Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Cover Title Pages Contents List of Illustrations Preface Part 1: Historical Associations Part 1 Ch 1: Earliest Traditions Part 1 Ch 2: From The Accession of The Stuarts to the Death of James III Part 1 Ch 3: From the Accession of James IV to the Battle of Flodden Part 1 Ch 4: From the Battle of Flodden to the Death of James V Part 1 Ch 5: From the Death of James V to the Abdication of Queen Mary Part 1 Ch 6: From the Accession of James VI to the Restoration of Charles II Part 1 Ch 7: Historical Incidents after the Restoration Part 2: Local Antiquities and Traditions Part 2 Ch 1: The Castle Part 2 Ch 2: King's Stables, Castle Barns, and Castle Hill Part 2 Ch 3: The Lawnmarket Part 2 Ch 4: The Tolbooth, Luckenbooths, and Parliament Close Part 2 Ch 5: The High Street Part 2 Ch 6: The High Street and Nether Bow Part 2 Ch 7: The Canongate and Abbey Sanctuary Part 2 Ch 8: St Leonard's, St Mary's Wynd, and The Cowgate Part 2 Ch 9: The West Bow and Suburbs Part 2 Ch 10: Leith, and The New Town Part 2 Ch 11: Ecclesiastical Antiquities Appendix » Edinburgh Past and Present » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

246 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. as that in which she spent the last night in the capital of her kingdom; the last on which though captive, she was still its Queen. The magnificent and imposing character of this building, coupled with the historical associations attached to it, have given it an exaggerated importance in popular estimation, so that tradition assigned it a very remote antiquity, naming as its builder, King Kenneth III., who was slain A.D. 994; not without the testimony of heaven’s displeasire thereat, for “ the moon looked bloody for several nights, to the infinite terror of those that beheld her,” besides other equally terrible prodigies I Maitland, the painstaking historian of Edinburgh, detecting the improbability of such remote foundation for this substantial building, obtained access to the title-deeds, and found a sasine of the date 1461, conveying it to George Robertson of Lochart, the son of the builder, which would imply its having been erected early in the fifteenth century. From other evidence, we discovered that it belonged in the following century to George Crighton, Bishop of Dunlreld, and was in all probability either acquired or rebuilt by him for the purpose of the religious foundation previously described. This appears from an action brought by “ the Administrators of Heriot’s Hospital, against Robert Hepburn of Bearford,” in 1693, e for ‘‘ a ground-annual out of the tenement called Ro6ertson’s Tnn,” and which at a subsequent date is styled, “ his tenement in Edinburgh called the Black Turnpike.” The pursuers demanded the production of the original writs from the Bishop of Dunkeld, and it would appear from the arguments in defence, that the building had been conferred by the Bishop on two of his own illegitimate daughters, and so diverted from the pious objects of its first destination, perchance as a sort of compromise between heaven and earth, by which more effectually to secure the atonement he had in view for t,he errors of a licentious life. To all this somewhat discrepant evidence we shall add one more fact from the Caledonian Mercury, May 15th, 1788, the date of its demolition:--“The edifice commonly called the Black Turnpike, immediately to the west of the Tron Church, at the head of Peebles Wynd, one of the oldest stone buildings upon record in Edinburgh, is now begun Qo be pulled down. . . . It may be true what is afimed, that Queen Mary was lodged in it in the year 1567, but if part of the building is really so old, it is evident other parts are of a later date, for on the, top of a door, the uppermost of the three entries to this edifice from Peebles Wynd, we observe the following inscription :- PAX a INTRANTIBVS a SALVS EXEVNTIBVS * 1674.” The whole character of the building, however, seems to have contradicted the idea of so recent an erection, and tlie inscription-a peculiarly inappropriate one for the scene of the poor Queen’s last lodging in her capital-is probably the only thing to which the date truly applied. We have passed over the intermediate alleys from the New Assembly Close to the Tron Church, in order to preserve the connection between the ancient lands of the Bishop of Dunkeld, that formed at different periods the lodging of Queen Mary. Stevenlaw’s Close, the last that now remains of that portion of the High Street, still contains buildings of an early date. Over a doorway on the west side, near the foot, is this 1 Abercrombie’s Martial Achievements, vol. i p. 194. ’ Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. i. pp. 683, 688. J We have stated reasons before fur believing that dates were sometimes put on buildings by later proprietors.

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