Henderson Street
Encyclopedia
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. Henderson Street lies within the boundaries of the Leith Conservation Area and includes several listed buildings.
The street is named after John Henderson, M.D. (1819–1901), a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
and Provost of Leith from
1875-81. Dr. Henderson worked to secure the implementation of the Leith Improvement Scheme (see below) which ultimately led to the street being built.
known as the Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Act, (Leith Improvement Scheme) in 1880. The construction of the street required that 18 pre-existing 'Closes' be demolished in order to make way for the new buildings and layout. At that time, housing conditions in this part of Leith were very poor. Housing was overcrowded, poverty
and ill health were rife and infant mortality
was particularly high. Consequently, it was hoped that the creation of Henderson Street would improve living conditions for the local residents.
The street was set out to be 50 ft wide and made up predominantly of residential houses (these to be in the Scottish vernacular, Victorian Tenement
style) and frequently including commercial/retail spaces at ground level.
Henderson Street took many years to complete, with records (available from Edinburgh City Archives) showing petitions to build new dwelling houses spanning many years - from the latter 1880s through into the 1890s.
These include, from the period 1887–1901: joiner
s, contractors, carters, midwives, ladies' nurses, invalid attendants, seamen, master mariners, apprentice engineers, wire-weavers, spirit merchants, fruiterers, master baker
s, elementary teachers and scholars.
Businesses on the street included Draper
s, Hosiers and Glove
rs, Dairies, an Inland Revenue
Office and, from 1891–1900, a William Hope and S Hope ran the Leith Herald Office publishing the Leith Herald newspaper from 12 Henderson Street. Interestingly, No. 12 is still home to a printers (Skyline Printers) as of 2011.
The street did, therefore, provide dwellings for artisans and labourers. Accommodation would have been rented out to these occupants. The Census
of 1891 and 1901 show that many of the flats housed, by contemporary standards, large families (sometimes six to eight people, occasionally with the addition of a live-in lodger or maid). These large families lived in what, by modern standards, would be considered a comfortably sized two bedroom flat.
Today, the tenement flats of Henderson Street are in private ownership; owner-occupied or privately rented out. The street might loosely be described as a mixture of old Leith families with long ties to the area; blow-ins (who moved in during the property boom of the late 1990s and early Noughties) and transient local and migrant worker
s who rent in the area.
urban architecture
and there are several listed buildings on the street and in the immediate vicinity. Turning onto Henderson Street from Great Junction Street, Number 2, Henderson Street (currently housing a Greggs Bakery) has been B Listed since 1995. Above the corner entrance is a detailed carving of the head of the Sea God, Neptune
– perhaps chosen to reflect the close proximity and importance of the sea to the Port of Leith. This building also has a carved stone plaque commemorating it as the first project of the Leith Improvement Scheme. It was built in 1885 and possibly designed by the architect Archibald Thomson.
) and also Leith Hospital at King Street and Mill Lane (now converted for residential use).
Simpson was responsible for the design of the building on Henderson Street now known as 'Academia' — recently converted to residential use — formerly St Mary's workshops, and originally designed by him as Yardheads School. Although the front entrance is on nearby Giles Street, the rear of the building faces onto (and forms) a significant section of the Henderson Street layout. This school was purpose built in 1875 at a cost of £3,807. Around that time, it had four hundred children on the roll and nine teachers, with one classroom being able to accommodate 126 children. The building has been C listed since 1995. At the Shore end of Henderson Street, (odd numbers 73—91A) there is a noteworthy example of a sandstone residential and commercial building with intricate, detailed carvings and masonry work. It is currently home to The Raj, Indian Restaurant.(i) This was also designed by James Simpson,was built in 1891, and has been C Listed since 1977. Simpson's signature and the date are still clearly visible on the stonework.
Just off Henderson Street, on Parliament Street, is another example of Simpson's work: a Model Lodging House, which was built in 1893 with the aim of providing cheap, clean, overnight accommodation to transient workers in the area. It is still used to provide temporary accommodation by Canmore Housing Association (ii). A plaque above the door of this substantial building commemorates its purpose and those involved in its erection. The Model Lodging House has been C Listed since 1995.
Numbers 59—61 Henderson Street are also attributed to Simpson.
, a time capsule
was buried in the building during the ceremony that took place for the laying of the Foundation Stone. This sandstone building, which is still in use as a Masonic Lodge
, has been C Listed since 1995 and has many masonic symbols and decorative motifs carved into the stonework on the front elevation.
