The Shore is a historic and picturesque street in the centre of Old

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, the harbour area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. It edges the final section of the

Water of Leith The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing through central Edinburgh, Scotland, that starts in the Pentlands Hills and flows into the port of Leith and then into the sea via the Firth of Forth. Name The ...

before it flows through Leith Docks into the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

History

The site had been a harbour since Anglo-Saxon times. Due to its location it was the arrival point of several monarchs on historic visits to the city:

Mary Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

(1561) before her Entry to Edinburgh;

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

(1590) who stayed at the King's Wark before her coronation; Charles II (1651);

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

(1822). Queen Victoria's visit of 1842 disembarked in Leith Docks rather than the Shore. In May 1544, during the war known as the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (; December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland ...

, an English army arrived in Leith intending to burn Edinburgh. On Monday 5 May, English ships unloaded heavy artillery on the quayside at The Shore, to be used against Edinburgh's gates and

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

. In April 1779 there was an unfortunate incident on the northern half of the Shore, with many lives lost. 70 Highlanders belonging to the 42nd and 71st Regiments were in position to board a ship but refused as it was rumoured they were to be transferred to a lowland regiment and would lose the right to wear a kilt. This was untrue, but even if true it seems a trivial start to what then ensued. Under order from James Oughton, 200 soldiers of the South Fencibles were sent out from

to quell the mutiny under command of Major Sir James Johnstone. The Highlanders refused to either surrender or lay down their muskets (which were fitted with bayonets). Both sides being heavily armed the tension quickly turned to bloodshed. One Highlander trying to run off was grabbed by a Sergeant of the Fencibles who was then bayonetted to make him loose his grasp. A second sergeant armed with a pike, was then shot by a Highlander. The Fencibles raised their muskets and fired into the group of Highlanders killing 12 men and mortally wounding many. The Highlanders having far less ammunition returned fire to less effect: two Fencibles killed and one injured. Captain James Mansfield, attempting to attend the latter, was cruelly bayonetted by a mutineer who in turn was shot in the head by a corporal. The Fencibles moved in with fixed bayonets and captured the 25 survivors who were then imprisoned in the castle. The total lives lost appears to be somewhere between 40 and 50. Mansfield was buried in

Greyfriars Churchyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a nu ...

. The other Fencibles were buried in the open ground at the foot of Canongate Churchyard (which was reserved for deaths connected to Edinburgh Castle. The 40 Highlanders killed or dying of wounds were buried in

South Leith Parish Church North and South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. Prior to the union with the former North Leith Parish Church in 2024, the building was known as South Leith Parish Churc ...

yard. After a court martial, three further Highlanders were within seconds of being executed by firing squad: Williamson and MacIvor of the 42nd and Budge of the 71st. However a pardon was received from the Queen due to the valour of their regiment. The Shore was the first place in Leith to install public street lighting: oil lamps in 1771 (to combat a number of people falling in the river in the dark. It was also the first street in Edinburgh to have electric street lights (1895) served by a local generating station. Up until 1969 the water was tidal, but due to lock constructions in the outer edge of Leith Docks water is now permantently 1m higher than the old high tide level. For around a decade the outer lock was kept fully open once a year at low tide to allow silt in the river bed to flush out, but this routine halted when the inner harbour ceased to be navigable. The Town Council plan for Leith (part of Edinburgh's Abercrombie Plan) from the early 1950s envisaged the entire demolition of the Shore and redevelopment as industrial sheds. This was adapted to allow (and encourage) modern housing schemes and the demolitions and redevelopments crept towards the Shore in the 60s and 70s. Meanwhile, The Shore was left to rot. The final wave of scheduled demolition removed the buildings on the north side of Tolbooth Wynd. The northward progression then ceased, leaving the Shore in a limbo. By 1980 there were only two inhabited buildings, discounting the several ground floor bars which still managed to turn a profit. As part of its maritime background the area was also hindered by its use as a red light area. The secondary hindrance was a huge Health and Safety exclusion zone centred on Leith Docks, which prohibited new residential development due to the explosive value of fertilisers housed in Scottish Agricultural Industries for a radius of 1 km. This restriction was abandoned in 1983 eight years before SAI physically abandoned their dock site. This all began to turn around in the 1980s when a fashion for restoration, combined by very low property values in Leith, allowed a number of small property developers to risk some restoration schemes. This was hampered severely in that Leith (EH6) was blacklisted for mortgages. The first mortgage was given by the

Alliance and Leicester Building Society Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated on ...

in 1984, in relation to the Cooperage. Coupled with the housing revival the Shore and its environs became a magnet to restaurants and the new concept of

gastro pub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves food of high quality, with a nearly equal emphasis on eating and drinking. The term was coined in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. History The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coine ...

s. In current times, Leith has three

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

restaurants: The Kitchin (

Tom Kitchin Thomas William Kitchin is a Scottish chef and owner of The Kitchin, where he became Scotland's youngest winner of a Michelin star. Kitchin and his wife Michaela opened The Kitchin in 2006 on Leith’s waterfront. The restaurant was awarded a ...

