On Thursday 19th
February, fifty five Strollers met outside West Register House in Charlotte Square for
the February History Walk led by our Blue Badge Guides Karen and Helen. It was a
bright sunny day with a bit of a wind but thankfully none of the rain that was
forecast. West Register House used to be St George’s Church
and was a key feature of James Craig’s plan for the west-end of Edinburgh New
Town.
We were enlightened on the set up of Charlotte Square and how the perfect symmetry of the new-town plan could not be completed beyond the north-west corner of the square because it bordered on to land owned by the Earl of Moray. We were also reminded about the ‘glass’ tax, not the ‘window’ tax that we tend to assume it was. The extent of the Moray Estate was explained to us and that Lord Moray demolished Drumsheugh House, his home there, because he felt that the ‘New Town’ was encroaching on his space. Something I’m sure the rest of us can only aspire to.
We made our way down to St Colme Street discussing the merits of ‘cobbles’ or ‘sets’ in the road and the pavement being made up of chips of stone from building work at Edinburgh Castle. There we took time to look at the monument to Catherine Sinclair, 4th daughter of Sir John Sinclair, who wrote children's books and did a lot of charitable work. The monument is modelled on Sir Walter Scott’s monument in its Gothic design but is also known as an Eleanor Cross after the crosses erected by Edward I to mark the journey of the body of his wife Eleanor back to London. There are three Eleanor Crosses remaining, the most famous being that at Charing Cross.
From here we made our way down Weymss Place, passing Gloucester Lane, which also used to be know as Kirk Lane as the people from Stockbridge used to come up this way to go to St George’s Church. We then entered the streets that were developed as “The Moray Feu” via Forres Street, arriving at Moray Place. The majority of the streets are either named after the Moray family or places from his country estates, e.g. Forres Street, Doune Terrace and Randolph Place. We went into the private gardens in the centre of Moray Place, which gave us a better perspective to see the size, scale and shape of Moray Place. Our guide had managed to obtain a key to these gardens. We learned that the street is built in the shape of decahedron, having 10 sides and that the plans for the whole estate were drawn up by James Gillespie Graham. The land was sold in plots to different builders but the exterior of each feu had to match that of the plans. The potential purchasers were also strictly vetted for “suitability”. We then had to beat a hasty retreat from the private gardens when one of the members of the Moray Feu management people asked who gave us permission to be there!
The Earl himself lived in number 28 for a few years but then moved out. Some of the buildings were used as hospitals during the Second World War. One of the houses also belongs to the queen, and was presented to her by a former Lord Provost in the 1950’s. Lord Reith who was head of the BBC lived there for a short while until his death in 1971. Today the current Earl of Moray is involved in building a ‘new town’ of 5000 houses called Tornagrain, between Inverness and Nairn.
From Doune Terrace we then went into the gardens below the outside of Moray Place and Ainslie Place to work our way down the Water of Leith. We stopped to look at the series of arches that had to be built after a landslide, in order to keep Ainslie Place from falling down the slope into the river. The arches go for some 30 feet under the gardens of the houses.
We continued down to St Bernard’s Well on the Water of Leith, built in 1760. The well was named after an old legend that St Bernard of Clairvaux once lived in a cave nearby. The waters of the well were held in high repute for their medicinal qualities, and the nobility and gentry took summer quarters in the valley to drink deep draughts of the water and take the country air. In 1788 Lord Gardenstone, a wealthy Court of Session judge who thought he had benefited from the mineral spring, commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to design a new pump room. The builder John Wilson began work in 1789. It is in the shape of a circular Greek temple supported by ten tall Doric order columns with a statue of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, in the centre made in 1791 from Coade stone. The wonderful mosaic interior is by Thomas Bonnar. St Bernard's F.C., a once successful Scottish team but now defunct, was named after the famous well and played in Stockbridge.
