St Leonard's Hospital St Leonard's is named for the mediaeval
hospital of St Leonard, which was located on St Leonard's Hill on the site of what is now the former James Clark Technical School at St Leonard's Crag.
Saint Leonard was a popular dedicatee of chapels and hospitals in mediaeval Scotland. In addition to
St Leonard's College, St Andrews, chapels and/or hospitals dedicated to the saint stood in
Ayr,
Dunfermline,
Lanark, and
Roxburghshire. Two other dedications to Saint Leonard existed in
Midlothian. as they appeared in the mid-19th century The hospital was founded by
David I. It was granted to
Holyrood Abbey by
David II. The last building on St Leonard's Hill was erected in 1493: the date of its re-foundation charter from
James IV to Robert Bellenden, Abbot of Holyrood. The chapel of these buildings was excavated and demolished between 1854 and 1855. On 2 February 1529, members of the
Douglas family and allies met near St Leonard's Chapel to form their abortive plot to assassinate
James V. The manner of the hospital's decline is uncertain but it had definitely ceased to exist by 1653 when reference is made to "the old ruinous hous and chappell of St. Leonards".
The Lands of St Leonards In the mediaeval period, the Lands of St Leonards formed part of the Barony of
Broughton, which was gifted to the monks of
Holyrood Abbey by
David I. It remained in the monks' possession until the
Reformation. These lands were bounded to the north by the
Canongate and to the east as far south as
Priestfield by
Holyrood Park. Its western boundary followed the
Pleasance southward as far as what is now Drummond Street, whereafter it followed an irregular line to Mounthooly Loan (now East and West Preston Streets), which it then followed to the road to Dalkeith as far as Priestfield. The Lands of St Leonards are first referred to by that name in a charter issued by
David II in 1346.
feuing of the lands appears to have begun by the middle of the 15th century, when the eastern side of the street of St Leonard (now the Pleasance) had begun to be feued. Reference is made to a "village of St Leonard" around 1650. This area now forms the northeastern tip of the modern
Southside. At the Reformation, ownership of the Lands of St Leonards continued in the Commendators of Holyrood – successively, Robert Stewart, Adam Bothwell, and John Bothwell – until 1587, when all church lands were annexed to the Crown. That year,
James VI granted the charter of Broughton to
Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnoule.
Charles I granted the charters to the magistrates of Edinburgh as governors of
Heriot's Hospital in 1639. From this time until 1737, the lands were known as Heriot's Croft and St Leonard's; in that year, the city council itself took the feu in order to provide ground for
George Watson's Hospital. Brown took a large portion of the sub-feu and, from 1766, began to construct
George Square, Buccleuch Street, and Buccleuch Place.
17th and 18th centuries After the
Battle of Dunbar,
David Leslie placed cannon on St Leonard's Hill to protect his men against
Oliver Cromwell's advance into Edinburgh. By this time, St Leonard's Hill had become a prominent site for duels: a notable example was that of Robert Aumuchty, who, on 2 April 1600, killed James Wauchope. Aumuchty himself was executed after a failed attempt to escape the
Tolbooth. An estate north of St Leonard's Lane was developed by the Montgomery family as a market garden in the late 17th century. They built a house here in 1700 and were succeeded as proprietors by William Mein, who began to develop buildings on the estate. Mein's wife and then his children held the estate until the end of the 18th century. : a surviving 18th-century house in St Leonard's The 18th-century development of St Leonard's around the historic burial grounds at the former hospital occasioned a poet under the nom de plume Claudero to write in 1766: By 1734, a village had practically formed in the area of the former crofts of St Leonard's Hospital, known as Hermits and Termits. In this year, the
house of the same name was constructed by William Clifton and his wife Mary. South of this, the area known as Parkside was developed with two houses during the tenure of James Brown between 1702 and 1716. One of these, later known as Parkside House, survived until the latter half of the 20th century. In 1802, physician
Andrew Duncan took a
feu of the northern portion of the former crofts. The same year, Jane Cleugh and John Gibson acquired the southern portion, giving it up to the
Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway in 1828. The following year, the
Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway opened with its
base depot and terminus at St Leonard's. The line opened to goods on 4 July 1831 and to passengers the following year. The yard was soon handling over 200 tons of coal every day. Comparing the horse-drawn line's leisurely and scenic route to the unseemliness of its larger, steam-powered counterparts,
Robert Chambers referred to "the innocence of the railway" and the name Innocent Railway soon stuck. , opened in 1831 and closed in 1968 The
North British Railway purchased the Edinburgh & Dalkeith in 1845 and the railway began to use steam engines the following year. St Leonard's Station closed to passengers in 1847, while remaining in use for coal. There was an abortive attempt to reintroduce passenger trains in 1860. The introduction of steam engines occasioned the expansion of tracks, support facilities, and commercial enterprises at the St Leonard's yard, including what was then the world's largest
