Great Junction Street is a street in Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

, on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It runs south east to north west following approximately the southwestmost line of the old city walls around Leith. While some sections existed c.1800, it was not planned as a continuous road, reaching all the way to Ferry Road from the foot of Leith Walk, until 1860. Its main function was to serve as a bypass to the narrow and busy medieval streets of Old Leith to the north east. It was aimed at commercial traffic rather than pedestrian use, and arguably that can still be felt today. The trams of the early 20th century were discontinued in 1956. There are now plans to reinstate a modern tram link, connecting Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport is located at Turnhouse in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2010, handling just under 8.6 million passengers in that year. It was also the sixth busiest airport in the UK by passengers and the fifth busiest by aircraft movements...

 and Newhaven

Newhaven, Edinburgh

Newhaven is a district in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, between Leith and Granton. Formerly a village and harbour on the Firth of Forth, it currently has approximately 5,000 inhabitants....

. This will not run along Great Junction street as it formerly did, but there will be a tram stop at Constitution Street

Constitution Street

Constitution Street runs from the foot of Leith Walk north to Leith docks in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. Constitution Street will form part of the future Edinburgh Trams network, although the section of the line running from Leith Walk to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre has been delayed until...

 at its south-eastern end.

The street was the site of a triumphal arch

Triumphal arch

A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...

 which was constructed for the reception of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Prince Albert

Prince Albert was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria.Prince Albert may also refer to:-Royalty:*Prince Albert Edward or Edward VII of the United Kingdom , son of Albert and Victoria...

 in 1842. Great crowds attended this despite the heavy rain. Prince Albert added to the general merriment of the occasion by observing that he supposed that this was just a Scotch mist

Drizzle

Drizzle is a light rain precipitation consisting of liquid water drops smaller than those of rain, and generally smaller than 0.5 mm in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation rates due to drizzle are on the order of a millimetre...

.

The street was traditionally Leith's main shopping street. It has been somewhat depressed since the late 1970s, and contains many low-grade modern shopfronts, but still remains relatively vibrant.

People from Leith often refer to Great Junction Street as Junkie Street, omitting the Great part. North Junction Street lies at its extreme west end. It is connected to the area known as the Shore via Henderson Street

Henderson Street

Henderson Street is a street in Leith, a district of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It forms a curving artery between Great Junction Street and an area known as the Shore, where the Water of Leith river runs into the Port of Leith/Leith Docks...

.

Buildings

Although typified by tenements the tenements in their own right are not necessarily typical. Great Junction Street has an abnormal number of flat-roofed tenements. These survived the ravages of the Scottish weather due to their novel construction; three inches of horse hair and tar (strong, flexible and impervious). These roofs normally survive well until tackled by Housing Repair Grant projects, which invariably replace them with felt, not appreciating the duarability and value of the original roof.
Other buildings of note are the old Leith Provident building of the Leith Co-operative Society with its dome supported by large lead pilasters making it a local landmark. The central warehousing (east of Cables Wynd) was built originally as a wine vault overlooking fields to the south. It was bought by Crabbie's whisky and served as a bonded warehouse for most of the 20th century, being greatly expanded on its west side. Crabbie's Green Ginger was made in a small modern building on the east side (now demolished). The warehouse also served to mature many of the famous whiskies, which largely came to Leith to mature. This building was internally labelled in rows for Talisker

Talisker

Talisker is an Island Single Malt Scotch whisky produced by the Talisker Distillery, Carbost, Scotland; the only distillery on the Isle of Skye. The distillery is operated by United Distillers and Vintners for Diageo, and is marketed as part of their Classic Malts series...

, Laphroaig

Laphroaig

Laphroaig , is an Islay single malt Scotch whisky distillery and brand name. It is named for the area of land at the head of Loch Laphroaig on the south coast of the Isle of Islay...

 and so on. Following sale to United Distillers

United Distillers

United Distillers was a Scottish company formed in 1987 from combining the businesses of Distillers Company and Arthur Bell & Sons, both owned by Guinness. The company owned six Scotch whisky brands, which were relaunched as the Classic Malts range...

 it was closed down and has now been converted to flats.

On the south side of the road, Junction Place, shows where a collection of public buildings formerly stood. "Fire Engine House", stepping into the street midway, was a horse-drawn fire service, the gates opening onto the narrowest part of the roadway. It linked to "Fireman's Row" now a gap site to the north side of Junction Street, and known to most Leithers as the Relax Supermarket site. At the very end of Junction Place stood Leith Electricity Generating Station, a surprisingly domestic scale building erected in 1895 to provide electric street lights, but having a bronze plaque to explain its creation. On the west side Dr Bell's School of 1839 operated the Madras System of Education. Behind it, Leith Swimming Baths (now restored) linked to the Public Baths (i.e. rows of enamel baths) and Laundry (both now demolished to create the Victoria Swim Centre). The baths were in use until the late 1970s, due to the high number of Leith dwellings lacking bathrooms up to that time.

Taylor Gardens

Taylor Gardens is the small pocket park at the west end of Great Junction Street.

It was formed in 1920, following the demolition of South Leith Poorhouse

Poorhouse

A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....

. Unusually for the period, that was not the end of Leith's poorhouse: a new poorhouse was built at Seafield in 1923, converted to a military hospital in 1939, then a normal hospital, the Eastern General, in 1946. It in turn was demolished in 2008.

The park area was created as part of a project linked to Leith Hospital, immediately to the north. In an Act of 1919 all local authorities were obliged to erect war memorials. There were strict guidelines on their form. Leith appealled to the authorities to request that a new wing be built on the hospital instead; specifically a children's wing. This was agreed, but clearly cost a lot more in terms of public subscription. The wing, which faces Taylor Gardens, therefore reads "Leith War Memorial" along the top, with various military badges and emblems also carved. Since the hospital's conversion to housing in the early 21st century, a new plinth has been erected in Taylor Gardens in order to lay wreaths on Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, or alternative dates, are also recognized as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth...

.

On the north-west side of the gardens (on Mill Lane) stands a two storey building dating from 1822. This was built as a school for the poorhouse, with boys on one floor and girls on the other. This was the first free education provided to females in this area. It was replaced by a new pair of schools (one for girls one for boys) further along Mill Lane, in 1838. These were built by Sir John Gladstone of Leith, William Gladstone's father. This connection led to the first-mentioned ex-school being named "Gladstones".