From there we looked across the river to the houses built by the artist Henry Raeburn including Anne Street named after his wife. We can dream. We ended our walk at Stockbridge.
Our thanks again to Karen and Helen for all the information we enjoyed during the walk. We may even remember some of it!
We were enlightened on the set up of Charlotte Square and how the perfect symmetry of the new-town plan could not be completed beyond the north-west corner of the square because it bordered on to land owned by the Earl of Moray. We were also reminded about the ‘glass’ tax, not the ‘window’ tax that we tend to assume it was. The extent of the Moray Estate was explained to us and that Lord Moray demolished Drumsheugh House, his home there, because he felt that the ‘New Town’ was encroaching on his space. Something I’m sure the rest of us can only aspire to.
We made our way down to St Colme Street discussing the merits of ‘cobbles’ or ‘sets’ in the road and the pavement being made up of chips of stone from building work at Edinburgh Castle. There we took time to look at the monument to Catherine Sinclair, 4th daughter of Sir John Sinclair, who wrote children's books and did a lot of charitable work. The monument is modelled on Sir Walter Scott’s monument in its Gothic design but is also known as an Eleanor Cross after the crosses erected by Edward I to mark the journey of the body of his wife Eleanor back to London. There are three Eleanor Crosses remaining, the most famous being that at Charing Cross.
From here we made our way down Weymss Place, passing Gloucester Lane, which also used to be know as Kirk Lane as the people from Stockbridge used to come up this way to go to St George’s Church. We then entered the streets that were developed as “The Moray Feu” via Forres Street, arriving at Moray Place. The majority of the streets are either named after the Moray family or places from his country estates, e.g. Forres Street, Doune Terrace and Randolph Place. We went into the private gardens in the centre of Moray Place, which gave us a better perspective to see the size, scale and shape of Moray Place. Our guide had managed to obtain a key to these gardens. We learned that the street is built in the shape of decahedron, having 10 sides and that the plans for the whole estate were drawn up by James Gillespie Graham. The land was sold in plots to different builders but the exterior of each feu had to match that of the plans. The potential purchasers were also strictly vetted for “suitability”. We then had to beat a hasty retreat from the private gardens when one of the members of the Moray Feu management people asked who gave us permission to be there!
The Earl himself lived in number 28 for a few years but then moved out. Some of the buildings were used as hospitals during the Second World War. One of the houses also belongs to the queen, and was presented to her by a former Lord Provost in the 1950’s. Lord Reith who was head of the BBC lived there for a short while until his death in 1971. Today the current Earl of Moray is involved in building a ‘new town’ of 5000 houses called Tornagrain, between Inverness and Nairn.
From Doune Terrace we then went into the gardens below the outside of Moray Place and Ainslie Place to work our way down the Water of Leith. We stopped to look at the series of arches that had to be built after a landslide, in order to keep Ainslie Place from falling down the slope into the river. The arches go for some 30 feet under the gardens of the houses.
We continued down to St Bernard’s Well on the Water of Leith, built in 1760. The well was named after an old legend that St Bernard of Clairvaux once lived in a cave nearby. The waters of the well were held in high repute for their medicinal qualities, and the nobility and gentry took summer quarters in the valley to drink deep draughts of the water and take the country air. In 1788 Lord Gardenstone, a wealthy Court of Session judge who thought he had benefited from the mineral spring, commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to design a new pump room. The builder John Wilson began work in 1789. It is in the shape of a circular Greek temple supported by ten tall Doric order columns with a statue of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, in the centre made in 1791 from Coade stone. The wonderful mosaic interior is by Thomas Bonnar. St Bernard's F.C., a once successful Scottish team but now defunct, was named after the famous well and played in Stockbridge.
From there we looked across the river to the houses built by the artist Henry Raeburn including Anne Street named after his wife. We can dream. We ended our walk at Stockbridge.
Our thanks again to Karen and Helen for all the information we enjoyed during the walk. We may even remember some of it!
