Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 « Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time « Edinburgh Past and Present « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Plates Ch 20: Leith - Historical Survey (continued) Ch 21: Leith - Historical Survey (continued) Ch 22: Leith - Historical Survey (concluded) Ch 23: Leith - The Kirkgate Ch 24: Leith - The Kirkgate (concluded) Ch 25: Leith - Tolbooth Wynd and Adjoining Streets Ch 26: Leith - Rotten Row, Broad Wynd, Bernard Street, Baltic Street, and Quality Street Ch 27: Leith - Constitution Street, The Shore, Coal Hill, and Sheriff Brae Ch 28: North Leith Ch 29: Leith - The Links Ch 30: Leith - The Sands Ch 31: Leith - The Harbour Ch 32: Memorabilia of the Shipping of Leith and its Maritime Affairs Ch 33: Leith - The Docks Ch 34: Inchkeith Ch 35: Newhaven Ch 36: Wardie, Trinity, and Granton Ch 37: The Environs of Edinburgh Ch 38: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 39: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 40: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 41: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 42: The Environs of Edinburgh (continued) Ch 43: The Environs of Edinburgh (concluded) General Index Contents List of Illustrations

Riccarton.1 SIR THOMAS CFLAIG. 321 Riccarton, with those of Warriston, in the barony of Currie, were given by royal charter to Marion of Wardlaw, and Andrew her son, and have had many proprietors since then. In the Privy Council Register we find that in 1579 the Lairds of Brighouse and Haltoun became referred in the account of his town residence in Wamston?s Close. He was born at Edinburgh about 1538, and in 1552 was entered as a student at St. Leonard?s College in the University of St. Andrews, which he quitted three years subsequently, after receiving his degree of Bachelor of Arts COL\?TO?. bound in caution, that the former shall pay ?to Harie Drummond of Riccartoun, LIOO on Martinmas next, the 11th November, in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, for behoof of William Sandeland and Thomas Hart,? whom he had hurt and mutilated, ?I or else shall re-enter himself as a prisoner in the said Tolbooth, on the said day.? During the middle of the sixteenth century Riccarton became the property of the famous feudal lawyer, Sir Thomas Craig, to whom we have 137 He next studied at the University of Pans, and became deeply versed in Civil and Canon laws. Returning to Scotland about 1561, he was called to the bar three years afterwards, and in 1564 was made Justice-Depute. In 1566, when Prince James was born in Edinburgh Castle, he wrote a Latin hexameter poem in honour of the event, entitled GenethZiacon Jacobi Prinn$is Soforum, which, with another poem on his departure, when king, for England, is inserted in

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322 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. lcolinton. the Belitice Puetaruni Scuiurum. He was a convert to the Protestant religion, and the chief work of his pen is his learned book on feudal law. It has been well said that lie U kept himself apart from the political intrigues of those distracting times, devoting himself to his professional duties, and in his hours of relaxation cultivating a taste for classical literature.? He was present at the entry of King James into London, and at his coronation as King of England, an event which he commemorated in a poem in Latin hexameters. In 1604 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the king to confer with others on the part of England, concerning a probable union between the two countries, a favourite project with James, but somewhat Utopian when broached at a time when men were living who had fought on the field of Pinkie. He wrote a treatise on the independent sovereignty .of Scotland, which was published in 1675, long after his death, which occurred at Edinburgh on the 26th of February, 1Go8. He married Helen, daughter of Heriot of Trabrown, in East Lothian, by whom he had seven children. His eldest son, Sir Lewis Craig, born in 1569, became a senator, as Lord Wrightislands On the death of his lineal descendant in 1823, Robert Craig of Riccarton (of whom mention was made in our chapter on Princes Street in the second volume of this work), James Gibson, W.S. (afterwards Sir James Gibson-Craig of Riccarton and Ingliston), assumed the name and arms of Craig in virtue of a deed of entail made in 1818. He was a descendant of the Gibsons of Durie, in Fife. His eldest son was the late well-known Sir William Gibson-Craig, who was born and August, 1797, and, after receiving his education in Edinburgh, was called as, an advocate to the Scottish Bar in 1820. He was M.P. for Midlothian from 1837 to 1841, when he was returned for the city of Edinburgh, which he continued to represent till 1852. He was a Lord of the Treasury from 1846 to 1852, and was appointed one of the Board of Supervision for the Poor in Scotland. In 1854 he was appointed Lord Clerk Register of Her Majesty?s Rolls and Registers in Scotland in 1862, and Keeper of the Signet. He was a member of the Privy Council in 1863, and died in 1878. Riccarton House, a handsome modern villa of considerable size, has now replaced the old mansion of other times. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH (cmtinzted). Colinton-Ancient Name and Church-Redhall-The Family of Foulis-Dreghorn-The Pentlands-View from Torphin-Corniston-Slateford -Graysmill-Liherton-The Mill at Nether Libertan-Liberton Tower-The Church-The Balm Well of St. Kathrrine-Grace Mount- The Wauchopes of Niddrie-Niddrie House-St. Katherine?s-The Kaimes-Mr. Clement Little-Lady Little of Liberton. THE picturesque little parish village of Colinton, about a mile and a quarter from Kingsknowe Station, on the Caledonian Railway, is romantically situated in a deep and wooded dell, through which the Water of Leith winds on its way to the Firth of Forth, and around it are many beautiful walks and bits of sweet sylvan scenery. The lands here are in the highest state of cultivation, enclosed by ancient hedgerows tufted with green coppice, and even on the acclivities of the Pentland range, at the height of 700 feet above the sea, have been rendered most profitably arable. In the wooded vale the Water of Leith turns the wheels of innumerable quaint old water-mills, and through the lesser dells, the Murray, the Braid, and the Burdiehouse Burns, enrich the parish with their streams. Of old the parish was called Hailes, from the plural, it is said, of a Celtic word, which signifies a mound or hillock. A gentleman?s residence near the site of the old church still retains the name, which is also bestowed upon a well-known quarry and two other places in the parish. The new Statistical Account states that the name of Hailes was that of the principal family in the parish, which was so called in compliment to them?; but this seems barely probable. The little church-which dates from only 1771- and its surrounding churchyard, are finely situated on a sloping eminence at the bottom of a dell, round which the river winds slowly by. The ancient church of Hailes, or Colinton, was granted to Dunfermline Abbey by Ethelred, son of Malcolm Canmore and of St. Margaret, a gift confirmed by a royal charter of David I., and by a Bull of Pope Gregory in 1234, according to the abovequoted authority ; but the parish figures so little in history that we hear nothing of it again till 1650,

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