Leith – Walking without a donkey

Community Walking Projects, Walking without a donkey - travels in Scotland

Pilgrimage for COP26

25 October 2021

Today I am leading the Pilgrimage for COP26 walk from the Sculpture Workshop in Leith, Edinburgh to South Queensferry. The theme is ‘The Five Phases and the Ecological Crisis – a walk using the five elements of East Asian medicine to reimagine what it means to be ecological’.

Pilgrimage for COP26 at the Sculpture Workshop, Leith. Photo Olga

There is a brief introduction by Jonathan Baxter, the organiser of the pilgrimage, to the Keeper of the Soils, the carrier of the Stitches for Survival (you can read about the latter two here), and to my walk supporters, Natalie and Ewan. Then a brief introduction to YinYang which underpins Shiatsu theory.

I explain how the circle represents the cyclical nature of things, a circumference of continual existence, whether in this form or another
The curving line which divides the circle, symbolises the dynamic interplay between Yin and Yang and the transformation of one to the other to maintain balance – the rise of those who favour respect and listening over those who opt for profit and power, for example
The black and white sections reminding us that we must address both sides of ourselves and our planet if we are to achieve balance, both the angry and the peace-loving, the scientific and the artistic
The small black and white spheres which sit in the opposite sides showing that the law of nature says there are no absolutes.

Diagrams showing YinYang and the Five Phases or Elements we use in Shiatsu

Stage 1 / the Metal Phase

We start with the Metal Phase which encompasses the lungs and exchange of air in humans and with the wider environment. The Edinburgh cycle path is sometimes thought of as the city’s lungs and we take the branch from Leith to the Trinity Tunnel, Active Travellers focusing on air pollution and how we would like it to be.

The Trinity tunnel is where my sound/art installation, No Birds Land, is situated. Sadly, on arrival it was clear that it had been vandalised while I was walking the first week of the pilgrimage and the bunting was all broken and in the mud. My pilgrim friends tried to help, but we didn’t have much time to repair.

Phyllis from the Edinburgh Reporter was walking with us and wrote about the Keeper of the Soils and No Birds Land. Her article, with links to video and audio, is here.

No Birds Land sound/art installation in the Trinity Tunnel on the Edinburgh cycle path

Many thanks to my friends Lesley and Andrew who went along the next day to repair and rehang.

We stop briefly at Granton Harbour as our numbers swell. The core group are joined by others who will come all the way to Glasgow with us and there are many day walkers too. What a jolly bunch, particularly as there was no rain!

We continue along the coast of the Firth of Forth, through the industrial outskirts and past the entrance to the Granton Walled Garden where the cape was dyed. A small group peel off to collect a soil sample before rejoining us further on.

Granton Walled Garden and Kirsty’s plot in which she grows plants to be used to dye cloth, Edinburgh

Stage 2 / the Earth Phase

Our next stop is for tea and coffee in the corner of the Lauriston Farm, kindly donated free of charge. We are immensely grateful to Lisa, Toni and Dave for their time and generosity.

Lisa serving us much needed tea and coffee, Lauriston Farm, Edinburgh. Photo Liz.

Transforming an existing farm into an urban food production and community hub that benefits, supports and regenerates the environment and all those connected to it.
Lauriston Farm website

Second soil ceremony of the day with Natalie Taylor wearing the cape and Dave, at Lauriston Farm. Photo Liz.

Here we pause to consider the second of the 5 Elements: Earth. There is a soil ceremony and the small sample is put in one of the cape’s pockets to be carried to Glasgow. The focus for the next stage is the physical awareness of our feet on the ground, reflecting on the ‘give and take’ which is happening on this walk – the kindness and generosity of others, and what it means to be able to accept that; and the nourishment and nurturing between us and the earth. We have our first silent period and muse on the role of sympathy and empathy in the climate crisis.

The next section is along the sea front at Silverknowes and on the beach to Cramond.

Having a snack and taking it in turns to use the public conveniences

Stage 3 / the Water Phase

Here we pause to immerse ourselves in the Water Element with thought, emotion and physical exercises. We focus on harnessing the sea’s power and thinking about other renewables as we flow along the River Almond path. Recapping the first week of the pilgrimage, there is reflection on the fear engendered by the climate crisis – for ourselves, our children and other-than-humans.

