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Edinburgh, 8-18 Blackfriars Street

Hostel (20th Century), Town House (16th Century)

Site Name Edinburgh, 8-18 Blackfriars Street

Classification Hostel (20th Century), Town House (16th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Earl Of Morton's House; High Street Hostel; Regent Morton's House

Canmore ID 52331

Site Number NT27SE 305

NGR NT 26025 73596

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52331

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

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

Archaeology Notes

NT27SE 305 26025 73596

Four storeys of 16th-century date, raised by a floor in the 17th century. Stair-tower at N end. Timber galleries shown in a drawing of 1857 projecting into Blackfriars Street have been removed. Other late alterations.

RCAHMS 1951.

Activities

Publication Account (1951)

42. Earl of Morton's House, 8 Blackfriars Street.

This interesting late 16th-century house, which stands on the W. side of Blackfriars Street and extends to Strichen's Close behind, has been considerably altered both in the 17th century, when the uppermost of its five storeys seems to have been added, and also more recently. Oblong on plan, it has a circular stair-tower projecting from the N.E. corner and containing the entrance, a late Gothic doorway with an ogival head which is almost identical with the one mentioned at No. 11 [Boswell’s Court, 352 Castle Hill]. In the tympanum is an uncarved shield supported by two unicorns and surmounted by a crown. The rubble masonry is harled towards the street so that a complete examination of the front is at present impossible. But beside the stair tower the outer wall still shows signs of disturbance where the wooden galleries visible in Drummond's drawing of 1857 have been removed. The southernmost window on the ground floor is chamfered, as are also four others on the floors above, while a window on the second floor has handsomely moulded jambs. Although these windows are certainly older than the others, which have backset margins like the windows opening upon Strichen's Close, they may not be original seeing that the floor-levels inside seem to have been altered.

Internally, the only surviving features of interest are a fine late 16th-century fireplace, several feet above the existing ground floor; to the S. of this a late Gothic niche with an ogival head, containing in the tympanum an uncarved shield surmounted by a crown; and, inserted on the N. side, a fragment of a door-lintel which bears the inscription and date [IN THE LORD IS] MY HOPE / 1564. A woodcut reproduced by Wilson (1) shows in the centre of the inscription a shield bearing either a cross flanked by the initials I S for JESVS SALVATOR or, more probably, the sacred monogram IHS. According to the same authority (2) the lintel originally belonged to a doorway in an adjoining building to the N., long since removed, which on the ground floor "consisted of one very large apartment with a massive stone pillar in the centre."

RCAHMS 1951

(1) Memorials, ii, p. 44. (2) Ibid., p. 43.

Project (1997)

The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.

The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.

Field Visit (3 April 2002)

Ogee-pedimented door piece. In the tympanum is the coat of arms composed of a seated unicorn on left and right, front legs holding central shield which is topped by a crown. Nothing on shield. All carved in low relief.

Inspected By : A. Taubman

Inscriptions : None

Signatures : None

Design period : Early 16th century

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0456)

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