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Edinburgh, Leith, 8-14 Shore

Tenement (17th Century)

Site Name Edinburgh, Leith, 8-14 Shore

Classification Tenement (17th Century)

Alternative Name(s) The Shore; Mylnes Land

Canmore ID 52021

Site Number NT27NE 91

NGR NT 2714 7662

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52021

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Edinburgh, City Of
  • Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District City Of Edinburgh
  • Former County Midlothian

Architecture Notes

NMRS Reference.

Edinburgh, 8-14 The Shore, Mylnes Land.

ARCHITECT: Robert Mylne 1678.

NMRS Reference.

Edinburgh, 8-14 The Shore, Mylnes Land.

The Backcourt forms a rectangular close by Mylnes Land near the Shore at Leith.

Case before the Dean of Guild. Robert and William Mylne v. George Howieson.

1838. GD 1/51/104.

Notes: Robert Mylne built Mylne's Land in 1678 and thereafter the building was occupied by his family, part being rented commercially later on.

Activities

Publication Account (1951)

No. 224 Houses in Leith (part).

In 1677 Robert Mylne of Balfargie, the King's Principal Master Mason, obtained a grant of the waste land at the E. end of the harbour, and proceeded to build there the large tenement still extant as Numbers 8-14 The Shore.* Ashlar-fronted but built of rubble at the sides and back, this house is oblong on plan and four storeys in height, the ground floor containing modern shops. It has one remarkable feature, that the attic floor is laid and caulked like the deck of a ship. The architectural treatment, however, is simple. The front windows have chamfered arrises in contrast to the others which have back-set and chamfered margins. The entrance to Number 10 has a moulded architrave. The window immediately above has a raking pediment, which bears the date 1678 at the apex of the tympanum above a cartouche on which are displayed Robert Mylne's initials in monogram. Mylne took in more ground in 1685, agreeing, however, to leave enough room on the N. side of his tenement for an entrance to the Timber Bourse, where the timber merchants foregathered.** That establishment has now disappeared, but in the outer wall of Number 10 Tower Street can be seen a series of built-up openings through which the "dales" were drawn into the yard inside, while the name still lingers in the form of "Timber Bush."

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941

*Some of his family resided in this tenement, and one part remains the property of a descendant.

**This was not the only "Bourse" in Leith. In the early years of the 17th century Bernard Lindsay had conceived the idea of improving the amenities of the port by building a notable portico, wherein merchants might promenade and transact their business, beside his house which adjoined the King's Wark (No. 249) on The Shore. This portico was evidently a paved piazza of polished stone columns and arches, provided with benches and seats Lindsay was rewarded by the King in 1612 for his public spirited action (Reg. Mag. Sig., 1609-1620, No. 668).

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