Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

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 « 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 Plates Ch 20: Leith - Historical Survey (continued) Ch 21: Leith - Historical Survey (continued) Ch 22: Leith - Historical Survey (concluded) Ch 23: Leith - The Kirkgate Ch 24: Leith - The Kirkgate (concluded) Ch 25: Leith - Tolbooth Wynd and Adjoining Streets Ch 26: Leith - Rotten Row, Broad Wynd, Bernard Street, Baltic Street, and Quality Street Ch 27: Leith - Constitution Street, The Shore, Coal Hill, and Sheriff Brae Ch 28: North Leith Ch 29: Leith - The Links Ch 30: Leith - The Sands Ch 31: Leith - The Harbour Ch 32: Memorabilia of the Shipping of Leith and its Maritime Affairs Ch 33: Leith - The Docks Ch 34: Inchkeith Ch 35: Newhaven Ch 36: Wardie, Trinity, and Granton Ch 37: The Environs of Edinburgh Ch 38: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 39: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 40: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 41: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 42: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 43: The Environs of Edinburgh (concluded) General Index Contents List of Illustrations

313 Gwnton. 1 THE HARBOUR - GRANTON HARBOUR AND PIER.

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[Cramond. --- OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. - -- 314 has been erected by the duke near it, at the foot of the Granton Road, and on the opposite side of the way are the Custom-house and other edifices, the nucleus of an expanding seaport and suburb. The stone used in the construction of' the pier was chiefly quamed from the duke's adjacent property, and the engineers were Messrs. Walker and Burgess of London. The length of the pier is '1,700 feet, and its breadth is from 80 to 160 feet. Four pairs of jetties, each running out go feet, were designed to go off at intervals of 350 feet, and two slips, each 325 feet long, to facilitate the shipping and loading of cattle. A strong high wall, with a succession of thoroughfares, runs along the centre of the entire esplanade. A light-house rises at its extreme point, and displays a brilliant red light. All these works exhibit such massive and beautiful masonry, and realise their object so fully, that every patriotic beholder must regard them in the light of a great national benefit. The depth of the water at spring tides is twentynine feet. By the 7th William IV., c. 15, the Duke of Buccleuch is entitled to levy certain dues on passengers, horses, and carriages. Eastward of this lies a noble breakwater more than 3,000 feet in length; westward of it lies another, also more than 3,000 feet in length, forming two magnificent pools-one 1,000 feet in breadth, and the other averaging 2,500. At the west pier, or breakwater, are the steam cranes, and the patent slip which was constructed in the year 1852 ; since that time a number of vessels have been built at Granton, where the first craft was launched in January, 1853, and a considerable trade in the repair of ships of all kinds, but chiefly steamers of great size, has been carried on. Through the efforts of the Duke of Buccleuch and Sir John Gladstone a ferry service was established between the new piers of Granton and Burntisland, and they retained it until it was taken over by the Edinburgh and Northern, afterwards called the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company, which was eventually merged in the North British Railway. Westward of the west pier lie some submerged masses, known as the General's Rocks, and near them one named the Chestnut. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH. Cmmond-Origin oh the Name-Cramond of that Ilk-Ancient Charters-Inchmickery-Lord Cramand-Barnton-Gogar and its Propfieto- Saughton Hall-Riccarton. WITHIN a radius of about five miles from the Castle are portions of the parishes of Cramond, Liberton, Newton, Lasswade, Colinton, and 'Duddingstone, and in these portions are many places of great historical and pictorial interest, at which our remaining space will permit us only to glance. Two miles and a half westward of Granton lies Cramond, embosomed among fine wood, where the river Almond, which chiefly belongs to Edinburghshire, though it rises in the Muir of Shotts, falls into the Firth of Forth, forming a small estuary navigable by boats fo; nearly a mile. Its name is said to be derived from cmr, a fort, and avon, a river, and it is supposed to have been, from a disinterred inscription, the Alaterva of the Romans, who had a station here-the Alauna of Ptolemy. Imperid medals, coins, altars, pavements, have been found here in remarkable quadtities; and a bronze strigil, among them, is now preserved in the Museum of Antiquities. On the eastern bank of the river there lay a Roman mole, where doubtless galleys were moored when the water was deeper. Inscriptions have proved that Cramond was the quarters of the 11. and XX. Legions, under Lolliiis LJrbicus, when forming the Roman rampart and militaryroad in the second century-relics of the temporary dominion of Rome in the South Lowlands. According to Boece and 'Sir John Skene, Constantine IV., who reigned in 994, was slain here in battle by Malcolm lI., in 1002, and his army defeated, chiefly through the wind driving the sand into the eyes of his troops. In after years, Cramond-or one-half thereofbelonged ecclesiastically to the Bishops of Dunkeld, to whom Robert Avenel transferred it, and here they occasionally resided. There was a family named Cramond of that ilk, a son of which became a monk in the Carmelite monastery founded at Queensferry early in the fourteenth century by Dundas of that ilk, and who died Patriarch of Antioch.

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