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

TEE NETHERBOW PORT PROM THE EAST, TAKEN DOWN 1784..

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THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 273 have tint and foirfaltit thair lyvis, lands, and guidis, and ordaynit thair armes to be rifEin, and thair names and armes to be eleidit out of the buikis thairof for euer.” The outlawed burgess’s house in the Fountain Close appears to have been immediately seized by his opponents as a forfeiture to the Queen, in whose name they acted, and to have been converted into a battery and stronghold for assailing the enemy, for which its lofty character and vicinity to the city wall peculiarly fitted it. A contemporary historian relates that ‘‘ the Regent, Johne Erle of Mar, for beseageing of the toun of Edinburgh, cawsit nyne pece of ordonance, great and small, be broght to the Cannogait, to have assailzeit the east port of the toun ; bot that place was not thoght commodious, .wharefore the gunnis war transportit to a fauxburg of the toun, callit Pleasands ; and thairfra they laid to thair batterie aganis the toun walls, whilk began the tent of September, and shot at a platfurme whilk was erectit upon a howheid, perteining to Adame Fullartoun.” Adam Fullarton speedily returned t o his house at the Nether Bow ; and while the English forces under Sir William Durie were casting up trenches and planting cannon for the siege of Edinburgh Castle in the name of the young Eing, he was again chosen a burgess of the Parliament which assembled in the Tolbooth on the 26th of April 1573.’ This date corresponds with that carved on the lintel of the old mansion in the Fountain Close. It may be doubted, however, whether it indicates more than its repair, as it is expressly mentioned by the contemporary already quoted, that (‘ thaj did litill or na skaith to the said hous and platforme.”’ We can hardly doubt that this ancient tenement will be viewed with increasing interest by our local antiquaries, associated as it is with so important a period of national history. The vincit veritas of the brave old burgher acquires a new force when we consider the circumstances that dictated its inscription, and the desperate struggle in which he had borne a leading part, before he returned to carve these pious aphorisms over the threshold that had so recently been held by his enemies. It only remains to be mentioned of the Fountain Close, that it formed, at a very recent period, the only direct access from the High Street to the Cowgate Chapel, while that was the largest and most fashionable Episcopal Chapel in Edinburgh. remains at the foot of it, though long since deserted by its noble occupants. It is mentioned by Defoe among the princely buildings of Edinburgh, ‘( with a plantation of lime trees behind it, the place not allowing room for a large garden.” This, however, must have been afterwards remedied, as its pleasure grounds latterly extended down to the Cowgate. Successive generations of the Tweeddale family have occupied this house, which continued to be their town residence till the general desertion of the Scottish capital by the nobility soon after the Union. The old mansion still retains many traces of former magnificence, notwithstanding the rude changes to which it has been since subjected. Its builder and f i s t occupant was Lady Pester, the pious founder of the church in Edinburgh that bears her name.“ By her it was presented to her grandson, John, second Earl of This desperate and bloody civil war was happily of brief duration. Immediately below this is the Marquis of Tweeddale’s Close, whose large mansion still ‘ Diurn, of Occurrenta, p. 244. Hist. of Jamee the Sext, Bann. Club, p. 94, a Diurn. of OCC.p, . 331. a Dame Margaret Ker, Lady Yester, third daughter of Hark, first Earl of Lothian, WBB born in 1672, the year of John Knox’s death, so that Tweeddale H o w ia a building of the early part of the seventeenth century. Among the ‘ Hist. of James the Sext, p. 251. Defoe’s Tour, vol. iv. p. 86. 2af

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