General view of Bull's Close, 106 Canongate, Edinburgh, from N.
DP 161398
Description General view of Bull's Close, 106 Canongate, Edinburgh, from N.
Date 18/9/2013
Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu
Catalogue Number DP 161398
Category On-line Digital Images
Scope and Content This three-storeyed -plus attic tenement at 106 Canongate incorporates Bull's Close, which leads from Canongate to Holyrood Road. The close is marked on John Ainslie's map of Edinburgh of 1780 as 'Drummond's Close', but is noted as 'Drummonds or Bulls Cl' on his later map of 1804. By the time of the Ordnance Survey Six Inch map of 1854, the close is known as Bull's Close. The present building was redeveloped by Edinburgh's City Architect, Ebenezer James MacRae (1881-1951), as part of his Canongate Improvement Scheme in 1930/1. Along with several others on the Canongate, this tenement was rebuilt incorporating serveral design features of the vernacular architecture expected in a traditional Scottish burgh, whilst also improving the facilities within. This particular tenement has rusticated rubble stonework on the main elevation and retains traditional timber-framed, multi-paned sash and case windows. The attic floor has bipartite windows in gabled dormers to the outer bays, with single windows within piended dormers flanking the central chimneystack. Bull's Close is believed to have been named after the wright and burgess Robert Bull who owned property here around the turn of the 18th century. Like many of the closes along the High Street and Canongate, the close has been recorded under several names, generally relating to people who have lived or owned property there. As noted above, Bull's Close was also know as Drummond's Close, believed to be named for another former resident, Mrs Marion (also May or Mary) Drummond, a well-known Quakeress preacher. Other names recorded for this location are Lamont's Land (for Peter Lamont, lint manufacturer), and Ford's Row (for William Ford of the adjacent Holyrood glassworks). From the mid-19th century until the early 20th century, the pharmaceutical firm Duncan & Flockhart established a factory here, which, from 1847, supplied chloroform to Sir James Simpson, and subsequently the British armed forces and Red Cross during both World Wars. The firm (established by John Duncan and William Flockhart) was taken over in 1950 by rival Edinburgh firm, T&H Smith and production moved to their site in Gorgie. The firm is now known as Macfarlan Smith and still operates from this base.
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