The River Almond approaching the Cramond Brig

We wait for even more walkers to join us, say goodbye to others, and continue past the hotel, back down the other side of the River Almond through the Dalmeny Estate. Here we eventually have our picnic lunch. Thanks to Ewan for the delicious, home-made oatcakes.

Stage 4 / the Wood Phase

Moving into the woods, we take the chance for a second period of silence. In single file we appreciate the trees, the lush undergrowth and occassional glimpses of a wider landscape between boughs.

Later, there is more dynamic discussion and expression of any anger we feel about HS2 and other developments which have involved felling trees. We attempt to harness and direct it towards decarbonising action plans.

The sun is low at this time of year, but there’s so much to appreciate when we stop to allow everyone to catch up and regroup

Everything is going well and someone makes a suggestion for a little detour. I think, why not, we’re making good time. However, we lose half the group and that means there are rather stressful phone calls back and forth as we try to find each other. Note to self: stick to the plan!

Stunning landscapes along this stretch of the Firth of Forth

Stage 5 / the Fire phase

Our final phase is the Fire element and we are very close to our South Queensferry destination.

Renewing our community spirit with a song, we practise smiling in the face of difficulty as we swing into South Queensferry with open hearts and hope for the future. Many thanks to the pilgrim who sings for us so we can join in.

We are staying at the Priory Church, but we are too early and it’s started to rain. Bidding farewell to the day strippers, we retreat for a well-earned drink to warm up and dry off.

What a wonderful welcome we get at the Priory! Although there is only one toilet and no showers for us all, local people open their homes. There is a fascinating presentation about the Chapel and its history, a sumptuous meal, and we are very happy to bed down on the church floor at the end of the day.

Once part of a medieval Carmelite Friary at the centre of life in the Royal Burgh of Queensferry, the Church is situated very close to the Binks where the St Margaret’s Ferry used to take pilgrims across the water to Fife, so they could walk on to St Andrews. That was before the bridges were built, and is what gives the town its name.

It is thought that there was a building here in the 11th century. Certainly, the Carmelites were in the area around 1330, a monastery was in operation in 1440, and that’s when this ancient church dates from.

St Margaret on the screen, Priory Church, South Queensferry

When I was planning the day, I tried to find someone to row us over the foot of the Almond. There used to be a boatman there who lived in the cottage opposite, but no longer. It would have meant that we missed the gorgeous river walk, but would have shortened the day. As it was, we all seemed to have coped well with the distance.

Reimagining what it means to be ecological

At the heart of the philosophy which underlies Shiatsu and East Asian medicine is the innate relationship between humans and other-than-humans. We are all one, all made of the same Chi, and intrinsically linked.

The cyclical and interdependent relationship inherent in YinYang means that it is impossible to imagine one part of nature separate from another. Every thing morphs and melds into the other, particularly in extreme situations such as the current climate change scenario. We can see this happening: the more we pollute the atmosphere, the faster and stronger the winds are having to move the air around in order to preserve its quality, so that we can all continue to exist. Balance happens, or at least the natural system is trying very hard to achieve that.

We must, of course, do our bit: notice what is happening and see where we are needed, work alongside our companions in nature and those who are trying desperately to put things right. We must listen to the messages, and this is easier to do if we walk rather than run, reflect as well as act, and connect with compassion, as well as protecting our own.

The system we are part of offers hope in this way, and although it can be hard to hear, we can console ourselves that if things do worsen, we are participants in a very grand cycle. We will be composted along with the potato peelings, sooner or later, ready to sprout again, so in the meantime, let’s pledge to do the best we can while we’ve still got time.

All photos by me unless otherwise stated.

South Queensferry to Bo’ness.

Shetland, Walking without a dog - travels in Scotland

Shetland – research and preparation for my first trip

May 2020

On 2^nd May, I was supposed to be making my first visit to Shetland – by train and ferry, from capital to capital, via Aberdeen. However, with the restrictions on travel and interpersonal contact imposed as a result of Covid-19 virus still in place in the UK, I could not go until the lockdown had been lifted. My visit was to be virtual.

The North Sea – coming into Stromness, Orkney – a mere 32 miles from Thurso on the north coast of Scotland

From Leith to Lerwick

During my initial research, I discovered that when, in 1836, the Aberdeen, Leith and Clyde Shipping Company extended a route from Leith Docks in Edinburgh to Lerwick, Shetlanders started using it to trade wool, lace and knitted items for the markets down south. I have lived in or very close to Leith for many years and this started me thinking. Perhaps I could also make a return trip, but in reverse, from Leith to Lerwick and back. Maybe I would find out what it was and is like to cross 216 miles of the North Sea. I’m guessing it might have been a real culture shock, coming from a rural crofting community to a noisy city, and remembered how hard the lads from the Fife farming community found it when they started dance college in London at the same time I did. Some of them simply returned home within the first term.

The River Medway at Yalding – on which side were you born?

I have thought a great deal about home and belonging over the years. I am English, born a ‘Kentish Maiden (KM)’ south of London. (It depends which side of the River Medway you were born as to whether you are a KM or a ‘Maid of Kent’). Also referred to as the ‘Garden of England’, Kent is where I was staying during the first 5 months of the pandemic lockdown when I made this Shetland project. My history is that I left Kent when I was 18 years old, spent some time in other parts of England and Wales in my 20s, and then moved to Edinburgh, where I have lived for 35+ years. In 2016, I began a new phase: I travelled to and around Europe for six months of each year, and spent the other six at home. When I am away, I feel comfortable, not homesick. It is my and others’ relationship to their homeland that I want to try and understand more through this virtual trip to Shetland.

Puffin (tammie norrie) Shetland taken by Lesley Skeates

Walking and talking with women about home

I was hoping to invite women to walk with me when I visited, to talk about their home on Shetland, as well as what it is like to leave, live elsewhere, and then return. I am interested in what brings about a sense of belonging. The act of walking is one which can ground us, ease the flow of conversation, and connect with what can be called ‘home’, the earth. Now that the plan has been changed, I will be on my home turf speaking on the phone to women walking on theirs, and I am looking forward to a fruitful chat about the subject.

Much of Shetland’s business is in fishing. Photo Lesley Skeates

While I cannot go in person, I can identify some benefits in making an imaginery journey. As an inveterate walker, I had planned to explore as much of the mainland as possible on foot. I knew I would start in Lerwick for practical reasons, but from there it would depend on invitations received and what turned up. I would have been alive to what caught my interest. Now that I will be travelling virtually and ‘meeting’ folk on the phone or Zoom, I can zip backwards and forwards from Bressay in the east to Papa Stour in the west, from Unst in the north to Sumburgh on the southern tip, without having to worry about ferry or bus connections. Although I would prefer to smell the real scents of the Loch of Spiggie, or hear the actual squawks of the skua (recorded here by Nikolay Terentyev on Soundcloud), it will definitely be quicker to get around!

Here is Christine De Luca speaking in Shetlandic, the dialect of the archipelago, sometimes called auld or broad Shetland / Shaetlan. Recorded by Wikitongues.

‘I wis boarn and bred in Shetland an maist o mi childhood wis spent in Waas….. – it means ‘Inlets o da sea’, an hit hed a fundamental effect on me, bein browt up in a croftin/ fishin community aa mi childhood. Whin I cam awa tae Edinburgh whaar I bide noo, an I’ve bidden for 50 year, hit wis redder awe-inspirin an scary.’
Direct from Christine De Luca, recorded by Wikitongues

I recently lead a walk in Leith focused on some of the women who lived there in the past (Walking Between Worlds). In research for that project, I was unable to find much information about women from Shetland who might be buried in Edinburgh, so I am on the look-out for stories about the women from these far-flung northern Isles who visited and traded with the mainland, for accounts of the sea trip (the route has been discontinued), or people who have passed-down tales from friends and relations. Please do get in touch if you have any information.

Aims of my Shetland Project

To get a female perspective of the Isles – now and in the past
To look at the topic of ‘home’: leaving home, returning, living and working there and away, in general
To start to understand a particularly female viewpoint of home and belonging, specifically the northernmost islands which have a chequered relationship with Scotland and Scandinavia.

Thanks to Isobel Cockburn for the title photo of a loom in the Textiles Museum, Lerwick.

Links

Leith to Lerwick Days 1 and 2 Charting my journey northwards and visiting Lerwick’s Textile Museum and Museum and Archives.

Home, Belonging and a Sense of Identity

Lerwick and Northmavine Days 3 and 4, in which I write about the Press Gang, visit The Old Tolbooth and view Da Lightsome Buoy, then travel to the north west to speak to Helen Robertson about her knitting projects.

Walking on Shetland

Whalsay and Bressay About Sunday Teas, these 2 smaller islands, and about home and a sense of belonging.

Wildie and Lalla, An elegiac film by Catriona Macdonald, Shona Main and Angelica Kroger.

Community Walking Projects, Walking without a dog - travels in Scotland, Walking without a donkey - travels in Edinburgh

Walking Between Worlds – 3

The third and final part of a circular tour of Leith, starting at the North Leith Burial Ground.

One of a flock of goosander on the water of Leith close by Coburg Street, Leith

Old map showing St Ninian’s Chapel, Leith

Old St Ninian’s Chapel (1675) with a golden cockerel weather vane on the top of its Dutch-style steeple, Quayside Street, Leith, Scotland

Along the road and down to the right beside Coburg House artists studios (well worth a visit) is the gloriously orange, former St Ninian’s Chapel (you can see St Ninian himself (360 – 432 AD) carved onto the doors and representing the Picts, at St Andrew’s House (St Andrew’s Square) in the centre of Edinburgh.) St Ninian’s Chapel is a 15^th century bridge chapel, part of the complicated history of North Leith Parish Church which can be found on Wikipedia.

Back by the water, I spotted this little talisman when I did my rekkie, but it was gone when I visited there, later, with one of the groups. It reads, ‘1 in 4 children live in poverty’.

As we crossed Sandport Bridge, I drew attention to Broad Wynd on the left, where the Leith Dispensary and Humane Society hospital and clinic were first situated (of which, more later).

Queen Charlotte in Bloomsbury Square, London

Along Tolbooth Wynd we wandered, and on to Queen Charlotte Street, named after the Queen of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818). She is remembered in Queens Square, Bloomsbury, London with a statue (see above). The Leith stories were starting to fit into themes: Charlotte was an immigrant and did not support slavery. Also a botanist, she founded Kew Gardens, was married to King George III, had fifteen (that’s 15!) children and was, famously, painted by Allan Ramsey 1762 when she was aged 17 years. She was an anti-slavery campaigner and that portrait is owned by the Scottish National Galleries. Recent articles have posed the question, ‘Is she of African origin?’

St Mary’s Chapel (1483) at South Leith Parish Church, not to be confused with St Mary’s Star of the Sea further down the road. Looking blue at dusk

At the Hideout Cafe (where I had a delicious and expensive hot chocolate on a previous occasion), we turned onto Constitution Street which was shut to traffic on account of the endless and frustrating tram works when I walked with the groups (so blessedly quiet to walk along) but is now open in all its splendour. Listen out for the dining of those tram bells announcing their arrival! We continued on, past St Mary’s Star of the Sea Catholic church, to the South Leith Parish Church and its graveyard.

St Mary’s Star of the Sea is the home of the missionary oblates

Hail, Queen of Heav'n, the ocean Star, 
Guide of the wand'rer here below!
Thrown on life's surge we claim thy care,⁠ 
Save us from peril and from woe. 

Mother of Christ, Star of the sea,⁠ 
Pray for the wanderer, pray for me

Based on the anonymous Latin hymn, Ave Maris Stella

See how this woman is named a ‘relict’ of her husband, South Leith Parish Church, Scotland!

I spent some time researching the women in this kirkyard, trying to find out their stories, but to almost no avail. I focused on another Charlotte, Charlotte Lindesay (1780-1857, who died aged 77) and discovered that she was one of a brood of six from Feddinch in Fife, and that her parents were William Lindesay and Elizabeth Balfour. In 1805, she married her cousin, Patrick who was very active in the community. Amongst other things, he was the president of the Leith Dispensary and Humane Society (see above) which was formed in 1825 on Maritime Street, later to become Leith Hospital on Mill Lane, and brought healthcare (via a clinic and hospital both initially in Broad Wynd) to the poor. I like to imagine Charlotte accompanying him, or even visiting the needy with a basket over her arm as portrayed in countless Jane Austen films, but I am woefully ill informed about her particulars.

Some of my information was gleaned from ‘The Jacobite Grenadier’ by Gavin Wood.