, as a craft, and freemasonry
, as a guild, within the area in the late nineteenth century.
now has its church halls(iii). This large, ornate, Italianate structure was to last less than a hundred years. It was demolished in 1975; despite some protest and an attempt to get it listed in order to prevent its destruction. The current church hall building was opened on July 2, 1982 by the Duke of Edinburgh
,. A small stone relief from the earlier church can still be seen inset into the fascia of the current church halls, near the entrance. This relief and a time capsule (discovered in the foundations of the church during its demolition and then reburied under the new structure) are all that remain of the Kirkgate United Presbyterian Church on Henderson Street.
The warehouses at Yardheads had various extensions and additions over time. Parts of the existing buildings date to 1825 and had formed part of an earlier Yardheads Brewery which made porter. All of the historic sections of the Crabbies Warehouse complex have been B listed since 1990. The buildings were converted into flats in 2000.
There does seem to be general agreement from most sources that this monastery was on a large site; with monastic dwelling houses located roughly around the site of what is now the Kirkgate carpark, the Trafalgar Masonic Lodge, South Leith Parish Church Halls and some of the Henderson Street tenements. A burial ground was located to the south of these structures extending towards Great Junction Street. This has been substantiated by the discovery of a burial site in this location during the laying of gas pipes in St Anthony Street. The site of the monastery reputedly extended down to Henderson Gardens and all along the street still known as Yardheads. It is thought that the street name 'Yardheads' may derive from the old Germanic stem, in which the word Yard means a garden or orchard. This would suggest the monastery had large gardens and orchards extending to this point. It is said that the monastery suffered great damage during the Siege of Leith
in 1560. After the Scottish Reformation
the monastery was allowed to languish; other buildings being gradually erected in its place and removing all physical traces of its existence. The Seal of the Preceptory of St Anthony (used to authenticate official paperwork of the hospital / monastery and dating from the mid 1500s) is held at the National Museum of Scotland
.
(iv) with The Vintners Rooms(v), a well known restaurant, below it.
The construction of Henderson Street, in the late nineteenth century, caused the pre-existing yards of the Vaults to be reduced in size, as it was necessary for the new street to cut through their existing land; the current boundary wall dates from the late 19th century, and maps of the area before and after Henderson Street was built also make this clear.
On Henderson Street, about halfway along the length of this wall, a stone tablet known as the Porters Stone is inlaid into the stone work. As stated on the plaque beneath it, this is a copy of the original Porters Stone. The original carving dates from 1678 and gives a pictorial representation of how wine was unloaded and transported through Leith at that time — showing the Porters of Leith at work. The Porters Stone was originally located at Tolbooth Wynd, which lies at the Shore end of Henderson Street. All traces of the old Tolbooth Wynd have since been demolished and replaced by modern flats (though the name remains). The old Tolbooth Wynd led to Leith's Kirkgate and formed a major thoroughfare to and from the Shore until Henderson Street was built. The Porters were a trade guild — one of the many important and sometimes very powerful trade guilds of Leith's past.
The replica stone, visible on Henderson Street today, was carved by Cumbrian sculptor (and former Merchant Navy Seaman) Shawn Williamson in 1990. The original was considered too fragile to be reinstated and is now on display in the Museum of Edinburgh
.
City Of Edinburgh Council Parks Department. It was refurbished in 1983 as part of the Leith Project and has a plaque at the Yardheads entrance commemorating this. It contains a small children's play area, the rest being mainly laid to grass with some seating, and is bordered by shrubs and trees.
es designed in the 1930s by, the then City Architect, E.J. MacRae.
, a shamrock
and a tudor rose
which are national floral emblem
s and used in the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom
. These cast iron lamps were made by Mc Dowall, Steven & Co., London and Glasgow, who were based at the Milton Works in Glasgow circa 1862—1909. There are several more of the same street lamps further along from Henderson Street, on the Shore, which – painted to show off their design work – provide the most easily visible examples of the detail work on these lamps.
's 2007 TV drama "Wedding Belles" were filmed on Henderson Street. The screenplay for Wedding Belles was scripted by Leith-born writer, Irvine Welsh
.
