 | |
  Location within Scotland | |
| Established | 1550 |
|---|---|
| Location | 477B Lawnmarket Royal Mile Edinburgh EH1 2NT |
| Type | Historic house |
| Website | https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/gladstones-land |
Gladstone's Land is a surviving 17th-century tenement house situated in the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been restored and furnished by the National Trust for Scotland, and is operated as a popular tourist attraction.
The "Land" (sited at 481 and 483 Lawnmarket) was originally built in 1550, [1] but was bought and redeveloped in 1617 by a prosperous Edinburgh merchant and burgess, Thomas Gledstanes, and his wife, Bessie Cunningham. The work was completed in 1620, and includes elaborate painted ceilings. These were later covered over with plaster, but are uncovered today. [2] Its prominent siting on the Royal Mile (between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood) and the extent of its accommodation mark out the affluence of its mercantile owner. Today, the restored building allows an insight into varieties of Edinburgh life of the period. The cramped conditions of the Old Town, and the physical size of the lot, meant that the house could only be extended in depth or in height. As a result, the house is six storeys tall. [1]
Gledstanes resided on the upper floors, and let out parts of the building to an assortment of tenants of different social classes, including another merchant John Riddoch and his wife Margaret Noble, a knight James Crichton of Frendraught, and a guild officer. [3] [1]
John Riddoch and Margaret Noble were merchants who kept a shop and tavern on the bottom floor of the house. [4] Issobell Johnston was their servant, and ran the tavern on their behalf. There are records of her purchasing large amounts of alcohol from John Riddoch for resale, something that was common for servants at the time. [5] Riddoch died aboard ship in November 1632 in sight of Leith and his will lists the kind of goods they sold, including raisins, figs, ginger, sugar, sugar candy, laundry starch and smalt, cinnamon, liquorice, and clay tobacco pipes. [6] Andrew Pringle had the shop after Riddoch, while his servant Alison Hume managed the tavern. [7]
By 1636 Gladstones shared ownership with the merchant and shipowner David Jonkin, and their tenants included two lawyers, Andrew Hay and John Adamson. [8] David Jonkin had been fined for breaking Edinburgh's market regulations in 1624 when it was discovered he was buying imported food in Burntisland to profiteer during a famine. [9] He supported the Scottish Covenant in 1639 by selling firearms to the Earl of Argyll and buying a warship in Holland. [10]
In the 1630s, Gladstone's Land was also inhabited by William Struthers, an episcopalian minister at Saint Giles cathedral. He was a prominent member of the Church of Scotland, and a supporter of both James VI and I and Charles I. Struthers played a role in the trial of Marion Muir, an accused witch. Marion had been accused of witchcraft alongside two other women, Helene Hamilton and Marion Lumisdane, after unsuccessfully being evaluated for a 'hypochondriac disorder.' Struthers heard one of several possible confessions. [11]
In 1934, the building was condemned and scheduled for demolition, until it was rescued by the National Trust for Scotland. [1] [12] Under the auspices of the Trust, restoration of the building was carried out by the architect, Sir Frank Mears, in consultation with the Ancient Monuments Department of the Ministry of Works in Edinburgh. [1] [12] Original renaissance painted ceilings were uncovered in the process. [13]
Today the restored premises offer a glimpse of 17th, 18th, and 20th century life, with open fires, lack of running water, and period decoration and furniture. At ground level, there is an arcade frontage and reconstructed shop booth, complete with replicas of 17th-century wares. This would originally have provided shelter for the merchant's customers. On the left of the building, a curved stone forestair with iron railings leads from the street to a door at 1st floor level. [1]
The sign above the entrance to the building displays the date 1617 and a gilt-copper hawk with outstretched wings. Although not an original feature, the significance of this is that the name "Gledstanes" is derived from the Scots word "gled" meaning a kite or hawk. [14]
By the late-18th century, Edinburgh's Old Town was no longer a fashionable address. Increasing pressures from population growth encouraged the flight of the affluent from cramped conditions to the developing New Town. Today, visitors to the city can contrast Gladstone's Land to the Trust's restored example of a New Town residence, The Georgian House, at No. 7 Charlotte Square.
Gladstone's Land was closed between February 2020 and May 2021 for a £1.5 million restoration. [15] It now has a museum on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, with an ice cream parlour, cafe, and retail space on the ground floor and holiday flats on the upper floors. The museum showcases the lives of merchants, tradespeople, and workers throughout 500 years with options for daily self-guided visits and guided tours, including specialty tours Tables Through Time: Food in Gladstone's Land, A History of Tea, Medical Tales, andIntimate Lives: The history of sex and desire in Edinburgh’s Old Town.(16+). [16]
The Royal Mile is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century (1901), describing the city "with its Castle and Palace and the royal mile between", and was further popularised as the title of a guidebook by R. T. Skinner published in 1920, "The Royal Mile (Edinburgh) Castle to Holyrood(house)".