*The South Leith Parish Church seen through a stone arch in its graveyard, Leith, Scotland*

Incidentally, the Leith King James Hospital was demolished in 1822, and part of the wall can still be seen today, forming the boundary between the Kirkgate and the South Leith Kirkyard.

These iron gates (often seen in Edinburgh kirkyards – they swing on a central axis) protect the corpses, and predate 1832. We know this because it was the year of the Anatomy Act which allowed medical schools to legally acquire subjects for dissection and so there was no need to rob graves after that! South Leith Parish Church, Scotland

Some other women associated with this church

Mary of Guise (also called Mary of Lorraine), ruled Scotland as regent from 1554 until her death in 1560. A noblewoman from the Lotharingian House of Guise, which played a prominent role in 16th-century French politics, Mary became queen consort upon her marriage to King James V of Scotland in 1538. (Wikipedia). She worshipped at this church in 1559 and her coat of arms is displayed in the entrance today. Mary had fortified the town and she was in Leith being guarded by the thousands of French troops stationed there at the time.

Saint Barbara, whose altar sits in South Leith Parish Church, Scotland

There is also an altar dedicated to St Barbara who, we are told, had a very sad and sorry life. She wanted to dedicate herself to Christ, instead of marrying the man her father wanted her to (Dioscorus, 7th century), and so she was tortured and her head was chopped off by said dad. He got his comeuppance, apparently, being struck by lightening and reduced to ashes. She is, therefore, invoked in thunderstorms, and is also the patroness of miners although I am not sure why. (From the Britannica and Archdiocese of St Andrews on facebook).

A beautiful clay memorial to those who were buried around the church, but in unmarked graves (2009), South Leith Parish Church, Scotland

When excavating for the trams, they found mass graves. There were 50 per cent more bodies of women than men, and everyone was smaller and showed signs of malnourishment compared to the national average. An exhibition and book were made and it was posited that their low weight had something to do with the plague and/or that they were from the workhouse.

The graves of Jane Eliza Mackie and Jane Smart (left), and graffiti (see Walking Between Worlds – 1 for more on this subject) on the side of the church (right), South Leith Parish, Scotland

As a way of paying respect to the women whose names I discovered here, I read out a list of them to those I was walking with, together with their relationships, but omitted the names of their male relatives. I was attempting to recognise how many there were and about whom we know so little, as well as the manner in which they were remembered.

I have used the original spelling from the graves. They are referred to by their maiden names.

Elizabeth P. K. Smith Known as Betty by her friends
Helen their daughter whose dust reposes in the Church-yard of Thurso in Caithness being there suddenly cut off in the flower of her age
Elizabeth Maxwell, Maiden Lady Daughter of…who liv’d much esteem’d and Died regrated by all who had the Pleasure of her Aquaintance
Mary Jackson his Spoufe who departed this Life…much and juftly regrated, being poffeffed of the moft amiable accomplifhments…also near this lyes three of her Children who all dyed before herfelf
Ann McRuear Relick of…
Barbara Adamson, Spouse of…
In memory of his grandmother Mrs Ann Kerr… aged 76 years, His aunt Jean Tait.. aged 40 years, His mother Robina Tait… aged 44 years, His niece Jane Briggs Dickson …aged 33 months
Here lyth Jeane Bartleman Spouse to…
Sacred to the memory of Jessie Blacke..Beloved Wife of…Also of her infant baby…aged one month
Juliana Walker Wife of …. Janet Scott their third daughter of…
Catherine Stewart Rennie (wee Kitty daughter…)
Mary Finlay or Best …. And of her Grandchild Margaret Dick who after a few days illness … aged 18 years Let the Young Reflect on the Uncertainty of Human Life…

Rosemary for remembrance, South Leith Parish Church, Scotland

After paying our respects to a further queen: Victoria (see previous post), who sits, most regally, up high on her plinth outside Lloyd’s Pharmacy, we made our way up Leith Walk to Robbies.

Once in Robbies bar on the corner of Iona Street and Leith Walk, more or less opposite the start, I summed up the walk: It had taken us approximately 2.5 hours and we mused and meditated on boundaries and borders. We talked of the contrasts between one community of people and another and how often this causes stress at the join between areas (we were sitting close to the boundary between Leith and Edinburgh), about how we felt different at dusk and at dawn as we cross over from dark to light and vice versa, and whether we notice how we are on the cusp of the new moon. We spoke of women’s stories – in the past and now – and how they are so often seen through the lens of their menfolk and consequently hard to celebrate in their own right. And, finally we discussed the hardship of life in centuries gone by, especially how close death was, and about its symbols and community rites.

