Leith Local History Society News and Events
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News and Events Archive
Items before: 7 July 2008
Leith |
 Tuesday 3rd June at 7.30p.m. in Leith Community Centre, the Kirkgate, Leith: an illlustrated presentation about the wars, conflicts and struggles which have beset Leith from the time of the Wars of Independence to the present day. Admission free See Leith Festival Programme for further deatils. |
item date: 2 June 2008 |
Leith |
 During the week 1st to 6th June the two Jims will be conducting Walks around Leith where you can learn about Leith's past from the medieval ages until the present day.These walks take place every afternoon form 2p.m. to 4p.m. and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening 4th to 6th June from 6.30p.m. to 8.30p.m. Price Adults £4, Children and concessions £3 - Meet in The Ship On The Shore See Leith Festival Programme for further deatils. |
item date: 1 June 2008 |
Leith |
 Our April meeting is "Old Trams" All visitors welcome. |
item date: 15 April 2008 |
Leith |
 Padi Mathieson, who last year gave us a very interesting talk on Greyfriars Kirkyard, returned to talk this time about "Women of Edinburgh". She covered a great range of women from Dr Elsie Inglis, thorugh authors, artists and women from various walks of life. A very interesting portrayal of women, some of whom had to fight against the discrimination against the fairer sex but still managed to leave their mark on Society. |
item date: 18 March 2008 |
Leith |
 Our talk for February was to have been the Begbie Slides of Victorian Edinburgh but unfortunately this had to be cancelled due to ill health. One of our own members, Douglas Yuill, stepped in at the last minute and gave us a very interesting talk on Ports around the Forth from East Lothian up the south coast of the Forth and along the Fife coast. The number of small ports, principally used for the export of coal from local mines, is far greater than is at first apparent. The pictures of some of the ports of the past, many of which have now disappeared, show how great a variety of ports existed along these coasts. |
item date: 19 February 2008 |
Leith |
 Tha January meeting was a very interesting illustrated talk by Bob McIntosh of the Northern Lighthouse Board. He explained how the old manned lighthouses were a thing of the past and modern technology has meant that the lights can be operated remotely and therefore there is no need now for men to live on the lighthouses.This has meant that some lkighthouses have been sold and some have been put to very interesting use as houses, holiday homes etc. |
item date: 15 January 2008 |
 December 2007 meeting item date: 11 December 2007 |
Leith |
 The Christmas meeting was entitled bring a friend and several members took the oportunity to do so. The main part of the evening consisted of a picture quiz to identify areas of Edinburgh. This proved to be an interesting exercise and some of the answers were rather strange. It was, however, thoroughly enjoyed by members.This was followed by a short presentation about the junction Street Project. Thoughout the evening we enjoyed the wine and nibbles courtesy of two of our members who arranged it all. |
item date: 11 December 2007 |
November 2007 meeting |
| The November 2007 meeting held on Tuesday 20th November was an illustrated talk by Michaela Sullivan of Forth Ports Authority and Nathan Ward of RMJM, the master planners. They explained in some detail and with illustrations what the plans are for the development of the dock area and the Waterfront. How it would be a gradual develoment over a number of years and that they were planning a mixture a buildings including some low cost social housing in the plans as well as open spaces, walkways , work places, transport infrastructure etc. No detailed planning consent has yet been received but applications for the first stat=ge will be submitted some time next year. They explained how they had taken on board many of the poinbts raised at the public consultation stage and they would continue to seek opinions from the local residents. The site is large and will be developed in stages starting from the furthest out part so that construction traffic will not affect those parts already developed. The eastern end of the site will be designeated for industrial use. As many of our memebers will be affected by the development they were very interested to hear about the plans and a lively discussion session followed. |
item date: 20 November 2007 |
October 2007 meeting |