The Hub is a public arts and events building in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Located at the top of the Royal Mile, it is a prominent landmark as its tall Gothic spire is the highest point in central Edinburgh, and towers over the surrounding buildings below Edinburgh Castle.
The Mound is an artificial slope and road in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New and Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into Nor Loch, which was drained in 1765 and forms today's Princes Street Gardens.
The Old Town is the name popularly given to the oldest part of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its medieval street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th/19th-century New Town, and West End, it forms part of a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
George IV Bridge is an elevated street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is home to a number of the city's important public buildings.
South Bridge is a road bridge and street in Edinburgh, Scotland, between the High Street, where it meets the North Bridge, to Nicolson Street at the south. It forms a continuous roadway over the steep valley scoured parallel to the High Street when the crag and tail landscape of the city was formed. The bridge dips down from the High Street to the Cowgate, which runs under the largest arch of the bridge, before climbing back up to its terminus at Nicolson Street.
Scottish renaissance painted ceilings are decorated ceilings in Scottish houses and castles built between 1540 and 1640. This is a distinctive national style, though there is common ground with similar work elsewhere, especially in France, Spain and Scandinavia. An example in England, at Wickham, Hampshire, was recorded in 1974. There are records of over 100 examples, and a much smaller number of painted ceilings survive in-situ today. Some salvaged painted beams and boards are stored by Historic Environment Scotland. The paintings at Crathes Castle, dating from 1597 and 1602 are probably the best known.
The Georgian House is an 18th-century townhouse situated at No. 7 Charlotte Square in the heart of the historic New Town of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been restored and furnished by the National Trust for Scotland, and is operated as a popular tourist attraction, with over 40,000 visitors annually.
Acheson House is a 17th-century house in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built in 1633 for Sir Archibald Acheson, 1st Baronet, Secretary of State of Scotland for King Charles I. It did not stay in the Acheson family, and during the 19th century it declined like much of the Old Town. Slum clearance led the city council to acquire the building in 1924, but the Marquess of Bute bought it to have it restored during the 1930s. It was later used by church and arts groups, but was vacant between 1991 and 2011. In November 2011, Acheson House became the base for the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust. The ground floor of the building will become part of the Museum of Edinburgh, based in the adjacent Huntly House.
The Luckenbooths were a range of tenements which formerly stood immediately to the north of St. Giles' Kirk in the High Street of Edinburgh from the reign of King James II in the 15th century to the early years of the 19th century. They were demolished in 1802, apart from the east end of the block which was removed in 1817.
The King's Wark in Leith was a building on the Shore of Leith, at the mouth of the Water of Leith into the Firth of Forth. The King's Wark was the Scottish royal arsenal where cannon used on royal ships were kept and maintained, and where supplies shipped to Leith for the royal household were stored. To the north east of the King's Wark the Shore was extended into the sea by a pier known as the "Bulwark". To the west was the Broad Wynd, and on the south, there was a walled yard. An inn on the site was documented in 1623. The site on the Shore includes a public house and restaurant called "The King's Wark" on the corner of the Shore and Bernard Street.
Baillie John MacMorran (1553-1595), a merchant and Baillie of Edinburgh, was killed during a riot at Edinburgh High School. His house at Riddle's Court is a valued monument on Edinburgh's Lawnmarket.
John Bayne of Pitcairlie (1620–1681) was a writer to the Signet (lawyer) born in Scotland. Known for his work on important contracts such as those relating to the 1672 renovation of Holyrood Palace, he ran a legal team which is linked to several notable architects and major building projects in Edinburgh.
John Bothwell of Auldhamer, Lord Holyroodhouse (c.1550–1609) was a 16th-century Scottish judge and Senator of the College of Justice residing at Holyrood House prior to it becoming a royal palace.
Alexander Riddoch DL was a Scottish merchant who served eight non-consecutive terms as Provost of Dundee. His nicknames included the "Old Hawk". "The Gudeman of Blacklunans" and "Archdeacon of the Self-Elected".
Valentine Jenkin or Jenkins was an English decorative painter working in Scotland in the 17th century.
William Struther(s) (1578-1633) was a high-ranking Scottish church minister and poet. He was involved in an infamous witch trial in Edinburgh. He was renowned for his "spiced sermons". His huge endowment in his will created the Struthers Bursaries in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, which was responsible for funding many hundreds of Divinity students.
David Jonkin or Jenkin was a Scottish merchant and shipowner. He imported sugar, French wine, Swedish timber, linen from Haarlem, and lint from Poland.
Alexander Oustean or Oustian or Austin was a Scottish tailor and member of Edinburgh burgh council.
The Justiciary Building is a judicial structure in the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh, Scotland. The structure, which operates in conjunction with similar facilities in Glasgow and Aberdeen, is dedicated for the use of the High Court of Justiciary, which is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. It is a Category B listed building.
55°56′58″N3°11′34″W / 55.94944°N 3.19278°W