I explained that I hoped to make a map which somehow denotes and represents this event, that will contain some of its psychogeography. Wikipedia quotes Guy Debord on this: psychogeography is “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” I think of it as a human map, not simply one containing measurements and precise locations, but including feelings, activities and conversational responses as well.

We walked together at the new moon, just over the border from one cycle to the next.

This was originally a series of guided walks, in-person ones (eg in celebration of the Terminalia Psychogeography Festival (23rd Feb, annually which happily coincided with the Women Who Walk Network and Audacious Women Festival (AWF)), and online during Covid. I would like to thank everyone who came along with me.

If you have information about the women who are featured in the walk, have made a similar walk, or would like to share anything about these subjects, please do so in the comments box below.

Walking Between Worlds – an introduction

Walking Between Worlds 1

Walking Between Worlds 2

For a lovely blog on Warriston Cemetery, see Edinburgh Drift

Community Walking Projects, Walking without a dog - travels in Scotland, Walking without a donkey - travels in Edinburgh

Walking Between Worlds – 2

An account of the second part of a circular tour of Leith beginning at Bonnington Toll.

Graves often have angels or birds at their tops and a skull and cross bones at their base – symbolising that the body dies but the spirit soars to heaven in the Christian tradition. The way, according to the ancient Chinese, is not so very different. The soul has different aspects to it, two of which are the Po which goes down to the earth at death, and the Hun which rises out of the top of the head and joins our ancestors

Focus on women

I chose to focus on women’s stories during this walk, because, as a woman and a feminist, it is necessary to know about who came before me, I need to know my backstory. I find that it helps me sense my place in the continuum of the generations. Several of these walks took place at the same time as the Audacious Women Festival, whose byline is: ‘Do What You Always Wish You Dared’. I was involved in the 2019 Audacious Women Festival, sitting on a panel which looked at women who travel and move to different countries: how we support ourselves, make friends, manage the language difficulties and so on. That women-only event engendered a lively discussion with the audience, in which women of all ages shared their emigrant and immigrant experiences. My first guided walks was open to men and women, children and dogs, and it was something I was daring myself to do!

*The tools of the leather workers’ trade on a grave stone in North Leith Burial ground, Edinburgh*

Bonnington

After leaving the Rosebank Cemetery, we cross Bonnington Road, a toll road at the end of the 18th century. We enter into what would have been Bonnytoun (pretty village in Scots), encompassing mills and land which was part of the Barony of Broughton (mentioned in a Royal Charter 1143). Flanking both sides of the road are modern estates as well as the much older red stone Burns Tenements (on the right), which used to be the tannery. We were also going to be seeing the graves of leather workers with their pincer tongs and other tools adorning them in the North Leith Burial Ground, further along the way. Using the power of the Water of Leith, there was a conglomeration of businesses in the Bonnytoun area, and there is one existing mill wheel in the mill lade at Bonnyhaugh Cottages (on the left).

Second on the right is Elizafield, named after Eliza, a native of Leith, and the woman who bore Dr. Robert Grant. I have not been able to find out anything about her and her life. Her story has disappeared, perhaps deemed less important than his despite the fact that he would not exist if it weren’t for her, not least because birthing was such a dangerous task in the 1780’s. Grant was a surgeon and left Leith in his twenties to settle, very successfully, in South Carolina (US) marrying Sarah Foxworth. The rice plantation he established in Georgia (US) was also named Elizafield, and, as was the way then, it only drew the produce and profits it did, due to the female and male slaves who carried out the work: they were, ‘the driving force behind the success of the plantation’. (Amy Hedrick, author on glynngen.com)

Historically it [birth] was thoroughly natural, wholly unmedical, and gravely dangerous. Only from the early eighteenth century did doctors begin getting seriously involved, with obstetrics becoming a medically respectable specialty and a rash of new hospitals being built. Unfortunately, the impact of both was bad. Puerperal, or childbed, fever was a mystery, but both doctors and hospitals made it worse. Wherever the medical men went the disease grew more common, and in their hospitals it was commonest of all.
Druin Burch (2009) https://www.livescience.com/3210-childbirth-natural-deadly.html

