General view of Bakehouse Close, 146 Canongate, Edinburgh, from SE.

Description General view of Bakehouse Close, 146 Canongate, Edinburgh, from SE.

Date 24/7/2013

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number DP 158586

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Canongate (or Canongait, the Canon's 'way' or 'route') was a Burgh of Regality granted by the Crown to the Abbey Kirk of Holyrood in 1128. By the 17th century it was in the shadow of its neighbour, Edinburgh. It eventually lost its separate burgh status in 1856. Bakehouse or Hammermen's Close, west side, was owned by the Incorporation of Hammermen by 1762. On the right is the fore tenement and the pend onto Canongate. On the left it the pend opening to the garden of the first backland, with two cellars (blocked up windows are just visible far right) and a forestair to the first floor of the five-roomed house. This shows the density of population in just two dwellings (albeit upmarket) in one part of one close in the Old Town as the population grew and tofts (strips) were added to and split up between families. Again we have the typical Scottish burgh building style of irregular masonry, sash and case windows, crow-stepped gables and jettied wooden elements at higher levels (as a means of increasing floor space). These tenements are some of the few remaining examples of the timber-jettied gable-fronted buildings which would have occupied much of the Old Town.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1345402

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap