Edinburgh, Canongate, 4 White Horse Close

93. White Horse Close, 31 Canongate.

In 1889 this property, which extends from the Canongate northwards to Calton Road, was purchased by the late Dr. Barbour and his sister, and was adapted for working-class housing. Notwithstanding some essential alterations, the property that is now administered by the Barbour Trust, considered as a whole, is a unique survival from the 17th century. Its buildings enclose a long courtyard which widens as it runs N. The long, low ranges at the sides have been considerably modernised, but the higher buildings at each end still have much of their original appearance. The one at the N. end, together with the side ranges, was the hostelry known as the White Horse Inn. The southernmost block, which faces the Canongate, but which also extends along part of the E. side of the courtyard, seems to have contained a series of flatted dwellings which were not connected with the other buildings. The westernmost part of the Canongate front, three storeys and an attic in height, encroaches upon the pavement. In its lower part there are two modern shops, between which the principal entry to the courtyard pierces the block. This entry has a segmental arch, moulded with a quirked edge-roll, and the lowerpart of each jamb has been cut away to give easier passage. A doorway at the S.E. corner, which hasa moulded lintel of the 17th century and jambs of later date, leads to a wheel-stair which formerly gave access to the upper floors of the part lying farther E., but which is now shut off above the first floor. The masonry is harled, and the exposed window-margins are chamfered. The top floor has been entirely rebuilt.

The E. part of the Canongate front, which is of similar construction and also contains three storeys and an attic, recedes about 9 ft. from the general frontage. The ground floor is again occupied by two modern shops. The first floor is lit by three fair-sized windows and the second floor by one semi-dormer with an over sailed roof and by a double dormer-window; the latter was probably surmounted originally by a crow-stepped gablet, but it now supports a gabled extension of wood and plaster. The roof is steeply pitched, and its crowsteps are still visible on the E. side.

On each side of the passage that leads to the courtyard there is a built-up doorway, set so low as to show clearly that the level of the entrance has risen-a change equally marked in the courtyard itself. The western doorway led directly into a turnpike stair which served the upper floors, but of this only vestiges remain. The buildings to left and right of the inner end of the passage, which also contain three storeys and an attic, may be somewhat later than those facing to the front, but all traces of alteration and addition are covered by a uniform coat of modem harling. Within the S.E. corner of the courtyard rises a lofty rubble-built stair-tower, unharled and possessing a good moulded entrance-doorway at the stair-foot. The stair itself has been transferred to an adjoining position inside the building. The buildings to which the tower is attached were both three storeys and an attic in height, but the two lowest floors of the northern division have been thrown into one in the construction of a hall. The windows, where unaltered, are back-set and chamfered.

There has been so much reconstruction inside the front buildings that their original arrangement cannot now be determined, but a close examination of the plans show traces of three major divisions on every floor. The first of these is L-shaped and extends from the E. wall of the entrance passage along the W. part of the front, and then returns towards the courtyard. The second, which may have been subdivided, adjoins the first and is roughly Z-shaped, with parallel limbs running N. and S. This encloses on two sides the third and smallest division, which is rectangular. The majority of the rooms are dark and many are badly shaped; some of the latter have been so from the first while others have been spoiled by subdivision. Hardly any features of special interest have survived the process of modernisation. The easternmost of the houses facing the Canongate has on the first floor a moulded fireplace, a plaster cornice, and traces of panelling in one room, while the other room on the same floor is fully panelled in pine and has a good plaster cornice. The house immediately adjacent on the W. has a moulded stone fireplace, a plaster cornice, and wall-panelling in one half of the front room. On the floor above, the house to the E. retains a bolection-moulded fireplace, round which are vestiges of panelling; while that to the W. has a similar fireplace and the wall in which it stands has pieces of panelling of a Georgian type.

The buildings on the E. and W. sides of the court are two-storeyed, access to the upper floors being obtained from modem forestairs and balconies. The masonry is harled rubble. The internal arrangement has been modernised and is featureless.

The early building at the N. end of the courtyard is by far the most interesting member of the group. On plan it is a long parallelogram of the exceptional internal width of 24 ft. The side facing the courtyard has two storeys and an attic except at the E. end, where a gabled projection rises from the wall-head and looks out over the roof of a small two-storeyed extension set out within the E. angle of the courtyard. Its upper floors are reached by a forestair with a moulded coping, which rises to mid-landing and there divides to right and to left to give access to two gabled projections of wood and plaster which are corbelled out from the main wall on stout beams. These projections, which are replicas of the original structures, contain the entrances to the first floor, as well as internal stairs leading to the attic storey. The masonry is harled. With the exception of a single small window on the second floor of the S.E. extension, which has a moulded cornice and pediment, the openings are merely chamfered at the arris. A dormer window with a plain triangular pediment, which has been considerably renewed and bears the date 1623,* looks out over the mid-landing of the stair. The roof is modern. On the left of the forestair a steep narrow alley passes beneath the building and gives access from Calton Road, which is considerably below the level of the courtyard. Advantage has been taken of this difference in level to introduce at the back a vaulted undercroft, which was originally devoted to stabling.** Thus the elevation facing Calton Road includes an additional storey at the base, which is entered from four archways on the E. side of the alley and from two others on the W., all of which have segmental heads and chamfered jambs. In each case the jambs have been dressed back, after construction, in order to enlarge the opening, but at some still later time the archway immediately E. of the passage has been contracted. The first floor is lit by a range of nine windows facing N.; these have chamfered arrises and are all original, although a small window beside the W. gable seems to have been broken out at some later time. The second floor is lit by an equal number of semi-dormers with back-set margins and triangular pediments, the latter extensively repaired. The roof, skews and scrolled skew-puts are quite modern. The block is divided internally into two unequal portions by a cross partition; this partition and both gables, all three of which are set at an acute angle to the side walls, contain fireplaces, and the chimney-stalks above are original although the moulded copes have been removed.

The internal accommodation has been completely modernised.

The close forming the main approach to the property was at one time known as Ord's Close and later as Davidson's Close. It is now called White Horse Close. The inn itself was probably built by Lawrence Ord. Cf. O.E.C., xiv, p. 127.

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941

*Until recently this date appeared as 1523, which was obviously too early for the building.

**Wilson (Memorials, ii, p.84) recalls that there was a horse-pond nearby.