Sciennes (pronounced , ) is a district of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, situated approximately south of the city centre. It is a mainly residential district, although it is also well-known as the site of the former
Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Most of its housing stock consists of terraces of four-storey Victorian
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
s. The district is popular with students, thanks to its proximity to the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. Its early history is linked to the presence in the area of the 16th-century Convent of
St Catherine of Scienna, from which the district derives its name.
Location
Sciennes is located approximately south of
Princes Street
Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) 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 (thre ...
in Edinburgh's city centre, and immediately south of
The Meadows. The district is not an administrative unit or electoral ward and therefore has no formal boundaries, but it is generally considered to be the area that lies between Melville Drive to the north, Argyle Place to the west, Sciennes Road to the south, and Causewayside to the east, with an extension to the south east which takes in Sciennes Hill Place and Sciennes Gardens.
Sciennes shares a community council with
Marchmont and lies partly within the Marchmont, Meadows and Bruntsfield Conservation Area.
Sciennes is also the name of a road which runs north to south in the eastern part of the district.
History
The recorded history of Sciennes starts in the early 16th century, with the establishment of two religious houses. In 1512, Sir John Crawfurd, canon of St Giles, erected a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist on land that had been part of the ancient
Burgh Muir
The Burgh Muir is the historic term for an extensive area of land lying to the south of Edinburgh city centre, upon which much of the southern part of the city now stands following its gradual spread and more especially its rapid expansion in th ...
, this being common ground that was given to Edinburgh by
David I David I may refer to:
* David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399
* David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741)
* David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881)
* David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048)
* David I of Scotland ( ...
in the first half of the 12th century.
The name is a corruption of
Sienna
Sienna (from it, terra di Siena, meaning "Siena earth") is an earth pigment containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural state, it is yellowish brown and is called raw sienna. When heated, it becomes a reddish brown and is cal ...
in Italy, and comes from the
Dominican Convent of
St Catherine of Scienna. This was founded by a group of women, led by
Lady Janet Seton, whose husbands and other relatives had been killed at the
Battle of Flodden
The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English ...
in 1513. The convent, which was completed in 1518, was built on land acquired from Sir John Crawfurd, and incorporated his chapel. It stood on the south side of the present Sciennes Road, roughly where St Catherine's Place now stands. It was the only Dominican Nunnery in Scotland. In 1567, the convent was destroyed and the community dispersed as a result of the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
.
A plaque on the wall of No 16 St Catherine's Place marks the site of the convent.
Up until the early 19th century, much of the area of present-day Sciennes was occupied by just a few mansions and large villas, each set in its own grounds. By the end of the century, these had largely been replaced by terraces of Victorian tenements. In contrast to neighbouring Marchmont, where the tenements had been developed according to an overall design, those in Sciennes grew up in a more piecemeal fashion.
The area also included some industrial development, notably the extensive engineering works and foundry of Bertrams Ltd, an international manufacturer of paper-making machinery. The works stood on the corner of Sciennes Road and (the street named) Sciennes.
They were demolished in 1985, the site now being occupied by residential flats.
Origins of street names
The Convent of St Catherine of Scienna gives its name to Sciennes itself and to several of its streets (such as Sciennes Road and Sciennes Gardens) as well as to St Catherine's Place. Other streets in the district, especially those that were developed in the 19th century, are named after notable figures of the day. These include Livingstone Place, for the explorer,
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of ...
;
Gladstone Terrace, for
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
, the
Liberal Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
; and Lord Russell Place, for
Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...
, a
Whig and Liberal Prime Minister.
Notable buildings
Built around 1741, Sciennes Hill House was originally a substantial three-story town house set in a large garden. It was partly demolished in 1868, the remaining parts of the structure being incorporated into a terrace of Victorian
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
s which now make up the north side of Sciennes House Place. The north elevation was the original front of the house. This still contains some of the original architectural features but these are not visible from the street. The street frontage was originally the back of the house. The interior of the building was sympathetically restored in 1988. In the winter of 1786–87, the house was the location of the only recorded meeting of
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who ha ...
and
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
, at a literary dinner hosted by the philosopher Professor
Adam Ferguson
Adam Ferguson, (Scottish Gaelic: ''Adhamh MacFhearghais''), also known as Ferguson of Raith (1 July N.S./20 June O.S. 1723 – 22 February 1816), was a Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment.
Ferguson was sympath ...
. A bronze plaque on the outside of the building commemorates the event.
Sciennes House Place is also the location of the Old Jewish Burial Ground, the first
Jewish cemetery
A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Halakha, Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit k ...
in Scotland. It was opened in 1816 by the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation and closed to burials in 1870. Some of the memorials, inscribed in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, show up to four generations of some families buried here.
Also in Sciennes House Place is the Old Braid
Fire Station
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire ...
, a Category C
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
which was designed in 1885 by Robert Morham, the City Architect. This was one of four fire stations established in the 1820s by Edinburgh's first firemaster
James Braidwood
James Braidwood (1800–1861) was a Scottish firefighter who was the first "Master of Engines", in the world's first municipal fire service in Edinburgh in 1824. He was the first director of the London Fire Engine Establishment (the brigade w ...
. It is now an architect's office.
Robert Morham also designed, in 1884, the former 'A' Division
Police Station
A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...
on the corner of Causewayside. This is a four-storey building in the
Scottish Baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sc ...
style. It closed in the early 1980s and has since been converted to flats. The building stands opposite the shop of the antique dealer and police historian
T W Archibald
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...
who wrote a history of the
Lothians and Borders Police.
The former
Royal Hospital for Sick Children (commonly referred to as the ''Sick Kids'') is an imposing neo-Jacobean building, designed by
George Washington Browne. It operated at its site in Sciennes Road from 1895 to 2021. It is a listed building with murals by
Phoebe Anna Traquair in its
mortuary chapel
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be con ...
. In 2017, the hospital was due to move to Petty France, but this was delayed because of technical and financial problems. In February 2019, planning permission was given to the Downing Group to convert the main hospital building to 126 residential units and to replace other buildings on the site with student flats. The hospital finally closed on 23 March 2021 when its facilities moved to the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People at
Little France. The Downing Group started work on the redevelopment of the site in June 2021.
Sciennes Primary School stands next to the former hospital. It was designed in 1889 by
Robert Wilson, the architect for the Edinburgh Board of Education, and opened in 1892.
Notable residents
*
Duncan Napier (1831–1921), botanist and herbalist, lived at 8 Gladstone Terrace and later at 5 Sciennes Gardens (at the time, the house was known as Ruby Villa).
*
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), novelist and short-story writer, noted for his
Sherlock Holmes stories, lived briefly with his family in an overcrowded tenement at 3 Sciennes Place when he was eight years old.
*
David Daiches (1912–2005), literary historian and critic, and his brother
Lionel Daiches
Lionel Henry Daiches (8 March 1911 – 11 November 1999), was a Scottish QC and Liberal Party politician.
Background
Daiches was the son of Dr Salis Daiches, a rabbi of the Edinburgh Jewish congregation. He was educated at George Watson's Colle ...
(1911 – 1999), Scottish QC and
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a l ...
politician, grew up in Millerfield Place.
* Charles J. Smith (1920–2000), author of several books on the history of Edinburgh, lived briefly in Livingstone Place as a child.
*
Sheila Gilmour (1949-) Scottish Labour MP for Edinburgh East
References
External links
Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)
{{Areas of Edinburgh
Areas of Edinburgh