Showing posts with label Royal Artillery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royal Artillery. Show all posts

Tuesday 11 April 2023

Skulferatu #94 - Guardhouse, Leith Fort, North Fort Street, Leith, Edinburgh


Once upon a time, long long ago, in a far off land there was a fort full of soldiers...well, actually not that long ago there was a fort full of soldiers in Leith.  And being a fort in Leith it was aptly named – Leith Fort.  Now, all that remain of it are a bit of the wall, the main gate, and the guardhouses.

 

A photo showing some high stone walls with an entrance where a gate must have once stood and two doorways in.  The entrance is blocked by two bollards and in the distance on the right hand side can be seen a building with some pillars at the front - this is one of the Leith Fort guardhouses.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Walls and guardhouse at Leith Fort

 

A photo from another angle showing the high stone walls with an entrance where a gate must have once stood and two doorways in.  The entrance is blocked by two bollards and in the distance on the left hand side can be seen a building with some pillars at the front - this is the other Leith Fort guardhouses.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Walls and guardhouse at Leith Fort

 

An old postcard showing the walls and entrance to Leith Fort around 1900.  Outside are some men in soldiers uniform and some women and children.  Several of the children have bare feet.  At the top of the postcard is printed 'Entrance to Leith Fort.'
Entrance to Leith Fort – Postcard by Valentine & Sons

 

Leith Fort was built in the 1780s to protect the harbour at Leith, the city fathers being spurred into action during the American war of Independence after three ships led by the Scottish American naval captain John Paul Jones, attempted an attack on Leith and were only thwarted by a storm.  

 

The original fort was designed by James Craig, the architect who designed Edinburgh’s New Town, and it had a battery of nine guns that were pointed out over Leith Harbour and the Forth.  During the Napoleonic wars, the fort was expanded quite considerably with more buildings being added to house French prisoners of war.   It then carried on as a military base, and was the headquarters for the Royal Artillery in Scotland.  In the mid-1950s the fort was closed and abandoned. 

 

A newspaper photograph taken from a high point and showing the fort walls and over into the fort where there are several buildings.  Text underneath the photo reads - 'A DESERTED FORT.  A woman hurries past the locked gates of the deserted Leith Fort, once a large artillery centre. The future of the fort depends on decisions to be taken by Edinburgh Corporation. Staunch Leithers are hoping that  Leith Fort will be demolished in the very near future and a block of modern houses erected on the old site.'
The abandoned fort in 1957

 

In the 1960s most of the buildings were demolished to make way for a large, seven storey block of flats - Fort House. A building that from the 1980s gained a notorious reputation for drugs and violence.  I have a distant memory of visiting the building once, back in the late Eighties.  On a Friday evening after work, I met up with one of my friends in a pub in Edinburgh.  At that time, we were both working in those sorts of offices where we were expected to be in suit and tie, so were suited up.  After a few beers, my friend was having one of those drunken teenage moments of regret, and decided he wanted to get back with his ex-girlfriend.  He asked if I’d chum him, not for moral support, but rather because she’d recently moved to a flat in the Fort and he was scared to go there on his own.  So off we went.  My only real recollections of the place are of a large dog that someone had tethered up outside the flats who growled and snarled at us, then, as we went into the building, some bloke on seeing us two in our suits came up to us and said - ‘Youse are no fucking debt collectors, are you?’  Shitting our pants a bit we said no, to which he replied - ‘Just as well, cause I’d ‘ave kicked yer cunts in if ya were.’ 

 

A photo of the fort walls and entrance with a large red brick block of flats standing behind it - the notorious Fort House.  Photo of Fort House by Jonathan Oldenbuck and sourced from Wikicommons.
Fort House

 

In 2009 it was decided by Edinburgh Council to demolish the flats due to maintenance issues and costs.  The tenants were then rehoused, and Fort House was demolished in 2013.  In its place were built the terraces of ‘colony style’ homes that now sit on the site.

 

A photo of the frontage of a building, one of the guardhouses.  The front roof is supported by several pillars and the wall is the background is painted red, though id covered in graffiti.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
One of the old guardhouses at Leith Fort

 

A photo of a sign in the guardhouse from when it served as the concierge's office for Fort House.  It reads 'Press for Attention.' Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Press for attention

 

A view through an arched window in the guardhouse.  The window is barred and shows a view through to another barred window and a stone wall in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Window through the guardhouse

 

A side view of one of the guardhouses at Leith Fort showing a two storied building with several windows.  Those on the ground floor have been blocked off and painted black.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Leith Fort guardhouse

 

A photo of several old fashioned black cannons at Leith Fort.  They are resting on the wall as part of an architectural feature.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Some cannons - a feature on the new housing estate

 

A view over one of the black cannons to the entrance of the fort with the guardhouses on either side.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
A cannon’s view of the guardhouses and fort entrance

 

Today, after my toddle around the remnants of the old fort and the new streets of new houses, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me in a gap by the drainpipe on one of the guardhouses.

 

A photo showing a hand holding up a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 94).  In the background is one of the Leith Fort guardhouses.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #94

 

A photo showing a black drainpipe against a grey stone wall.  A small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 94) sits in a gap between the wall and the drainpipe.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #94 in a gap by the drainpipe

 

A close up photo showing a black drainpipe against a grey stone wall.  A small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 94) sits in a gap between the wall and the drainpipe.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #94 in a gap by the drainpipe

 

TomTom Map showing location of Skulferatu #94
Map showing location of Skulferatu #94

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.976781

Longitude -3.185499

 

what3words: vague.chips.tiles

 

I used the following sources for information on Leith Fort –

 

Historic Environment Scotland

Leith Fort Lodges, North Fort Street, Edinburgh

 

Canmore

Canmore - North Fort Street, Leith Fort

 

The Sphere - Saturday 17 August 1957

 

Photo of Fort House by Jonathan Oldenbuck and sourced from Wikicommons