As of 2011 it is home to a wide range of restaurants and cafés. At Number 21—23 is Mitchells Café and Take Away, which claims to be the oldest café in Leith; while this claim is unverified, the premises has certainly been operating in café format since at least 1924, when it opened its doors as an Italian ice cream parlour. Many long-time Leithers still refer to Mitchells as Lannys; so ingrained is the old ice cream cafe in their memories.
. (The Leith-born artist Eduardo Paolozzi
provides the most internationally well known example of the Italian migratory influence on Leith). Angelo Lanny was not alone in establishing a business on Henderson Street; at around the same period the street was also home to a fish and chip shop called 'Joe De Ponio's', an Italian Barbers called 'Galletta's', and a large-scale fish and chip shop/café called Scappiticci's. (Scappiticci's was located around numbers 85—91 Henderson Street, where the Raj, Indian Restaurant(i) is now).
The Italians of Henderson Street (and Leith in general) were also not immune to the results of Benito Mussolini
siding with Hitler in World War II
. Like many other Italian businesses, Angelo Lanny's shop was attacked and looted as a result of a new wave of anti-Italian feeling amongst some of the local population, and as was typical at the time Lanny was subsequently interned. So too was Joe Di Ponio, and the Scappiticci's were personally affected by the loss of a relative when the ship SS Arandora Star, bound for Newfoundland
, transporting Italian and German interns, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat
off the coast of Ireland. In all, 486 Italian and 175 German deportees were killed and the incident resulted in the British Government changing their policy on deporting interns overseas. Although those who can remember these incidents first hand were only children at that time, they made a deep impression. The 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora in 2010 also brought these wartime events back into focus. The extract quoted to the right is from a poem by a Leith-born author and reflects his sentiments on those events:
The fact that Scappaticci's would eventually be replaced by the Raj Indian restaurant(i) is indicative of the post war influx of Asian immigrants to Scotland and the popularity of their food with the local population. The same could be said for the presence of Henderson Street's Chinese restaurant, Golden Bridge (vii). More recently, one of Henderson Street's oldest bars, The Bay Horse (located at number 63—65 and in operation as a spirit merchant since 1897) has succumbed to this international influence. Early photographic records show The Bay Horse circa 1910. Its proprietor, at that time, was a Charles G. Lane, who had been in possession of the pub since 1902. In the 1990s, the bar became Kalinka's(ix), a vodka bar operated by a Russian Countess and since 2005, the pub has once again been reincarnated as Sofi's(vi), now with a Swedish theme and Swedish owners.
, the continuation of the Vaults' historic merchant associations with the alcohol trade seem assured for the present.
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
, a district of the city 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. It forms a curving artery between Great Junction Street
Great Junction Street
Great Junction Street is a street in Leith, on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. 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...
and an area known as the Shore, where the Water of Leith
Water of Leith
The Water of Leith is the main river flowing through Edinburgh, Scotland, to the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.It is long and rises in the Colzium Springs at Millstone Rig of the Pentland Hills...
river runs into the Port of Leith/Leith Docks. Henderson Street lies within the boundaries of the Leith Conservation Area and includes several listed buildings.
The street is named after John Henderson, M.D. (1819–1901), a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is an organisation dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and advancement in surgical practice, through its interest in education, training and examinations, its liaison with external medical bodies and representation of the modern surgical workforce...
and Provost of Leith from
1875-81. Dr. Henderson worked to secure the implementation of the Leith Improvement Scheme (see below) which ultimately led to the street being built.
Construction and history
Henderson Street was built as part of the Leith Improvement Scheme, a Bill which became an Act of ParliamentParliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
known as the Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Act, (Leith Improvement Scheme) in 1880. The construction of the street required that 18 pre-existing 'Closes' be demolished in order to make way for the new buildings and layout. At that time, housing conditions in this part of Leith were very poor. Housing was overcrowded, poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and ill health were rife and infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
was particularly high. Consequently, it was hoped that the creation of Henderson Street would improve living conditions for the local residents.
The street was set out to be 50 ft wide and made up predominantly of residential houses (these to be in the Scottish vernacular, Victorian Tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
style) and frequently including commercial/retail spaces at ground level.
Henderson Street took many years to complete, with records (available from Edinburgh City Archives) showing petitions to build new dwelling houses spanning many years - from the latter 1880s through into the 1890s.
