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St Leonard's Hospital, Edinburgh

Hospital buildings completed in the 15th centuryHospitals in EdinburghReligious buildings and structures completed in 1493
St Leonard's Hospital
St Leonard's Hospital

The Hospital of St Leonard was a mediaeval hospital in the St Leonard's area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to which it gave its name. Founded by David I, it existed until some time after the Scottish Reformation. The hospital was founded by David I and re-founded in 1493 by James IV at the bequest of Robert Bellenden, abbot of Holyrood. The abbots of Holyrood served as the hospital's superiors and the manse of the hospital's vicar was located near the Abbey in the Canongate. The hospital supported support six "hospitallers" or "bedemen", who worked the hospital's two crofts: the Hermit's Croft and the Terrar's Croft. It is notable for having served as a meeting place for the Incoporation of Hammermen and as the site of a gathering of conspirators in an unsuccessful plot to kill James V in 1529. The hospital continued in use after the Reformation but its buildings were ruinous by 1653. Attached to the hospital was St Leonard's Chapel, whose ruins were excavated and demolished between 1854 and 1855. All that then reamined of the hospital was its chapel, which stood around 70ft (21m) long by 20ft (6m) wide. The excavations uncovered a large number of burials in its vicinity. James Clark Technical School was built over the site in 1913. The hospital's name lives on in the name of St Leonard's, Edinburgh while its crofts gave their names to Hermits and Termits.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article St Leonard's Hospital, Edinburgh (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

St Leonard's Hospital, Edinburgh
St Leonard's Crag, City of Edinburgh Southside

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N 55.943725 ° E -3.1778111111111 °
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St Leonard's Crag 4
EH8 9SP City of Edinburgh, Southside
Scotland, United Kingdom
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St Leonard's Hospital
St Leonard's Hospital
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Greyfriars Charteris Centre
Greyfriars Charteris Centre

The Greyfriars Charteris Centre is a community centre in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the mission of Greyfriars Kirk. The centre opened in 2016 and occupies the 20th century church buildings which became Kirk o' Field Parish Church in 1969. The church originated in the St Ninian's Mission, founded in 1891 at the instigation of Archibald Charteris to minister in the area of the Pleasance. The mission was staffed by the Church of Scotland's recently founded order of Deaconesses, who also ran the neighbouring Deaconess Hospital. An attached church, named Charteris Memorial Church, was founded in 1912. As the Southside's population and church congregations declined in the wake of the Second World War, neighbouring churches united with Charteris Memorial: first Pleasance in 1953, forming Charteris-Pleasance Church; then Buccleuch and Nicolson Street in 1969, when the name Kirk o' Field Parish Church was adopted; then St Paul's Newington in 1983. Kirk o' Field itself united with Greyfriars, Tolbooth and Highland Kirk in 2013. The united congregation retained the buildings for use as a community centre named in memory of Charteris, which opened in 2016. The former Kirk o' Field church building was completed in 1912 to a design by James Bow Dunn in the late Scottish Gothic style. Robert Wilson designed the neighbouring St Ninian's buildings, which opened in 1891. Between 2019 and 2022, the buildings underwent a major programme of refurbishment and alternations under Konishi Gaffney Architects.

St Leonard's, Edinburgh
St Leonard's, Edinburgh

St Leonard's is a neighbourhood of south-central Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. Once notable as a centre of industry, it is now primarily residential. The area takes its name from the mediaeval hospital of St Leonard, which stood on St Leonard's Hill on the edge of Holyrood Park. The hospital had fallen out of use by the mid-17th century but, by the middle of the following century, a small village had developed on the east side of the road between Edinburgh and Dalkeith. One prominent house built in this time, Hermits and Termits, survives. In 1831, the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway opened its northern terminus at St Leonard's. Later in the 19th century, businesses including Thomas Nelson & Sons publishers and J. & G. Stewart distillers established manufacturing operations in St Leonard's. Industry declined throughout the 20th century with the station and Nelson's Parkside Works closing in 1968. In this period, abortive plans to demolish much of the area in favour of a ring road led to "planning blight" and the destruction of many older properties. Since the 1970s, however, St Leonard's has been redeveloped as a residential neighbourhood. St Leonard's is the site of the University of Edinburgh's Pollock Halls of Residence, including the Confucius Institute of Scotland. The Royal Commonwealth Pool – used in the 1970, 1986 and 2014 Commonwealth Games – is located here, as is St Leonard's Police Station. Until 2020, Scottish Widows was headquartered in St Leonard's.