| The October 2007 meeting was held on Tuesday 16 Octoebr and took the form of an illustrated talk by Brian Graham from the Leith Rules Golf Society. We learned that Leith Links is problably the oldest recorded golf course and it is probable that Mary Queen of Scots played golf here and certain that James VII and Charles I enjoyed games at Leith. The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith were formed in the early 18rth century and in 1744 the City of Edinburgh presented them with a silver club. The first rules of golf were created at Leith in March 1744 and while many are recognisable as todays rules there were some which were perhaps peculiar to Leith Links such as rule 13 which states "Neither Trench, Ditch or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, not the Scholar's Holes or the Soldier's Lines, shall be accounted a Hazard; But the ball is to be taken out/Teed/and played with any Iron Club. Charles I was palying golf on Leith Links when he read about the Irish Rebellion and the first international foursome were held there when the Duke of York (later James VII) pertenered John Paterson against two English noblemen. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (the name changed) played in the Linbks for almost 100 years before moving to Musselburgh in 1836 and then to Muirfield in 1892. Leith Rules Golf now run an annual competition played with hickory clubs. For more information visit thier website at www.leith-rules-golf.co.uk |
item date: 16 October 2007 |
September 2007 meeting |
| The first meeting of the Society's 2007/8 session was held on Tuesday 18th September. This took the form of a talk by our local M.P. Mark Lazarowicz on Leith M.P.'s when we learned that most of the early Leith Members of Parliament were actually Edinburgh men and the majority of them from the legal profession. |
item date: 18 September 2007 |
April 2007 Meeting |
| The penultimate meeting of the Society’s 2006/07 session was held on Tuesday 17th April. An illustrated talk entitled “The Work of the Department of Buildings of the National Trust for Scotland” was given by Bryan Dickson, Head of Buildings for the Trust. We were treated to a photographic slide tour of some of the 1200 building projects being carried out by the Trust. These projects range in size from Culzean Castle to the Malleny Doo’cot at Balerno, the Culloden and Glencoe visitor centres, “The Pineapple” at Airth to Iona Abbey. The work carried out varies from complete refurbishments to rebuilding boundary walls and replacing drains. Also of great interest to the audience was the Trust’s continued support of traditional crafts such as dry-stane dyking, ornamental ironmongery and stone masonry. Nor did he forget about Leith! The last part of his talk was devoted to a “tour" of Lamb’s House. Mr Dickson kept an audience of 38 enthralled with first class photography and an obvious in-depth knowledge of and a genuine interest in his subject. A lively question and answer session followed. Mr Dickson brought a most enjoyable evening to a close by inviting the audience to take advantage of a membership of the National Trust for Scotland to visit some of the projects we had been shown |
item date: 7 May 2007 |
March 2007 Meeting |
| This month the Society went ‘up town’ to Edinburgh for our speaker on Tuesday 20th March. Mrs Paddi Mathieson, the Visitors Officer at Greyfriars Kirk, gave an illustrated talk on Greyfriars Kirk and Churchyard. Starting with the days before the Reformation when the Franciscan Order had a Friary on the land now occupied by the churchyard, we were taken on a fascinating historical journey through arguably one of Scotland’s most important Kirks and graveyards. From when Mary Queen of Scots granted the lands of Greyfriars to the Town Council of Edinburgh for use as a burial ground to modern times, there has been a veritable ‘who’s ,who’ of Scots interred there. Among the earliest burials was that of the Earl of Morton in 1581 while William McGonigle, the man who claimed to be ‘Scotland’s greatest poet’, also has his resting place in the churchyard. Many important events in the Scotland’s history took place within the Kirk and its Yard. These included the signing of the National Covenant in 1638. Mrs Mathieson reminded us that probably most visitors are drawn to Greyfriars due to the story of ‘Greyfriars Bobby’. Many of these visitors go on to become interested in the history of the site and often return. An audience of 30 had, judging by the questions asked and the general response, a most entertaining evening, presented by a speaker who obviously was very passionate about her subject. Mrs Mathieson closed her talk by inviting the Society to a tour of the Kirk and churchyard |
item date: 24 March 2007 |
Our February 2007 Meeting |