Development
Henderson Street first appeared in the Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories in the year 1886/87. Only entries for numbers 1 and 2 are displayed and list residents, suggesting that the rest of the street was still under construction. Over the following ten years, more and more entries and house numbers appear. Though a listing in the P.O. directories was not automatic (and did require payment of a charge), the listings available give some indication of the kind of early residents and businesses on the street.These include, from the period 1887–1901: joiner
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
s, contractors, carters, midwives, ladies' nurses, invalid attendants, seamen, master mariners, apprentice engineers, wire-weavers, spirit merchants, fruiterers, master baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
s, elementary teachers and scholars.
Businesses on the street included Draper
Cloth merchant
Cloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...
s, Hosiers and Glove
Glove
A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb; if there is an opening but no covering sheath for each finger they are called "fingerless gloves". Fingerless gloves with one large opening rather than individual openings for each...
rs, Dairies, an Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
Office and, from 1891–1900, a William Hope and S Hope ran the Leith Herald Office publishing the Leith Herald newspaper from 12 Henderson Street. Interestingly, No. 12 is still home to a printers (Skyline Printers) as of 2011.
The street did, therefore, provide dwellings for artisans and labourers. Accommodation would have been rented out to these occupants. The Census
Census in the United Kingdom
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...
of 1891 and 1901 show that many of the flats housed, by contemporary standards, large families (sometimes six to eight people, occasionally with the addition of a live-in lodger or maid). These large families lived in what, by modern standards, would be considered a comfortably sized two bedroom flat.
Today, the tenement flats of Henderson Street are in private ownership; owner-occupied or privately rented out. The street might loosely be described as a mixture of old Leith families with long ties to the area; blow-ins (who moved in during the property boom of the late 1990s and early Noughties) and transient local and migrant worker
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
s who rent in the area.
Victorian architecture
Henderson Street is home to some fine examples of VictorianVictorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
urban architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and there are several listed buildings on the street and in the immediate vicinity. Turning onto Henderson Street from Great Junction Street, Number 2, Henderson Street (currently housing a Greggs Bakery) has been B Listed since 1995. Above the corner entrance is a detailed carving of the head of the Sea God, Neptune
Neptune (mythology)
Neptune was the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology and religion. He is analogous with, but not identical to, the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over one of the three realms of the universe,...
– perhaps chosen to reflect the close proximity and importance of the sea to the Port of Leith. This building also has a carved stone plaque commemorating it as the first project of the Leith Improvement Scheme. It was built in 1885 and possibly designed by the architect Archibald Thomson.
James Simpson
Scottish architect, James Simpson,(1832–94) held the positions of Town Architect of Leith and, for a period, was architect to the Leith School Board around the time when Henderson Street was under development. He worked on many notable buildings in Leith including Leith Town Hall on Queen Charlotte Street (now Leith Police StationConstitution 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...
) and also Leith Hospital at King Street and Mill Lane (now converted for residential use).
Simpson was responsible for the design of the building on Henderson Street now known as 'Academia' — recently converted to residential use — formerly St Mary's workshops, and originally designed by him as Yardheads School. Although the front entrance is on nearby Giles Street, the rear of the building faces onto (and forms) a significant section of the Henderson Street layout. This school was purpose built in 1875 at a cost of £3,807. Around that time, it had four hundred children on the roll and nine teachers, with one classroom being able to accommodate 126 children. The building has been C listed since 1995. At the Shore end of Henderson Street, (odd numbers 73—91A) there is a noteworthy example of a sandstone residential and commercial building with intricate, detailed carvings and masonry work. It is currently home to The Raj, Indian Restaurant.(i) This was also designed by James Simpson,was built in 1891, and has been C Listed since 1977. Simpson's signature and the date are still clearly visible on the stonework.
Just off Henderson Street, on Parliament Street, is another example of Simpson's work: a Model Lodging House, which was built in 1893 with the aim of providing cheap, clean, overnight accommodation to transient workers in the area. It is still used to provide temporary accommodation by Canmore Housing Association (ii). A plaque above the door of this substantial building commemorates its purpose and those involved in its erection. The Model Lodging House has been C Listed since 1995.
Numbers 59—61 Henderson Street are also attributed to Simpson.
George Craig
Simpson's successor, as architect to the Leith School Board, was his former apprentice George Craig (1852–1928). In 1888, Craig, a Freemason, designed the Trafalgar Masonic Hall on St Anthony Lane, just off Henderson Street. According to a report in The ScotsmanThe Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, a time capsule
Time capsule
A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
was buried in the building during the ceremony that took place for the laying of the Foundation Stone. This sandstone building, which is still in use as a Masonic Lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
, has been C Listed since 1995 and has many masonic symbols and decorative motifs carved into the stonework on the front elevation.
