Onmond.1 HARBOUR AND ISLAND. 31.5
In the reign of David 11. Roger Greenlaw
obtained a royal charter of the Butterland in the
town of Cramond, ? quhilk? William Bartlemow
resigned ;? and Robert 11. granted, at Edinburgh,
in the eighteenth year of his reign, a charter of
certain lands in King?s Cramond to William
Napier, on their resignation by John, son of Simon
Rede, in presence of the Chancellor, John, Bishop
of Dunkeld, and others.
In 1587 Patrick Douglas of Kilspindie became
the south as the Pinnacle. In December, 1769,
a whale, fifty-four feet long, was stranded upon it
by the waves. About a mile northward and east
of it, lies another rocky islet, three or four furlongs
in circumferkhce, named Inchmickery, only remarkable
for a valuable oyster bed on its shore,
and for the rich profusion of sea-weed, mosses,
and lichens, on its beach and surface.
North from the point known as the Hunter?s
Craig or Eagle?s Rock, westward of the harbour,
THE ?TWA BRIGS,? CRAMOND.
caution for John Douglas, in Cramond, and his son
Alexander, that they would not molest certain
parishioners there, nor ?? their wives, bairns, or
servants.?
The little harbour of Cramond is specified in the
Exchequer Records as a creek within the port of
Leith. It possesses generally only a few boats,
but in 1791 had seven sloops, measuring 288 tons,
employed by the iron works. Cramond Island, 19
acres in extent, lies 1,440 yards NNE of the
pretty village. It rises high in the centre, with
steep granite cliffs on the east, formerly abounded
with rabbits, and is generally accessible on foot
at low water. It now belongs to Lord Rosebery.
The north point of the isle is known as the Binks;
the stretch known as the Drum Sands extends for
more than a mile.
In 1639, Alexander, sixth Earl of Eglinton, h,$ed
for two days at Cramond with his contingent for
the Scottish army, consisting of zoo horse and
1,800 foot, en route for?Leith.
In the time of Charles I. Cramond gave a title
in the Scottish peerage, when Dame Elizabeth Beaumont,
the wife of Sir Thomas Richardson, Lord
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in England,
was, for some reason now unknown, created
Baroness Cramond for life, with the title of baron
to the Chief Justice?s son and his heirs male; ??in
failure of which, to the heirs male of his father?s
body?-the first female creation on record in
OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
Scotland. But it does not appear that any of
this family ever sat in Parliament. The title is
supposed to be extinct, though a claim was advanced
to it recently.
The parish church is cruciform, and was erected
Cromwell, as a commissioner for forfeited estates,
in 1654.
In 1795 there was interred here William Davidson,
of Muirhouse, who died in his 8Ist year, and
was long known as one of the most eminent of
OLD CRAMOND BRIG.
in 1656, and is in the plain and tasteless style of
the period. On the north side of it is a mural
tamb, inscribed-" HERE LYES THE BODY OF SIR
JAMES HOPE, OF HOPETOW, WHO DECEASED ANNO
1661." It bears his arms and likeness, cut in bold
relief. He was the fourth son of Sir Thomas
Hope, of Craighall, was a famous alchemist in his
time, and the first who brought the art of mining to
any perfection in Scotland. He was a senator of
the College of Justice, and was in league with
Scottish merchants at Rotterdam, where he amassed
a fortune, and purchased the barony of Muirhouse
in 1776.
Among the many fine mansions here perhaps
the most prominent is the modem oiie of Barnton,
erected on the site of an old fortalice, and on rising
ground, amid a magnificently-wooded park 400
acres in extent, Barnton House was of old called
Crainond Re@, as it was once a royal hunting
seat, and in a charter of Muirhouse, granted by
