had his own dunghill in the
street, opposite his own door j while the thoroughfkes
were further encumbered and encroached
upon by outside stone stairs, many of which still
remain. Under these were kept swine, which were
allowed to roam the streets (as in old Paris). and
act the part of scavengers, and be alternately the
pets and the terror of the children.
By Acts of Council, 15th October, 1553-5,
the mounds of household garbage were ordained
to be removed, the swine to be prevented from
being a pest in the streets, in which buwefs or
25
another Act was passed, ordaining that the (male)
servants of the inhabitants should attend him with
lighted torches from the vespers or evening prayers
to his own house.
But despite the Acts quoted the streets were not
thoroughly cleared or cleaned for more than sixty
years after. WhenKing JaniesVI., having celebrated
his marriage with Anne of Denmark, on the zznd
October, 1589, was about to return home, he wrote
one of his characteristic epistles to the Provost,
Alexander Clark of Balbirnie :-? Here we are
drinking and driving in the add way,? and adding,
?for GoZs sake see n? things are nulf at our hanucoming.?
James did not wish to be exposed in
the eyes of his foreign attendants, and he alludes](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p013.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 193")
... Street.] THE STREETS OF EDINBURGH. I93
case with the High Street. -The mansions in the
diverging streets, ...
Book 2 p. 193
(Score 1.44)
... SKETCHES. 67
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in the first volume of whose Transactions it
was ...
Book 8 p. 96
(Score 1.41)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. XLVI.
MR. ALEXANDER THOMSON
AND
MISS CRAWFORD.
THOSE who recollect MR. THOMSON, ...
Book 8 p. 142
(Score 1.41)
![The Great Fire.] THE GREAT FIRE. 189
Assemlily Close, then occupied as a workshop by
Kirkwood, a well-known engraver. The engines
came promptly enough ; but, from some unknown
cause, an hour elapsed before they were in working
order, and by that time the terrible element had
raged with such fierceness and rapidity that, by
eleven o'clock the upper portion of this tenement,
including six storeys, forming the eastern 'division
of a uniform pile of buildings, was one mass of
roaring flames, which, as the breeze was from the
to their elevated position, or the roar of the gathering
conflagration, the shouts of the crowd, and
wailing of women and children, their cries were
unheard for a time, until it was too late. The
whole tenement was lost, together with extensive
ranges of buildings in the old Fish Market and
Assembly Closes, to -which it was the means of
communicating the flames.
While these tall and stately edifices were yielding
to destruction, the night grew calm and still, and
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.
sooth-west, turned them, as they burst from the
gaping windows, in the direction of a house to the
eastward, the strong' gable of which saved it from
the destruction which seemed imminent.
Two tenements to the westward were less fortunate,
and as, from the narrowness of the ancient
close, it was impossible to work the engines, they
soon were involved in one frightful and appalling
blaze. Great fears mere now entertained for the
venerable Courant office; nor was it long before
the fire seized on its upper storey, at the very time
when some brave fellows got upon the roof of a
tenement to the westward, and shouted to the firemen
to give them a pipe, by which they could
piay upon the adjoining roof, But, owing either
I the sparks emitted by the flames shot upwards as if
spouted from a volcano, and descended like the
thickest drift or snow-storm, affecting the respiration
of all. A dusky, lurid red tinged the clouds,
and the glare shone on the Castle wdls, the
rocks of the Calton, the beetling crags, and all the
city spires. Scores of lofty chimneys, set on fire
by the falling sparks, added to the growing horror
of the scene ; and for a considerable time the Tron
Church was completely enveloped in this perilous
shower of embers.
About one in the morning of the 16th the alarm
of fire was given from a house directly oppoife to
the burning masses, and, though groundless, it
added to the deepening Consternation. Mean](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p201.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 189")
... Great Fire.] THE GREAT FIRE. 189
Assemlily Close, then occupied as a workshop by
Kirkwood, a well-known ...
Book 1 p. 189
(Score 1.41)
... MEMORIALS OF EDfN3URGH.
Andrew’s ; and the ground on which it and the neighbouring tenements were erected ...
Book 10 p. 403
(Score 1.4)
... Street.! BISHOP BOTHWELL. 219 .
CHAPTEX X Y v r .
THE. HIGH STREET ( ~ ~ ~ f h t d ) .
The Ancient ...
Book 2 p. 219
(Score 1.35)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Canongate.
the days that were no more. ?* No funeral hearse,?
says Lockhart, ?crept ...
Book 3 p. 28
(Score 1.33)
... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORA TION. I11
that, when they were assembled in St Giles’s Church, and it was ...
Book 10 p. 122
(Score 1.32)
... OLD -4ND NEW EDINBURGH. urffrey Street
of The Friend of India, and author of the ?Life
of Dr. IVilson of ...
Book 2 p. 290
(Score 1.32)
![OLD LEITH STACF.. Leith Walk.]
VIEWS IN PORTOBELLO.
I, Ramsag h e ; n, The Established Church ; & High Street, looking eart; + Town Hall ; 5 Episcopalisn Church.
116](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p164.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 153")
... LEITH STACF.. Leith Walk.]
VIEWS IN PORTOBELLO.
I, Ramsag h e ; n, The Established Church ; & High ...
Book 5 p. 153
(Score 1.3)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of the Church, waiting his arrival ; and although they had probably tormented
him to ...
Book 9 p. 118
(Score 1.29)
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
able from the introduction of the Weigh-house steeple, demolished by Cromwell in 1650, ...
Book 10 p. 465
(Score 1.29)
![APPENDIX. 4-29
of the conhgration. In 1678 the furnishing of the steeple waa completed, by putting up there the old clock
that had formerly belonged to that of the Weigh-house.
The bequest of Thomas Moodie appears to have cost ita trustees some little concern aa to how to dispm of
it, a few years having sufficed to effect very radical changes on the ideas of the civic Council tu to the church
accommodation required by the citizens. The Town of Edinburgh
obtain an act anent Thomas Moodie’s legacy and mortification to them of 20,OOO merks, that in regard
they have no use for a church (which was the end whereto he destined it), that therefore they might be allowed to
invert the same to some other public work The Articles and Parliament recommended the Town to the Privy
Council, to see the will of the defunct fuElled as near as could be; for it comes near to sacrilege to invert a
pious donation. The Town offers to buy with it a peal of Bells to hang in St Gile’s Steeple, tu ring musically
and to warn-to Church, and to build B Tolbooth above the West Port of Edinburgh, and to put Thomas
Moodie’s name and arms thereon. Some thought it better to make it a stipend to tbe Lady Pester’s Kirk, or
to a minister to preach to all the prisoners in the Canongate and Edinburgh Tolbooths, and at the Correctionhouse,
Sunday about.” In the records of the Privy Council, May 15,1688, when Moodie’s bequest was Snally
appropriated towards providing the ejected burghers of Canongate with a Parish Church, it appears that the
annual interest of it had been appropriated to the payment of the Bishop of Edinburgh’s house rent. (Fonntsinhnll‘
s Decisions, voL i p. 505.) The arms of Moodie now form a prominent ornament on the front of the
Canongate Church. In the vestry an elevation of the church is i~servdh,a ving a steeple attached to ita south
front ; but the funds which had been raised for this ornamental addition were appropriated to build the Chapel
of Ease at the head of New Street.
Fountainhall records in 1681 (VOL i p. 156),
LADYP EFYPCEHRvR’ScE -The Inventar of Pious Donations appends to a long list of pious mwtdjicath by
Lady Yester, a genealogical sketch, which we correct and complete from Wood, who thus describw the ecclesiastical
origin of the Lothiin family :--“ Mark Ker, second son of Sir Andrew Ker of Cessford, entering into
holy orders, was promoted in 1546 to the dignity of Abbot of Newbottle ; which station he possessed at the
Reformation, 1560, when he renounced the profession of Popery, and held hie benefice in commendam, . . .
He married Lady Helen Lesly, second daughter of George fourth Earl of Rothes, and by her had issue,
Mark. On the death of hie father in 1584, the Commendatorship of Newbottle, to which the latter had been
provided by Queen Mary in 1567, waa ratified to him by letters under the Qreat Seal ; and he was also
appointed one of the extraordinary Lords of Seasion in his father’s place, 12th November 1584. He had the
lands of Newbottle erected into a barony, with the title of a Baron, 28th July 1587,” &c This waa the father
of Lady Yester, of whom the following account appears in the Inwentar: “The e‘ Dame Margaret Ker was
the eldest [the third] daughter of Mark Commendator of Newbottle, one of the 101 of council and -ion, yrafter
E. of Lothian, procreat betwixt him and LMargaretJ Maxwell, a daughter of Jo. lo/ Herries, In her young
years she was 1st married to Ja Lo. Hay of Yester, and by her wise and vertuous government, she was most
instrumental in preserving and improving of the s‘ estate. By him she had two sons, Jo. 10/ Hay of Pester,
yrafter E. of Tweedale, and Sir Wm. her 2d son, for whom she purchased the Barrone of Lmplam, &c, The s’
Dame Margaret Ker having lived many years a widow, she married Sir Andrew Ker, younger of Fernyhirst,
and procured his father to be made Lo/ Jedburgh. Besides the many Gardens, Buildin- Parka, made be her
in all placea belonging to her husband, in every paroch qr either of her husbands had money-renN she erected
and built Hospitals and e0hooI.a’ After this follows the list, which is altogether -rising, aa evidence of continued
muniticence and benevolent piety ; among which are the following item +
“Towards the building of the Town [Tron?] Kirk of Ehr., &e gifted loo0 m.
“She built an kirk near the High School in Ed’., and bestowed toward the building y’of $lOOOa with 5000
h~ for the use of the minister of $e e‘ church, and a little before her death caused joyne y’to an little Isle for
the use of the minister, q* she lies interred, with an tomb in the wall, with this inscription :-](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_486.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 468")
... 4-29
of the conhgration. In 1678 the furnishing of the steeple waa completed, by putting up there the ...
Book 10 p. 468
(Score 1.28)
Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf
The scans of Edinburgh Bookshelf are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
