Coordinates: 55°58′23″N3°10′06″W / 55.97306°N 3.16833°W
Constitution Street is a thoroughfare in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs north from the junction of Leith Walk, Great Junction Street and Duke Street to the Albert Dock in Leith Docks.
The street takes its name from Constitution Hill, which stood on the site of the current Assembly Rooms. The 1777 map of Leith calls it Constutition Road but it only goes from the eastern entrance to South Leith Churchyard to Bernard Street. [1]
The street at its current length was only completed in 1800, at that time being built as a bypass from Bernard Street to Leith Walk, avoiding the crowded and twisting medieval streets of old Leith. The street at that time was causewayed, rising around two metres above natural ground level. Buildings which predate this now have their original fine ground floor rooms buried at basement level.
The bulk of the buildings lining the street remain substantially unchanged for over a century, but the previously industrial north end is now largely redeveloped as housing.
On 9 January 1823 the last two men executed for piracy in Scotland were hanged at the north end of the street (near what is now Tower Street). The two men were Peter Heaman from Carlscrona in Sweden and Francois Gautiez from France. They were found guilty in the summer of 1822 of capturing the brig "Jane", en route from Gibraltar to Brazil, killing its master and stealing 38,000 Spanish dollars. [2] One account says their bodies were afterwards awarded to Dr Alexander Monro for dissection. [3] A second account says they were buried where executed. Two bodies were discovered during an archaeological dig at the north end of the street in approximately the correct area in the summer of 2000, possibly validating the latter claim.
In the clearances of the 1950s, although mainly centred on the Kirkgate to the west, Constitution Street lost some buildings of importance, notably Lord Balmerino's House dating from around 1670. [4]
East of Bernard Street, the most notable building is the classical Assembly Rooms, the former Leith Exchange building.
Leith Police Station, formerly Leith Town Hall, built in 1827 to a design by R & R Dickson. [5]
Church of St.James was designed by George Gilbert Scott, built in 1862. The stone spire was truncated in 1977. [6]
The churchyard at the south end links to South Leith Parish Church but is cared for by City of Edinburgh Council. The churchyard was only used for burial from the mid 17th century, earlier interments being inside the church, beneath the parishioners usual seating position (or threaded in the rafters if you had a balcony position). In 2009, an excavation linked to the construction of Edinburgh Trams unearthed several bodies just outside the churchyard wall. [7]
Leith is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by Time Out as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
Princes Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km from Lothian Road in the west, to Leith Street in the east. The street has few buildings on the south side and looks over Princes Street Gardens allowing panoramic views of the Old Town, Edinburgh Castle, as well as the valley between. Most of the street is limited to trams, buses and taxis with only the east end open to all traffic.
James Craig was a Scottish architect who worked mostly in lowlands of the country and especially his native city of Edinburgh. He is remembered primarily for his layout of the first Edinburgh New Town.
This article is a timeline of the history of Edinburgh, Scotland, up to the present day. It traces its rise from an early hill fort and later royal residence to the bustling city and capital of Scotland that it is today.
Stockbridge is a suburb of Edinburgh, located north of the city centre, bounded by the New Town and by Comely Bank. The name is Scots stock brig from Anglic stocc brycg, meaning a timber bridge. Originally a small outlying village, it was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th century. The current "Stock Bridge", built in 1801, is a stone structure spanning the Water of Leith. The painter Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) owned two adjoining estates, Deanhaugh and St Bernard's, which he developed with the assistance of the architect James Milne. Milne was also responsible for the fine St Bernard's Church (1823) in Saxe Coburg Street. Ann Street, designed by Raeburn and named after his wife, is a rare early example of a New Town street with private front gardens.
Broughton is an ancient feudal barony, today within the City of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Pilrig is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The name probably derives from the long field (rig) on which a peel tower (pil/peel) stood. There is evidence of a peel tower situated on an area of higher ground above the Water of Leith.
Silvermills, once an ancient village, has been part of Edinburgh since 1809.
Great Junction Street is a street in Leith, on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs southeast to northwest following approximately the southwestmost line of the old town walls around Leith.
Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the centre of the city to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the 'Foot of the Walk' at the north-eastern end, where Great Junction Street, Duke Street, Constitution Street and the Kirkgate meet.
South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home and John Pew, the man from whom the author Robert Louis Stevenson reputedly derived the character of Blind Pew in the novel Treasure Island. The church has been repaired, used as an ammunition store and reconstructed but still retains the basic layout of the nave of the old church.
North Leith Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland, within the Presbytery of Edinburgh. It is serves part of Leith, formerly an independent burgh and since 1920 a part of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.
George Street is the central thoroughfare of the First New Town of Edinburgh, planned in the 18th century by James Craig.
Bernard Street is a thoroughfare in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs west north westerly from the junction of Constitution Street and Baltic Street to meet the Water of Leith at The Shore. It forms the northern boundary of what was known in the 19th century as 'Old Leith'.
Thomas Brown was a Scottish architect in the early 19th century based in Edinburgh. He is best known for St. Mary's Church, Bellevue, Edinburgh, usually known as Bellevue Church.
George Craig JP EGS (1852-1927) was a Scottish architect and amateur geologist. He created a very high proportion of the 19th century public buildings in Leith.
Kirkgate is an ancient thoroughfare in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs north from the foot of Leith Walk towards Leith Docks. It is one of the oldest streets in the district and historically one of its most vital road links.
York Place is a street in central Edinburgh of almost exclusively 18th century buildings, linking Queen Street to Broughton Street and Leith Walk.
The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, Scotland. The old town hall, which was the meeting place of Leith Burgh Council, is now used as a police station. It is a Category A listed building.
The Shore in Leith is a historic and picturesque street in the centre of Old Leith the harbour area of Edinburgh. It edges the final section of the Water of Leith before it flows through Leith Docks into the sea.
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