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Subject = "Leith"
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Entrance to the Citadel
Unknown, 1900, Press cutting
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of 2,409
Entrance to the Citadel
Entrance to the Citadel
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Location
Category
Library Item
Item no
38594
Title
Entrance to the Citadel
Artist / maker
Unknown
Engraver
Unknown
Date
1900
Size
13.9 x 10.2 cm
Type
Press cutting
Entrance to the Citadel: The arch is Original. The house above is early 19th Century. This is the View from inside the Citadel looking Towards Johnston Street.
In the 1650s Scotland was ruled by Oliver Cromwell's London-based government. Leith was occupied by a Cromwellian army commanded by General Monck following a heavy defeat at Dunbar. He decided to strengthen the defences of Leith and at one stage proposed to surround the entire town with fortification. This alarmed the Town Council of Edinburgh who offered £5,000 towards the cost of building a Citadel instead.
The Citadel built in North Leith by Monck was a large pentagonal construction with walls faced with hewn stone. It had five bastions, with barracks and stone building for magazines and stores and also houses for the governor and officers. It is hard today to realise the size as only one gate, or port, remains on the west side of Dock Street, but the area covered was Dock Street, Coburg Street, Couper Street, then following the line of the old 1560 fortifications to what is now Commercial Street.
Exhibitions with this item
Leith Miscellany XIII
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