| Our speaker on Tuesday 20th February was David Easton, Curator with the Survey Team at the Royal Comission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). His illustrated talk was simply called “Leith". David was warmly welcomed when he confessed to his mother being a Leither and that his grandfather had a hand in the development of Leith Docks in the 1930’s/40’s An audience of 33 were treated to a fascinating tour of old buildings in Leith including pictures of the interior of the Martello Tower, interiors of 18th/19th C houses, old wallpapers found in the King’s Wark in the 1960/70’s, Lambs House, The Kirkgate and Leith Central Station. Other illustrations gave examples of old lampposts and interesting architectural features to be found in Leith Among the maps shown were 1852 OS maps of Leith which were of such a large scale they even showed the number of seats in churches! The photographs shown included many from the Thomas Begbie collection relating to Leith and the docks. The Commission holds a large collection of aerial photographs and David brought some wonderful examples of these taken of Edinburgh and Leith from the 1920’s to within the past few years. The talk was followed by a lively question and answer session which was carried on over the “tea and biscuits”. David finished the evening by inviting the Society members to a tour of the Commission’s archives at Bernard Terrace. |
item date: 23 February 2007 |
Can You Help? |
| We have been asked for help on two matters:- I. A Spanish student who is studying locally is doing a project on “Leith Whalers”. It would be helpful if he could meet some of the people who worked in to whaling industry. Do you know any former whalers who would be prepared to meet him and talk about their experiences in the whaling industry? 2. Someone from Canada is particularly interested in photographs of Hawthorn’s shipyard and/or ships during the period 1898 -1904. Do you know of any such material? We would also like to hear from anyone who has photographs that might be suitable for inclusion in the Gallery section of the website If you can help with any of these matters, please contact Leith Local History Society using the email address given in the “Contact Us” section of the website. |
item date: 19 February 2007 |
January 2007 Meeting |
| JANUARY 2007 MEETING The Society was “First Footed” on Tuesday 16th by Peter Stubbs who gave an illustrated talk on “Edinburgh and Leith Shops”. Peter, a native of Yorkshire, settled in Edinburgh in 1963 and has gone on to become an eminent photographer in the City with a “not to be missed” website xxxx://www.edinphoto.org.uk . It includes many photographs of Leith, Newhaven and Granton An audience of 32 were treated to a nostalgic look back at local shops ranging in size from Jenner’s Department Store in Princes Street to the tiny “Tarot Card” shop in Leith Walk. The talk was presented in a very informal way which allowed the audience to participate and recall their memories of shops and their owners. One of our members, Mrs Annie Scanlon, who is also a member of the Costume Society of Scotland, brought along some “ladies garments” purchased in 1903 at “Maules” at the west end of Princes Street which later became “Binns” and is now “House of Fraser”. It was noticeable that the “chat” continued well after the presentation finished! |
item date: 25 January 2007 |
October 2006 Meeting |
| The October meeting was held on Tuesday 17th at the Leith Community Education Centre. Mrs Margaret Munro, Secretary of Portobello Local History Society, gave an illustrated talk on “Images of Portobello and Duddingston”. She had obviously well researched her subject and with the aid of photographs’, postcards and prints took us on a tour of 19th and early 20th C Portobello and Duddingston. For many of the audience, which numbered 32, the talk took us back to our childhood days when we visited the open air swimming pool and the “shows”, watched the black smoke issuing from the power station chimney and ,later as we grew up, lunched at the “Sheips Heid Inn ” ! A very interesting and informative question and answer session followed and the meeting closed with all present voicing their concerns at the lack of local museums in Leith and Portobello and annoyance over the City Council’s lack of support in maintaining Edinburgh City Archives research facility. |
item date: 22 October 2006 |
The Start of Our 2006/07 Session |
| The first meeting of the 2006/07 session was held on Tuesday 19th September 2006 at the Leith Community Education Centre, New Kirkgate, Leith. An illustrated talk on “Shipwrecks of the Forth” was given by Bob Baird – diver and author of “Shipwrecks of the Forth”, “Shipwrecks of the West of Scotland” and “Shipwrecks of the North of Scotland”. An audience of around 45 enjoyed an excellent presentation which took in wrecks that varied in size from HMS Campania (16,000 tons) to the tiny midget submarines lying in Gullane Bay. We were very surprised, but nonetheless pleased, to welcome a professional diver and owner of a diving school in Dorset who, having seen the talk advertised on our website, travelled north specifically to hear Bob Baird’s talk and to meet him personally, Needless to say he was sent on his way back south with LLHS advertising material |