), Martin Wishart and Heron. The widespread recession of the late 1980s brought development to a halt but it restarted in 1993 and from that point began a meteoric rise... going from one of the least desirable parts of the city to one of the most desirable. Rightly or wrongly it is perceived as a new

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

stronghold despite the majority of new housing projects being for

Port of Leith Housing Association A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchest ...

Transport

Buses

Lothian Buses Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council (through Transport for Edinburgh) owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothia ...

service 15, 35 and 36 all stop on The Shore.

Tram

The Shore tram stop opened to passengers in June 2023. It is located 200 metres east along

Bernard Street 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 ...

at the northern junction of Constitution Street. The north end of The Shore is also in close proximity to the Port of Leith tramstop, via Tower Place.

Buildings/Structures of Note

see

* Lamb's House – just off the Shore, a rare merchant's house of 1630 restored 2012 *Signal Tower – originally built as a windmill atop a four-storey stepped stone base in 1685, converted to a signal tower in the Napoleonic Wars *20 Shore – preserved doorway from 1678 *The King's Wark – rebuilt in 1705 and restored 1972 as Housing Association flats over pub *Preserved Door south of Kings Wark – 1711 *Malt & Hops public house – 1745 one of the oldest public houses in Scotland (but somewhat altered) *The Cooperage – built as a warehouse around 1760, the first warehouse conversion in Leith *The metal edge on the west side (next to the Cooperage) marks Scotland's first

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

1771 *Sandport Bridge – 1780 with central section built in 1950 to replace the rising drawbridge *A large circular iron cover on the face of the eastern stone river edge marks where Scotland's first sewer (1785) on Bernard Street, flowed into the river. *Customs House – 1812 *Old Ship Inn – 1860s with 17th c carved stone plus a model ship (John Boy) on frontage (Over "The Ship" puplic house) *Malmaison Hotel – built as a Seamen's Hostel "The Angel" 1883 *Statue of Sandy Irvine Robertson on a bench – north end 1995 *Faux lighthouse (north end) – 1995 made from salvaged sections of a larger lighthouse from

Burntisland Burntisland ( , ) is a former Royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. The town has a population of 6,269 (2011). Burntisland is known ...

*Modern harpoon (north end just beyond the dividing wall) – 1950s harpoon donated in 1996 when

Christian Salvesen Christian Salvesen was a Scottish whaling, transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in western Europe. In December 2007, it was acquired by France, French listed tr ...

moved their HQ out of Leith *

Rostral column A rostral column is a type of victory column originating in ancient Greece and Rome, where they were erected to commemorate a naval military victory. Its defining characteristic is the integrated prows or Naval ram, rams of ships, representing ...

monument to the Merchant Navy Seamen – north end 2010 *Ronaldsons Wharf – voted best brownfield redevelopment of 2004 *New pivoting dock gates – installed to accommodate crowds at the Tall Ships Race in 1995

Lost features

Ramage & Ferguson Ramage & Ferguson was a Scottish shipbuilder active from 1877 to 1934, who specialised in luxury steam yachts, usually with steel hulls and timber decks. They also made several notable windjammers, including the five-masted . History Th ...

shipyard stood to the north-west – closed 1935 last remnants demolished 1985 *The Adam fireplace company brought in their marbles and timber here and had their masons yard on Bernard Street – closed 1820 *Catchpell House, the first Royal Tennis court in Edinburgh (destroyed 1695) *The several groups of listed warehouses on Timber Bush were destroyed in an arson attack in 1983. *The group of listed buildings close to Broad Wynd were demolished around 1975 *

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

's only tenement, which stood at the west end of Sandport Street, was demolished in 1978 to create a car park *

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

's house (c. 1530) stood on Queen St until 1849 – now called Shore Place *Leith's first Episcopal chapel (housed in a building dated 1516) stood on Queen Street (Shore Place) just north of Mary of Guise's house. In 1865 this was converted into a temperance hall

Memorials

*Plaque to the landing point of Mary Queen of Scots (set into stone on river edge opposite the Kings Wark) *Bust of Vice Admiral John Hunter governor of Australia at dock gates – gifted by Australia in 1996 *A rather subtle 6m long inlay of metal in the cobbles at the south end of the Shore represents the course of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shore, Leith Areas of Edinburgh Leith