Edinburgh, High Street, 3 Advocate's Close, Adam Bothwell's House
House (17th Century)
Site Name Edinburgh, High Street, 3 Advocate's Close, Adam Bothwell's House
Classification House (17th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Byer's Close
Canmore ID 52298
Site Number NT27SE 277
NGR NT 25686 73632
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52298
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT27SE 277 25686 73632
On E side of Byer's Close. 17th century. Narrow 3-storey and attic block with 3-sided gable facing N known as Adam Bothwell's House, rubble-built, sculptured dormer heads; SE building remodelled 18th century.
HBD No. 1336.
Byre's Close (Byer's Close) (see NT 27SE 276) was named for John Byres, merchant burgess (1569-1629). Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney (d.1593) also had his house here, still noted for its half-octagon gable and curious "bee holes" on its East front. "Protocols of John Foular" record two earlier names for the close: in 1525 it is noted as Malcolm's Close, for a family of that name, owners of a land on its East side; and in 1534 it is given as William Lauder's Close, evidently named for William Lauder, bailie in 1528, or quite possibly for his namesake, a bailie in 1453. (from Stuart Harris, "Place Names of Edinburgh", 1996, page 139).
DESCRIPTION: Adam Bothwell's House, Byer's Close-A tall narrow house with a three-sided apse facing North. So called because Sir John Byers of Coates had his town house in it.
Publication Account (1951)
20. Byer's Close, 373 High Street.
This entry, which is situated immediately E. of St. Giles Street, admirably illustrates the extremely congested conditions that obtained in the 17th and 18th centuries. Narrow and steep, it is entirely hemmed in by tall "lands" on three sides, while another building crosses it on an archway about midway in its length so that it could receive only a minimum of light and fresh air. Formerly possessing a tall and striking front of timber, and once the residence of Sir William Dick of Braid, the tenement on the E. side of the close-head was remodelled in the early 19th century-as was also its neighbour on the W.- and was given a new front. But the adjoining tenement on the W. side of the close, which is six storeys in height, dates from the 17th century, if we may judge by the detail of its projecting newel-stair. It appears to have been T-shaped on plan, a cross-wing at the N. end extending both westwards, to form the N. side of a little court, and eastwards, to cross the close on the archway previously mentioned. The wall facing S. towards the court contains, on the second floor, a built-up 17th-century dormer-window surmounted by a plain triangular pediment bearing within a panel a device which has been read as the letter M but which is more likely to have been a merchant's mark. In the 18th century the cross-wing was evidently heightened, and the tenement as a whole seems also to have been remodelled. On the opposite side of the close, the building adjoining the front tenement is also mainly of the 18th century, but in its neighbour to the N. the three lower storeys are of the 17th century, although they have been considerably altered. On the same side, below the cross wing, is a building commonly held to have been the residence of Bishop Adam Bothwell*, who died in 1593 [NT27SE 277]. This was approached by "a doorway and stair with carved balustrade," long since removed. What still survives is a long, narrow, rubble building, apsidal-ended to the N. and containing three storeys and an attic, the top floor of which is at the level of the High Street owing to the fall of the site. The top floor was originally lit by five dormer windows to the E., of which only one remains open while all lack their pediments, and by three others in the apse which are still complete, although only the central one is open. The surviving semi-circular pediments, enriched with thistle-shaped finials, have within their tympana carved devices surmounted by inscriptions. For example, the central pediment bears a little human head with an extract from Horace (1), NIHIL EST EX OMNI / PARTE / BEATVM (" No happiness is without a flaw"). The E. pediment is decayed and the device and inscription are uncertain**; the W. one has what looks like foliage accompanied by a quotation from Ovid (2), EXITVS ACTA PROBAT (“The outcome tests our actions"). Two of the missing pediments are known to have been inscribed, respectively, LAVS VBIQVE DEO (“Praise to God everywhere”) and FELICITER INFELIX (“Happily unhappy").
RCAHMS 1951
(1) Odes, ii, 16. (2) Heroides, Ep. ii, 85.
*For whom see this volume p. 136
**The inscription was read tentatively some years ago (O.E.C., xiv, p . 88) as [EV]ITE[T] [FA]TVM NEM[O/…] AS, but this seems doubtfully possible.
Standing Building Recording (21 February 2014)
NT 25683 73639 An historic building survey was undertaken, on 21 February 2014, of Adam Bothwell House, which is a Category A listed building located at 3 Advocates Close. This small building is a four-storey six- by three-bay building reported to have been originally constructed in the early 17th century. However, it was heavily renovated in c2000 and very
little of the original character of the building remains. Indeed, the only interesting features left in the building consist of the vaulted roof in the attic level and some decorative cornicing over the central stairwell. The latter is unlikely to be 17th century in date and may possibly be a late 1980s copy of an early cornice.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: The Chris Stewart Group
Diana Sproat - AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES)