Masonic symbols on Henderson St
Masonic symbols are also visible on Numbers 2 and 4 Henderson Street near the decorative carving of the Head of Neptune; additional symbols on this building are currently covered over by shop hoardings. There are also masonic symbols visible on the stonework of Number 14 (on the front fascia at third floor level). The quantity of masonic motifs appears to reflect the elevated status of both stonemasonryStonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, as a craft, and freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, as a guild, within the area in the late nineteenth century.
Lost Victorian buildings
In 1885, architects James M Thomson and Robert Thornton Shiells won a competition to produce a design for the Kirkgate United Presbyterian Church (also known as St Anthony's Church). The church was located at the Great Junction Street end of Henderson Street (on the corner of Henderson and St Anthony Street). It opened in 1886 on the site where South Leith Parish ChurchSouth Leith Parish Church
South Leith Parish Church or Kirk is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home, author of Douglas, and John Pew, the man from whom the author Robert Louis Stevenson reputedly...
now has its church halls(iii). This large, ornate, Italianate structure was to last less than a hundred years. It was demolished in 1975; despite some protest and an attempt to get it listed in order to prevent its destruction. The current church hall building was opened on July 2, 1982 by the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...
,. A small stone relief from the earlier church can still be seen inset into the fascia of the current church halls, near the entrance. This relief and a time capsule (discovered in the foundations of the church during its demolition and then reburied under the new structure) are all that remain of the Kirkgate United Presbyterian Church on Henderson Street.
Yardheads distillery
Just off Henderson Street is the street known as Yardheads, on which is a large group of warehouses formerly known as Crabbies Warehouse. These warehouses formed a distillery which produced a well known Scottish drink, Crabbies Green Ginger Wine. Crabbies Wine was first created and distilled in Leith in 1801. John Crabbie & Co. moved to the Yardheads premises in the 1850s where they would continue to produce their Green Ginger Wine for more than a Century. Crabbies Ginger Wine (and ginger beer) are still made in Scotland today, though the distilling and bottling process ceased at Yardheads in the 1990s and manufacturing has now been relocated from Leith.The warehouses at Yardheads had various extensions and additions over time. Parts of the existing buildings date to 1825 and had formed part of an earlier Yardheads Brewery which made porter. All of the historic sections of the Crabbies Warehouse complex have been B listed since 1990. The buildings were converted into flats in 2000.
St Anthony Street, St Anthony Place and St Anthony Lane
Today, the short streets known as St Anthony Place, St Anthony Street and St Anthony Lane serve as an entrance / exit route from Henderson Street to the modern Kirkgate Shopping Centre car park. The names date back many hundreds of years and reveal much about the ancient landscape of the area. Long before the construction of Henderson Street (and before the existence of the eighteen closes that were demolished to make way for it) on the site of these streets and in the surrounding area was a monastery dedicated to St Anthony. It was known as St Anthony's Preceptory or Monastery. There is disagreement about the date of foundation of the monastery and also over by whom it was founded. Some sources use 1430 as a guide date for its inception and other sources claim it came into existence, in the form of a hospital for the poor, much earlier — possibly as early as 1327.There does seem to be general agreement from most sources that this monastery was on a large site; with monastic dwelling houses located roughly around the site of what is now the Kirkgate carpark, the Trafalgar Masonic Lodge, South Leith Parish Church Halls and some of the Henderson Street tenements. A burial ground was located to the south of these structures extending towards Great Junction Street. This has been substantiated by the discovery of a burial site in this location during the laying of gas pipes in St Anthony Street. The site of the monastery reputedly extended down to Henderson Gardens and all along the street still known as Yardheads. It is thought that the street name 'Yardheads' may derive from the old Germanic stem, in which the word Yard means a garden or orchard. This would suggest the monastery had large gardens and orchards extending to this point. It is said that the monastery suffered great damage during the Siege of Leith
Siege of Leith
The Siege of Leith ended a twelve year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. The French troops arrived by invitation in 1548 and left in 1560 after the English arrived to assist in removing them from Scotland...
in 1560. After the Scottish Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
the monastery was allowed to languish; other buildings being gradually erected in its place and removing all physical traces of its existence. The Seal of the Preceptory of St Anthony (used to authenticate official paperwork of the hospital / monastery and dating from the mid 1500s) is held at the National Museum of Scotland
National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the Royal Museum next door, with collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world...