item date: 25 September 2006 |
Leith Festival 2006 |
 This year's Leith Festival was held from 2nd to 10th June, a day longer than last year, and as usual the Society was well represented.The intrepid duo, Jim Scanlon and Jim Tweedie, again gave of their time for five days to provide afternoon and evening "Walks and Talks around Leith". Numbers attending were reported to be up on previous years. Tuesday 6th June saw an audience in excess of 50 attend a talk given by Ken Nisbett on "7th Battalion Royal Scots - the Leith Regiment". This regiment unfortunately has always been better remembered for its involvement in the tragic Gretna rail disaster. It was pleasing, therefore, to hear an in-depth history provided by a speaker who had well researched the subject. The talk was followed by a question and answer session. This year, once again, we were lucky with the weather for "Festival Saturday" - temperatures in excess of 70 degrees. The Society hired two pitches to enable us to mount an exhibition of old photographs and our thanks go to Society members and Leith Library for providing the photographs for this. The exhibition generated considerable interest. Several people were able to provide more detail about some of the photographs and others offered more to add to our collection. This year we introduced a "Leith Primary Schools Quiz" to be run in connection with the Festival. This was open to Primary 6 & 7 children at 8 Leith Primary Schools. Over 130 entries were recieved and the winner was a Primary 7 pupil from Hermitage Park School. The prize of a gift token was presented to her on the afternoon of the festival. We hope to make the Quiz an annual event and that this will help create a link between the Society and the schools for the future. Finally the Chairman would like to thank all the committee members who gave of their time to prepare the exhibition material and man the stall on Festival Saturday. It was the first task for the new committee and without their help it would not have been possible to mount such an ambitious event. |
item date: 4 August 2006 |
Walks Around Historic Leith |
 Two members of Leith Local History Society will be conducting walks around historic Leith during the Leith Festival. These take place daily from Monday 5th June to Friday 9th June at 2 pm to 4 pm and on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings from 6 pm to 8 pm. All walks start at the "Ship on the Shore". Charge £5 (£4 Concessions) |
item date: 31 May 2006 |
Leith Festival |
| Leith Festval will take place from 2nd to 11th June 2006. Leith Local History Society will be taking a stall on Leith Links on Gala Day (Saturday 10th June 2006). We will be holding an exhibition of old photographs, including some from the collection of Dr J Scott Marshall, together with other memorabilia from and about Leith. If you are in the area please come and see us. |
item date: 24 May 2006 |
Leith Festival Talk |
| On Tuesday 6th June 2006 Leith Local History Society will be hosting a talk for the Leith Festival at 7 pm in the Leith Community Education Centre, New Kirkgate, Leith. The subject of the talk will be the 7th Battalion Royal Scots - the Leith based territorial battalion that was involved in the Gretna Rail Disaster in 1915 |
item date: 24 May 2006 |
Leith Local History Society Launch New Website |
| This website is itself a newsworthy item so far as Leith Local History Society is concerned. We have for some time felt the need for a website to enable us to communicate to the world at large our enthusiasm for Leith and its history. We know that there are Leithers all over the world who still retain their affection for Leith and hope that they will get in touch with us. |
item date: 20 March 2006 |
New Logo |
 Leith Local History Society now has a new logo which is used on the website and will be in future be used on the the Society’s letterhead and other items. Anyone who has been a member since from the inception of the Society may wonder why we needed a new logo. The answer is that while the old logo was a fine piece of artwork, it proved very difficult to scale in down to a size where it could be used on our letterhead and still be recognisable. |
item date: 20 March 2006 |
Summer Excursion |
| Leith Local History Society will be ending its 2005/06 programme with a coach excursion to the Fife Coast and the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther. This excursion will be held on Saturday 24th June 2006. For many centuries there was a lot of sea-borne traffic between Leith and the Fife Coast Ports and this excursion will enable us to see the destination of so many Leith ships. It will also, we hope, be an enjoyable day out. Members are asked to book as soon as possible at one of our monthly meetings. |
item date: 20 March 2006 |