222 OLD ?AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Port.
prehending the main street of the West Port (the
link between Fountainbridge and the Grassmarket),
the whole of Lauriston from the Corn-market and
foot of the Vennel to the Main Point, including
Portland Place on the west, and to Bruntsfield
Links on the east, including Home and Leven
Streets.
In IIGO John AbbotofKelso grantedtoLawrence,
the son of Edmund of Edinburgh, a toft situated
between the West Port and the Castle, on the left
of the entrance into the city. In this little burgh
there were of old eight incorporated trades, deriving
their rights from John Touris of Inverleitk
Many of the houses here were roofed with thatch
in the sixteenth century,
and the barriergate
by which the whole
of the district was cut
off from the city was
milt in 1513, as a port
in the ?,F?lodden wall.
Some gate may, however,
have existed previously,
as Balfour in
his ?Annales,? tells that
the head of Robert Graham,
oneof the assassins
of James I., in 1437,
?was sett ouer the West
Port of Edinburgh ;?
and in I 5 I 5 the head of
Peter Moffat, ?ane
greit swerer and thief,?
was spiked in the same
place, after the reins
of government were
that every man in the city ?be reddy boddin for
weir,? in his best armour at ?? the jow of the common
bell? for its defence if necessary. Nearly
similar orders were issued concerning the gates in
1547, and the warders were to be well armed
with jack, steel helmet, and halberd or Jedmood
axe, finding surety to be never absent from their
In 1538 Mary of Guise made her first entry by
the West Port on St. Margaret?s day, ? with greit
trivmphe,? attended by all the nobility (Diurnal of
OCC.). There James VI. was received by ? King
Solomon ? on his first state entry in 1579 ; and by
it Anne of Denmark entcred in 1590, when she was
posts. (Ibid.)
HIGHRIGGS HOUSE, 1854. (Afler P Drawing by Ihr Aidkor.)
assumed by John Duke of Albany. (? Diurnal of
Occurrents.?)
In the same year it was ordained by the magistrates
and council that only three of the city gates
were to be open daily, viz., ?the West Port, Nether
Bow, and the Kirk-of-Field-and na ma. -4nd
ilk port to haif twa porteris daylie quhill my
Lord Govemoure?s hame coming. [Albany was
then on the Borders, putting down Lord Home?s
rebellion.] And thir porteris suffer na maner of
person on hors nor fute, to enter within this toune
without the President or one of the bailies knaw
of their cuming and gif thame licence. And the
said personis to be convayit to thair lugings be one
of the said porteris, swa that gif ony inconvenient
happenis, that thair hoste niycht answer for thame as
efferis.? (Burgh Records.) It was also ordained
that a fourth part of the citizens should form a
watch every night till the return of Albany, and
received by a long Latin
oration, while the garrison
in the Castle
?gave her thence a
great volley of shot,
with their banners and
ancient displays upon
the walls ? (?( Marriage
of James VI.,? Bann.
Club). Here also in
1633, Charles I. at his
grand entrance was
received by the nymph
Edina, and again at the
Overbow by the Lady
Caledonia, both of
whom welcomed him
in copious verse from
the pen, it is said, of
the loyal cavalier and
poet, Drummond of
Hawthornden.
Fifteen years before this period the Common
Council had purchased the elevated ridge of ground
lying south of the West Port and Grassmarket,
denominated the Highriggs, on a part of which
Heriot?s Hospital was afterwards built, and the
most recent extension of the city wall then took
place for the purpose of enclosing it. A portion of
this wall still fomis the boundary of the hospital
grounds, terminating at the head of the Vennel, in
the only tower of the ancient fortifications now
remaining.
In 1648 the superiority of the Portsburgh was
bought by the city from Sir Adam Hepburn for
the sum of 27,500 merks Scots; and in 1661
the king?s stables were likewise purchased for
EI,OOO Scots, and the admission of James Baisland
to the freedom of Edinburgh.
In 1653 the West Port witnessed a curious
, scene, when Lieutenant-Colonel Cotterel, by order