.
The Vaults and The Porters Stone
Turning the corner on Henderson Street, passing Henderson Gardens and heading down towards the Shore, on the right hand side is the high stone boundary wall of the Vaults. The (A listed) Vaults have existed for centuries, though the building has had many transformations. The buildings have consistently been connected to the wine (Bordeaux / Claret) and spirit trade — important businesses for many centuries in the port of Leith. Today, the Vaults are home to the Scotch Malt Whisky SocietyThe Scotch Malt Whisky Society
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society , founded in Edinburgh in 1983, is a membership organisation which bottles and sells single cask, single malt whisky. It purchases individual casks from more than 125 malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and throughout the world, bottles them and retails directly to...
(iv) with The Vintners Rooms(v), a well known restaurant, below it.
The construction of Henderson Street, in the late nineteenth century, caused the pre-existing yards of the Vaults to be reduced in size, as it was necessary for the new street to cut through their existing land; the current boundary wall dates from the late 19th century, and maps of the area before and after Henderson Street was built also make this clear.
On Henderson Street, about halfway along the length of this wall, a stone tablet known as the Porters Stone is inlaid into the stone work. As stated on the plaque beneath it, this is a copy of the original Porters Stone. The original carving dates from 1678 and gives a pictorial representation of how wine was unloaded and transported through Leith at that time — showing the Porters of Leith at work. The Porters Stone was originally located at Tolbooth Wynd, which lies at the Shore end of Henderson Street. All traces of the old Tolbooth Wynd have since been demolished and replaced by modern flats (though the name remains). The old Tolbooth Wynd led to Leith's Kirkgate and formed a major thoroughfare to and from the Shore until Henderson Street was built. The Porters were a trade guild — one of the many important and sometimes very powerful trade guilds of Leith's past.
The replica stone, visible on Henderson Street today, was carved by Cumbrian sculptor (and former Merchant Navy Seaman) Shawn Williamson in 1990. The original was considered too fragile to be reinstated and is now on display in the Museum of Edinburgh
Museum of Edinburgh
The Museum of Edinburgh is a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland, depicting the town's origins, history and legends. Situated in the late 16th-century Huntly House on the Royal Mile, it is maintained by Edinburgh City Council.-External links:*...
.
Henderson Gardens Park
Henderson Street has a small green space known as Henderson Gardens Park, now operated byCity Of Edinburgh Council Parks Department. It was refurbished in 1983 as part of the Leith Project and has a plaque at the Yardheads entrance commemorating this. It contains a small children's play area, the rest being mainly laid to grass with some seating, and is bordered by shrubs and trees.
Police box
Henderson Street is also home to one of Edinburgh's famous police boxPolice box
A police box is a British telephone kiosk or callbox located in a public place for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police...
es designed in the 1930s by, the then City Architect, E.J. MacRae.
Street lighting
A number of original Victorian Cast Iron Street lamps are still in use on Henderson Street today. Though it is evident, from old photographs of the area, that these lamps were once part of a larger urban lighting scheme and were extremely prevalent throughout Leith, there are remarkably few left standing today. These street lights are unique to this area – apparent from the 'Persevere' Insignia which adorns the base section of each lamp. Also on the base section of the lamps is the image of a woman and child at sea in a ship with the Latin Inscription 'Sigillum Opidi De Leith', which translates as 'Seal of the Town of Leith'. (The insignia is also visible on several Victorian civic buildings in Leith). Decorative motifs on the lamp heads include: a thistleThistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
, a shamrock
Shamrock
The shamrock is a three-leafed old white clover. It is known as a symbol of Ireland. The name shamrock is derived from Irish , which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover ....
and a tudor rose
Tudor rose
The Tudor Rose is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the Tudor dynasty.-Origins:...
which are national floral emblem
Floral emblem
In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to adopt these symbols - some are conferred by...
s and used in the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion...
. These cast iron lamps were made by Mc Dowall, Steven & Co., London and Glasgow, who were based at the Milton Works in Glasgow circa 1862—1909. There are several more of the same street lamps further along from Henderson Street, on the Shore, which – painted to show off their design work – provide the most easily visible examples of the detail work on these lamps.