bonded warehouse. At the
Disruption of 1843, the church's minister,
Robert Elder led almost all the congregation out of the established church and into the newly formed
Free Church. Unusually among seceding congregations, St Paul's retained the use of its building. On 21 November the same year, the church was gutted by fire but was soon rebuilt, reopening on 21 May 1880 and becoming a charge
quoad sacra in 1883. After
Thomas Nelson & Sons works at
Hope Park were destroyed by fire on 10 April 1878, the company moved production to the Parkside Works in St Leonard's, opening on 16 July 1880. Even before this move, the Nelson family was well-established in St Leonard's. In 1860, William Nelson purchased then greatly altered
Salisbury Green: a house built sometime between 1770 and 1780 for Alexander Scott. In 1867, William's brother Thomas Nelson purchased the lands "commonly known as Parkside" and constructed a new house,
St Leonard's. The Nelsons also established a recreation ground and the Parkside Institute on Dalkeith Road for the use of their employees as well as a bowling green on the southside of Holyrood Park Road. It remains in use as the Parkside Bowling Club. In 1913, they founded the Nelson Hall at Spittalfield Crescent on the opposite side of St Leonard's Street in the
Southside. J. & G. Stewart had a distillery behind the Parkside works while Usher's operated the Park Brewery in the vicinity. between 1880 and 1968; Thomas Nelson the younger's house,
St Leonard's, is visible in the background right In this period, population growth was reflected by the establishment in 1876 of St Leonard's School between Forbes Street and St Leonard's Hill. St Leonard's Parish Church united with
Newington Parish Church in 1932 to form Newington and St Leonard's Parish Church. The St Leonard's Buildings were sold to a
Churches of Christ congregation, which took the name Dalkeith Road Church of Christ. 's
Pollock Halls site, seen from
Arthur's Seat During the interwar period, the
University of Edinburgh, supported by
John Donald Pollock, began to purchase land around the Salisbury Green area in southern St Leonard's. The university acquired Abden House in 1935, St Leonard's in 1936, and
Salisbury Green in 1942. Salisbury Green became a residence for males students in 1946 and St Leonard's became a residence for female students the following year. In 1950,
William Kininmonth was commissioned to create a new complex of student residences at Salisbury Green. The site was named
Pollock Halls in memory of John Donald Pollock's parents. Development continued there into the first decade of the 21st century.
Deindustrialisation With the closure of the last coalyard at St Leonard's, Hugh Leckie & Sons,
the rail depot closed in 1968. On the opposite site of Holyrood Park Road, the
Royal Commonwealth Pool opened ahead of the
1970 British Commonwealth Games, which used the pool as a venue. The pool was again used as a venue for the
1986, and
2014 Commonwealth Games. The
city corporation's 1965 development plan proposed an arterial road through the western edge of Holyrood Park; the road was planned to enter St Leonard's at the goods yard, continuing along the line of Montague Street to the intersection of a new north–south leg of a proposed inner ring-road, which would run in between and parallel to the
Pleasance and
Nicolson Street. As with the Southside and Dumbiedykes, planned redevelopment in the postwar period discouraged investment in properties by private landlords or by the city corporation. This resulted in "planning blight", which saw the condition of properties deteriorate even further. In the early 1960s alone, 1,030 residences were demolished in the area of St Leonard's and
Dumbiedykes and 1,977 people were displaced. between 1976 and 2020 James Clark School closed in 1972 and was used as an annexe of
St Thomas of Aquin's High School until 1984. After this, the building was developed as flats. The former St Leonard's School was demolished in the 1980s, having latterly served as a dining annexe to St Thomas of Aquin's.
Redevelopment Dalkeith Road Church of Christ, like most other
Churches of Christ in the UK, joined the
United Reformed Church in 1981. The congregation united with Augustine Congregational Church on
George IV Bridge to form
Augustine United Church in 1992. Since that year, the buildings have been used by the
Society of St Pius X under the name St Margaret's and St Leonard's Catholic Church. After the creation of
Lothian Regional Council in 1975, the road plans were abandoned and the former rail depot was redeveloped for housing. In 1994, a portion of the former Innocent Railway between St Leonard's and
Brunstane was developed as part of the
National Cycle Network. It remains a popular route for cyclists and pedestrians. In 1990, the St Leonard's Police Station on St Leonard's Street opened. In 2019, Holyrood Distillery opened in the former goods shed of
St Leonard's station, becoming first single malt distillery in central Edinburgh in almost a century.
Scottish Widows vacated its St Leonard's headquarters in 2020. As of April 2022, the building remains empty; prior to the move, 2,200 staff worked there. ==Geography==