Edinburgh, 171 High Street, Hart's Close

Stood on the site of the West pavement of North Bridge.

Hart's Close is shown on Edgar 1742 but was cleared away for the building of the North Bridge in 1765. It was named for Andro Hart, the celebrated Scots printer, who had a tenement at the close foot, inherited by his son John in 1621, and listed in 1635 as still owned and occupied by Andro Hart's widow. (Hart's printing house was further up the High Street at Craig's Close -see NT 27SE 1141). The close may have been Henry Nisbet's Close, recorded in 1660, and was also called Ballantyne's Close, for James Ballantyne, writer, resident at some date prior to 1705. The name Cranston's Close, known to have belonged to a close lost when the North Bridge was built, may have been an alternative name for Hart's Close, or for one of the closes west of it (possibly Ley's Close or Milne Square) and might have derived from any of a number of Cranstons who served on the town council, such as William Cranstoun (1403), Thomas (provost in 1450), or Patrick (1574). (from Stuart Harris, "Place Names of Edinburgh", 1996, page 326)