Television
Several location scenes for Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's 2007 TV drama "Wedding Belles" were filmed on Henderson Street. The screenplay for Wedding Belles was scripted by Leith-born writer, Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
.
Film
Henderson Street once had its own cinema, at no.91 in the building where The Raj, Indian Restaurant(i) is today. It was listed in the Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories as the 'Empire Picture House' and was definitely active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, though by the 1950s, it had been closed down and boarded up. In more recent times The Raj restaurant also used part of their premises to show films, perhaps in the same space, though they no longer do so. Just a few doors away, however, Sofi's Swedish Bar (vi) now hosts regular film nights in their back room, keeping cinema nights on Henderson Street an option in the present day.Businesses
These days, although many ground floor commercial premises have been converted into domestic dwellings, Henderson Street continues, to some extent, to maintain its mixture of residential and commercial properties.As of 2011 it is home to a wide range of restaurants and cafés. At Number 21—23 is Mitchells Café and Take Away, which claims to be the oldest café in Leith; while this claim is unverified, the premises has certainly been operating in café format since at least 1924, when it opened its doors as an Italian ice cream parlour. Many long-time Leithers still refer to Mitchells as Lannys; so ingrained is the old ice cream cafe in their memories.
The Italian influence and the World War II years
Angelo Lanny formed part of a large-scale migration of Italians to Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th century. So many made their home and established businesses in Leith, that it came to be seen as Edinburgh's answer to Little ItalyLittle Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
. (The Leith-born artist Eduardo Paolozzi
Eduardo Paolozzi
Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, KBE, RA , was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere, while, working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization...
provides the most internationally well known example of the Italian migratory influence on Leith). Angelo Lanny was not alone in establishing a business on Henderson Street; at around the same period the street was also home to a fish and chip shop called 'Joe De Ponio's', an Italian Barbers called 'Galletta's', and a large-scale fish and chip shop/café called Scappiticci's. (Scappiticci's was located around numbers 85—91 Henderson Street, where the Raj, Indian Restaurant(i) is now).
The Italians of Henderson Street (and Leith in general) were also not immune to the results of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
siding with Hitler in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Like many other Italian businesses, Angelo Lanny's shop was attacked and looted as a result of a new wave of anti-Italian feeling amongst some of the local population, and as was typical at the time Lanny was subsequently interned. So too was Joe Di Ponio, and the Scappiticci's were personally affected by the loss of a relative when the ship SS Arandora Star, bound for Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, transporting Italian and German interns, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
off the coast of Ireland. In all, 486 Italian and 175 German deportees were killed and the incident resulted in the British Government changing their policy on deporting interns overseas. Although those who can remember these incidents first hand were only children at that time, they made a deep impression. The 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora in 2010 also brought these wartime events back into focus. The extract quoted to the right is from a poem by a Leith-born author and reflects his sentiments on those events:
International influence
Henderson Street still reflects the presence of Leith's immigrant population and the popularity of international food.The fact that Scappaticci's would eventually be replaced by the Raj Indian restaurant(i) is indicative of the post war influx of Asian immigrants to Scotland and the popularity of their food with the local population. The same could be said for the presence of Henderson Street's Chinese restaurant, Golden Bridge (vii). More recently, one of Henderson Street's oldest bars, The Bay Horse (located at number 63—65 and in operation as a spirit merchant since 1897) has succumbed to this international influence. Early photographic records show The Bay Horse circa 1910. Its proprietor, at that time, was a Charles G. Lane, who had been in possession of the pub since 1902. In the 1990s, the bar became Kalinka's(ix), a vodka bar operated by a Russian Countess and since 2005, the pub has once again been reincarnated as Sofi's(vi), now with a Swedish theme and Swedish owners.
Fine dining — historic setting
Behind the wall of the old Vaults (see section 3.3 above), set back from the street, are two well known Leith restaurants. Aside from their reputations for good food, both have capitalised on their unique historic location. The Vintners Rooms (v) has its dining room within a space originally designed for claret tasting and still lit by candlelight and decorated with fine plasterwork. Upstairs, in the same building, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (iv) has its restaurant. As the society is devoted to the bottling and sale of single malt whiskySingle malt whisky
Single malt whisky is a whisky made at one particular distillery from a mash that uses one particular malted grain, which is ordinarily barley.Single malts are typically associated with Scotland, though they are also produced in various other countries...
, the continuation of the Vaults' historic merchant associations with the alcohol trade seem assured for the present.