We turn our backs on Elizafield to view Flaxmill Place. Flax was used to make linen, most of which was exported. It was so successful (employing 10000-12000 workers, many of whom would have been women, although the data is unavailable), that we know the Mills were able to loan Edinburgh Council a great deal of money. The Bonnington Mills, on the banks of the Water of Leith, made woollen cloth as well as linen and much of the wool was produced by women in their own homes nearby. The owners were always aiming to improve profits and cut corners, which resulted in the controversial introduction of Flemish and French workers (accommodated at Little Picardy(ie), the current Picardy Place). The women and girls spun the cambric yarn (for the close-woven, light type of linen), to try and improve the quality of the cloth, but this took away the local jobs.

In 1686, the first Parliament of James VII passed an ‘Act for Burying in Scots Linen’, the object of which was to keep the cloth in the country. It was enacted that, “hereafter no corpse of any persons whatsoever shall be buried in any shirt, sheet, or anything else except in plain linen, or cloth of hards, made and spun within the kingdom, without lace or point.” Heavy penalties were attached to breaches of the Act, and it was made the duty of the parish minister to receive, record and produce certificates of the fact that all bodies were buried as directed. On hearing this, we can imagine that the women in the graves we were visiting may have been bound in just such a linen shroud, made right in this place.

Women at work at the Burton’s Biscuit Factory, near Bonnington, Edinburgh

Before the Industrial Revolution, hand spinning had been a widespread female employment. It could take as many as ten spinners to provide one hand-loom weaver with yarn, and men did not spin, so most of the workers in the textile industry were women. The new textile machines of the Industrial Revolution changed that. Wages for hand-spinning fell, and many rural women who had previously spun found themselves unemployed. In a few locations, new cottage industries such as straw-plaiting and lace-making grew and took the place of spinning, but in other locations women remained unemployed.

Joyce Burnett (2008) This webpage has some fascinating pictures of women spinning at home and in the factory

The current Chancelot Mill on Lindsay Road, Edinburgh, Scotland

A little further up the road is the original site of the Chancellot Mill (now on Lindsay Place) and this was where corn was ground into flour (perhaps the reason for those corn cobs on the Persevere flag?) It was steam powered and had an 185 foot high clock tower. Producing 43 sacks an hour (twice the original prediction), it was described as ‘the most handsome flour mill in the world’!

Site of The Bonnington pub, now destroyed several times over, Newhaven Road, Edinburgh

Urban myth

They were growing cannabis in the basement of The Bonnington and it spontaneously combusted in the middle of the night, causing the whole building to burn down. True or false?

Water of Leith

I invite you to look into the water here and think of the phrase ‘time immemorial’. Legally, this refers to the years before 1189, being the date set, in 1275, as the time before which no one could remember, and therefore no legal cases could deal with events before that date. ‘Time out of mind,’ recorded from the fifteenth century, is just the plain English version of the same thing. My information came from here and here.

As we cross Anderson Place, this quote from the Tao Te Ching is one to ponder: “The Master gives herself up to whatever the moment brings. She knows that she is going to die, and she has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in her mind, no resistances in her body. She doesn’t think about her actions; they flow from the core of her being. She holds nothing back from life; therefore she is ready for death, as a woman is ready for sleep after a good day’s work.” (50)

North Leith Burial Ground

After rounding the corner of the Water of Leith and meeting the confluence of the wonderful network of Edinburgh cycle paths, we mount the steps onto Coburg Street where the North Leith Burial Ground is situated. According to The Spirit of Leithers (a Facebook Group) it is ‘The dead centre of Leith’!

Here is the plaque saying that Lady Mackinstosh is under this ground, but is she?

The memorial stones are old (1664 – 1820) and varied. There are grand mausoleums, individual slabs – some half buried and unintelligible – and almost all have engravings worth seeing. This is a good time for a ‘treasure hunt’: search for the grave of Lady Mackintosh; a long bone; angels; and hourglasses (note: some are on their sides and others upstanding, the sands of time sifting down through the narrow neck as life passes by).

