2YO OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Inchkeith.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
INCHKJZITH.
The Defences of Leith-Inchkeith Forts-St. Serf-The Pest-stricken in 1497-E~perirnent of Jam- 1V.-The Old Fort-Johnson and
Boswell-The New Channel-Colonel Moggridge?s Pkns--The Three New Forts-Magazines and B a n a c b T h e Lighthouse.
THE long piers of Leith are now seaward of the
Martello tower, and the battery at the fort is no
longer on the seashore, but-owing to the reclamation
of land, the erection of the goods and passenger
stations of the Caledonian Railway, and the formation
beyond these of a marine parade to Anchorfield-
is ?now literal!y far inland and useless. This
circumstance, coupled with the vast progress made
of late years in the science of gunnery and projectiles,
led to the construction of the Jnchkeith
forts for the protection of Leith and of the river ;
and to them we have already referred as the chief
or only defences of the seaport.
This island stands nearly midway between ?Leith
and Kinghorn, four miles distant from the Martello
tower, and is said to take its name from the valiant
Scot named Robert, who slew the Danish general
at the battle of Camustone or Bame in Angus, and
obtained from Malcolm II., in 1010, the barony
of Keith in Lothian, with the office of Marischal
of Scotland. It has, however, claims to higher
antiquity, and is supposed to be the caer pi&
of the venerable Bede, and to have been fortified
in his time.
Among the anecdotes of St Serf, extracted by
Pinkerton from the Chronicles of Winton, a Canon
Regular of St. Andrews who lived in the end
of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century,
mention is made of some matters that are evidently
fabulous-that the saint left Rome, and embarking
for Britain, in the sixth century, with a hundred
men, landed on this island, where he was visited
by St. Adamnan, with whom he went to Fife.
Inchkeith is half a mile in length and about
the eighth or a mile in breadth. Throughout its
surface is very irregular aiid rocky, but in many
places it produces the richest herbage, well suited
for the pasturage of cattle and horses ; yet there
are no animals on it, except grey rabbits, and
worwegian rats brought thither by the Leith
shipping. Near the middle of the island, but
rather towards its northern end, it rises gradually
to the height of 180 feet above the level
of the river, and thereon the well-known lighthouse
is erected. The island possesses abundance
of springs; the water is excellent, and is
collected into a cistern near the harbour, from
which the shipping in the Roads is supplied.
In Maitland?s ? History of Edinburgh ? there is
mentioned an order from the Privy Council, in the
year 1497, addressed to the magistrates of Edinburgh,
directing ?that all manner of persons within
the freedom of this burgh who are infected with the
contagious plague called the grand-gore, devoid,
rid, and pass forth of this town, and compeer on
the sands of Leith, at ten hours before noon ; and
these shall have and find boats ready in the
harbour, ordered them by the officers of this burgh,
ready with victuals, to row them to the Inch (Inchkeith),
and there to remain till God provide for
their health.?
There, no doubt, many of these unfortunate
creatures found tneir last home, or in the wave6
around it.
It was long in possession of the Keith family,
and undoubtedly received its name from them.
When their connection with it ceased there are no
means of knowing now, but it afterwards belonged
to the Crown, and was included with the grant of
Kinghorn to Lord Glamis, wih whose family,
according to Lamont?s ? Chronicles of Fife,? it
remained till 1649, when it was bought, together
with the Mill of Kinghorn and some acres of land,
by the eccentric and sarcastic Sir John Scott of
Scotstarvit, Director of the Chancery, for zo,ooo
merks. It afterwards became the property of the
Buccleuch family, and formed part of the barony
of Royston, near Granton.
Regarding this island Lindesay of Pitscottie
records a curious experiment undertaken by the
gallant James IV., for the purpose of discovering
the primitive language of mankind. ? He caused
tak ane dumb woman,? says that picturesque old
chronicler, ?and pat hir in Inchkeith and gave
hir two bairnes with hir, and gart furnish hir with
all necessares thingis perteaning to theiar nourischment,
desiring heirby to know what language they
had when they cam to the aige of perfyte speach.
Same say they spak guid Hebrew; but I know not
by authoris rehearse.?
Balfour records in his ?? Annales,? that in 1548
the English Navy, of twenty-five ships of war,
amved in the Firth, and fortified Inchkeith, leaving
five companies of soldiers to defend it. Hayward
says this fleet was commanded by Admiral
Seymour, and after burning the shipping in Burntis-
,
