Street in Leith OR Edinburgh OR both?? **Birthday bumped**

[LesleyB]

Hi all
I'm a wee bit puzzled by a street called St Ninian's Row.

Originally I believed it to be in Leith:
http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record. ... chdb=scran

This narrow cobbled street of 18th-century, two-storeyed houses with pantiled roofs and outside stairs, was typical of many of the old streets around the harbour. The stairs leading to the uppers flats were used to dry and repair fishing nets.
The street was named after St Ninian, the earliest known Christian leader in Scotland. He became the patron saint of North Leith when, in 1493, a chapel dedicated to him was built by the Abbot of Holyrood on the north bank of the Water of Leith.
Built: 18th century; demolished c.1924

..thinking it was probably somewhere around the area of St Ninians Church, but all I could find in Leith where I was expecting this street to be was St Ninian's Close on William Bell's 1813 map on NLS site:
http://www.nls.uk/maps/towns/detail.cfm?id=426

BUT, if you search in Google maps, St Ninian's Row appears to be in Edinburgh (not far from St James's shopping centre), and the 3D street view confirms this as you can read the street sign, along with this recent photo of the street:
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/cwthomas/3336729225/
So there is definately a St Ninans Row still in Edinburgh, and it is showing clearly (as "St Ninian Row") on John Woods 1831 "Plan of the City of Edinburgh, including all the latest and intended improvements." on NLS.

Time period I'm interested in is late 1700s to early 1800s.
So I'm now puzzled - was there also a St Ninian's Row in Leith as well as in Edinburgh or have Scran made a typo and should have labelled the Leith photo as St Ninian's Close, not Row? (Pretty sure the Scran photo IS Leith as the shape of buildings and building to right seem to agree with Bell's map) or did the street start out in Leith as Close and end up as Row by the time of it's demolition. But 1893 "Bartholomew's Plan of the City of Edinburgh with Leith & Suburbs" map on NLS seems to have it in Leith as called Coburg Lane by then... *

Can anyone help??

Best wishes
Lesley
Later: * silly me - St Ninian's Close is there, to the east of Coburg Lane

[AndrewP]

Hi Lesley,

The view on the SCRAN site looks nothing like St Ninian's Row (off Calton Road, behind Leith Street buildings - opposite St James Centre in modern terms). The buildings there are all high tenements. The buildings on the Leith Street side will be about 5 storeys high on Leith Street, plus two or more storeys from the back of the building on the lower level of St Ninians Row.

As for a St Ninians Row in Leith, I don't know - I will look for that one.

Some of the streets immediately neighbouring St Ninians Row, Edinburgh were in a detached part of South Leith parish.

Food for thought,

AndrewP

[LesleyB]

The view on t he SCRAN site looks nothing like St Ninian's Row (off Calton Road, behind Leith Street buildings - opposite St James Centre in modern terms). The buildings there are all high tenements. The buildings on the Leith Street side will be about 5 storeys high on Leith Street, plus two or more storeys from the back of the building on the lower level of St Ninians Row.

I agree, Andrew, I'm pretty sure the photo is of Leith as I know the area. (too many lunches in Cafe Truva followed by a wander about!! )

Some of the streets immediately neighbouring St Ninians Row, Edinburgh were in a detached part of South Leith parish.

I'd assumed the Scran photo was taken in North Leith.

[AndrewP]

Hi Lesley,

I have looked at some of the old maps of Leith on the NLS website and have seen St Ninians Close and St Ninians Lane, but no sign (yet) of a St Ninians Row there. The building style in the SCRAN image is more likely to be Leith than Victorian Edinburgh East End.

See also http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/2006/12/1 ... -row-1844/

All the best,

AndrewP

[LesleyB]

Mr Bell in 1831 does not appear to agree with Mr Bartholemew in 1893 - as far as I can see what Mr Bell calls St Ninian's Close (North Leith), Mr Bartholemew is calling Coburg Lane, with a little lane to the east being called St Ninian's close ...which Mr Bell did not name at all.

[LesleyB]

Now that image was where I began to get confused earlier this evening:
http://www.leithhistory.co.uk/2006/12/1 ... -row-1844/
I'm not so sure that one is in Leith and thought it had to be the one near St James's Centre based on the Churches behind. Yes, one spire looks a bit like it could pass for New North Leith Kirk, Madiera Street (on the left) but I could not work out what the other spire was. But the Row at St Jameses Centre had two churches nearby - can't remember which map now!!*

*Its Woods 1831 - Lady Glenorchys and College Church (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... safe%3Doff) are to the south of the Row, so point of view is from the north end of the street? Curve of the street seems to go in the expected direction.
I see the orphange next to Lady Glenorchys also had a spire
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... safe%3Doff

Also some of those building behind look too large to be Leith, I thought. The large house on the left, down the street, must be 5 stories high and the even larger building between the two spires seemed a bit too tall. The sugar refinery building in Leith is large, but not quite that tall, I thought.
I saw this same image elsewhere and it suggested that these buildings had all been demolished in the 1840s.

[LesleyB]

Well, at last, proof that I am not going round the bend....someone else agrees "the Row" in the print is not the one in Leith!!!

WILSON, Sir Daniel, 1816-1892 : ST. NINIAN'S ROW : TAKEN DOWN 1844.

Edinburgh : Hugh Paton, [1848]. A handsome antique print - buildings on St. Ninian's Row, Low Calton, taken down to make way for the railway in the 1840s. Engraved by William Forrest (1805-1889). from an original study by Sir Daniel Wilson. Originally produced for Wilson's "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time" (Edinburgh : 1848).
Etching and line engraving on paper.

http://www.ashrare.com/edinburgh_old_town_prints.html

So there I go answering my own questions again....

[Hibee]

Hi

St Ninian's Close was renamed Coburg Lane. St Ninian's Lane ran parallel, to the east of it. The southern part of this lane was divided in two by a building.....it's possible that one part of this was known as St Ninian's Row.

Hibee

[Hibee]

For information, some archaeological work is currently under way in Coburg Lane, prior to building work on the site of the Sugar Works.

Hibee

[LesleyB]

For information, some archaeological work is currently under way in Coburg Lane, prior to building work on the site of the Sugar Works.

Interesting....wonder if they might find the silver spoons mentioned in my 4th gr grandfather's testament....!! Always wondered what happened to them!

Can you tell me more about the dig? Where did you find mention of it? Any idea how long the dig is likely to last?

Best wishes
Lesley