The graves are thicker than usual, and this one has a skeleton head on one edge and an angel’s head on the other – death and life, North Leith Burial Ground, Leith

Angel and skull, North Leith Burial Ground, Leith, Scotland

Lady Mackintosh is famous for raising a regiment for Prince Charlie’s 1745 uprising (variously known as the Jacobite, the ’45 rebellion or the ’45). It was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart.

In fact Lady Mackintosh is not here – she probably lies under the flats next door! How many people know that they are working or living over the top of dead bodies?

Sadly, it looked as if this was someone’s more contemporary (and probably rather cold) resting place. There are many homeless people who seek shelter in Edinburgh’s graveyards. North Leith Burial Ground, Coburg Street

Previous: Introduction to walking Between Worlds and Walking Between Worlds 1

The walk continues in the final blog of the series, Walking Between Worlds – 3

If you have information about the women who are featured in the walk, have made a similar walk, or would like to share anything about these subjects, please do so in the comments box below.

Community Walking Projects, Walking without a donkey - travels in Edinburgh, Walking without a donkey - travels in Scotland

Walking Between Worlds

Introduction to a walk around the Leith boundary, taking in the Rosebank Cemetery, the North Leith Burial Ground, and the streets in between, with information, photos, video, maps and conversation about the wonderful women associated with Leith’s past and contemporary connections.

One of the Anthony Gormley statues in the Water of Leith over which we walk as part of the tour

(This walk was originally made on foot with a live group in Edinburgh on 23 February 2020, 3pm – sunset (5.30pm). This event has now taken place but it is hoped that there will be more in the future.)

The original tour was a circular one of approx. 2.5 hrs, that meditated on boundaries and borders – between one community of people and another, day and night, life and death and on the cusp of the new moon.

We visit the graves of notable women in Rosebank Cemetery, North Leith Burial Ground and South Leith Parish Church. Briefly, at each stopping place, we face the memorial stones, and learn about their incumbents.

The North Leith Burial Ground is ‘the dead centre of Leith’ according to The Spirit of Leithers

The steps we take from one stopping place to the next, are equally, if not more important, so take note of them too. You are invited to walk in memory of loved ones, and to muse on life and mortality. It is an opportunity for exchange and silent contemplation.

Pilrig Church, Leith Walk. At the border between Leith and Edinburgh

The walk starts at the join of Pilrig Street and Leith Walk, opposite the location of the Boundary Bar (now renamed as Bier Hoose) which marked the former border between Leith and Edinburgh, and terminates at Robbies Bar on the corner of Iona St and Leith Walk, more or less opposite the start. There you can find libation and chat about where you have been – both in yourselves and the city.

Lady Mackintosh who raised a regiment for Prince Charlie, was buried in the North Leith Burial Ground, Edinburgh

Always wear hardy shoes or boots for tramping pavements and negotiating sodden grass between stones and at the edge of the Water of Leith.

Psychogeography is ‘The study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.’
Guy Debord from Making Maps

The annual Terminalia Festival of Psychogeography

Terminus was one of the really old Roman gods. He didn’t have a statue, he was a stone marker, and his origin was associated with a physical object). He had influence over less physical boundaries too, like that between two months, or between two groups of people. Terminalia is celebrated on the 23rd February which was the last day of the Roman Year, the boundary between two new years.

Women Who Walk

TI am a member of Women Who Walk. This network is for women who use walking in their creative or academic practice, and it includes artists, writers, field historians and archaeologists, psychogeographers, and academics.

I led a series of these walks, in-person and online (for anyone who was ambulant or not, in Edinburgh or not!) including ones that were part of the Audacious Women Festival 2021, Women Who Walk, and Terminalia Festival (2023 and 2021).

Walking Between Worlds 1 an account of the first part of the walk

Walking Between Worlds 2 the second part of the walk

Walking Between Worlds – 3 the third part of the walk

Stage 1 / the Metal Phase

Stage 2 / the Earth Phase

Stage 3 / the Water Phase

Stage 4 / the Wood Phase

Stage 5 / the Fire phase

Reimagining what it means to be ecological

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From Leith to Lerwick

Walking and talking with women about home

Aims of my Shetland Project

Links

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Some other women associated with this church

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Focus on women

Bonnington

Water of Leith

North Leith Burial Ground

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The annual Terminalia Festival of Psychogeography

Women Who Walk

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