St Mary's Kirk and the Preceptory of St Anthony

Category

Library Item

Item no

36243

Title

Page from Leith Miscellany, volume I, St Mary's Kirk and the Preceptory of St Anthony from the Petworth map 1560

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1560

Type

Map; Photograph; Reproduction

In about 1483 a chapel dedicated to St Mary was built on the site of the present South Leith Parish Church. It was seriously damaged in 1560 when English warships opposed to Mary of Guise bombarded Leith.

The Preceptory of St Anthony, built in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, was the Church or Monastery of the Knights of St Anthony, who came into Scotland from Northern France. The Preceptory (Monastery and enclosed Monastic grounds) occupied the area from what is now the foot of Leith Walk along Great Junction St, along the Water of Leith to Parliament Street and then across to Constitution Street and back to the foot of Leith Walk.

The Preceptory continued in existence until 1560 when all links with France were broken. James the VI annexed the Preceptory to the Crown then unannexed it in 1593 because it was discovered that it was not church property. The property then passed through several hands and eventually under crown charter was passed to the Session of South Leith Church in 1614 to found a hospice, later the King James VI hospital which continued in existence until 1822.

The Petworth map is thought to have been sketched the day after the French surrendered at the siege of Leith on the 6th of June 1560, at a scale of 'eightye paces to ane ynche' (400 feet to an inch). It shows where the siege fortifications were built, and other features of the landscape of Leith at the time. The original is at Petworth House in Sussex, the home of a descendant of the Percy family who were at the siege. A copy is displayed at South Leith Parish Church.

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Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

Landscape > Land > Coastlines

Landscape > Land > Hills

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious communities > Monasteries

Religion > Religious facilities > Churches

Transport > Water > Ships