Foreign Ambassadors Hotel, Netherbow Port

Category

Library Item

Item no

1045

Title

Hotel of foreign Ambassadors without the Netherbow Port. Leith Wynd

Description

A busy street scene in the Old Town, Edinburgh. The road is on an incline and many men and women stand in the street. Horses and carts carry people and goods. There are tall tenements and the corner of a building in the foreground has a lamp attached. In the background is a steep street with the new Town visible in the distance.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1826

Size

18 x 22 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The Netherbow Port was the main gateway into the burgh of Edinburgh. It stood between the Canongate and the High Street. People entering the burgh had to pay a fee at the gate. It was demolished in 1764. Brass cobbles in the street now mark where it stood.

Leith Wynd, Edinburgh. Leith Wynd led from the Burgh of Canongate to Leith and was situated opposite St. Mary's Street off the High Street. It was demolished due to the 1867 Improvement Act and was replaced by Jeffrey Street and Cranston Street. The house on the corner of Leith Wynd was that of John Grant, Baron of the Exchequer in the 1770s. The building to the west housed the Excise Office, located at the Netherbow until 1730.

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Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

People > Adults > Men

People > Adults > Women

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh areas > Royal Mile

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Sport and leisure > Public accommodation facilities > Hotels

Transport > Land > Horse and carts

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