The King's Wark in Leith was a building on the Shore of Leith, at the mouth of the Water of Leith into the Firth of Forth. The King's Wark was the Scottish royal arsenal where cannon used on royal ships were kept and maintained, and where supplies shipped to Leith for the royal household were stored. To the north east of the King's Wark the Shore was extended into the sea by a pier known as the "Bulwark".Henry Paton, HMC Mar & Kellie, 2 (London, 1930), p. 39. To the west was the Broad Wynd, and on the south, there was a walled yard. An inn on the site was documented in 1623.John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 1620–1633 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 158 no. 454. The site on the Shore includes a public house and restaurant called "The King's Wark" on the corner of the Shore and Bernard Street.Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1951), p. 256.
History The arsenal at Leith was founded by James I of Scotland in 1434, first mentioned in the Latin accounts as the Palace in Leith, "palacii de Leith", when Robert Gray, Master of Works at Edinburgh Castle began the building.Exchequer Rolls, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. cxli, 578, 625 Thomas Oliphant, Constable of Edinburgh Castle, was master of building works at Leith for James II of Scotland,George Burnett, Exchequer Rolls, 1455–1460, 6 (Edinburgh, 1883), p. 595 when tiles were shipped to Leith to roof the building in June 1459.George Burnett, Exchequer Rolls, 1455–1460, 6 (Edinburgh, 1883), p. 489 Construction continued in the 1460s, and some purchases of lead, nails, and timber were recorded in the Exchequer Rolls.Exchequer Rolls, 7 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 213, 368
James III of Scotland founded an associated chaplain's place in the royal chapel at Restalrig in 1477, and James IV of Scotland granted rents from the King's Wark for another chaplain in 1512.David Laing, Charters of the Hospital of Soltre, of Trinity College, Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1861), pp. xliv-xlvi.
In May 1505 two boats belonging to James IV were painted at the King's Wark then hauled back into the water.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland: 1506-1507, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), p. 198. Wool from the steadings and farms of James V of Scotland was stored in the "foir loft" of the King's Wark in 1537.Exchequer Rolls, 17 (Edinburgh, 1897), p. 741. One of the chaplains, William Turner, was compensated £10 Scots for loss of rental income when the building was used at the entries of Madeleine of Valois and Mary of Guise to Scotland.Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Work, 1 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1957), p. 290.
In August 1539 cannon and other munitions captured from pirates by the royal ship the Unicorn were stored in the King's Wark.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 228. The buildings were burnt in May 1544 during the war of the Rough Wooing after 80,000 cannonballs were looted by the English army.William Patten, The Expedition into Scotland, in Albert F. Pollard, Tudor Tracts (London, 1903), pp. 41, 44 The soldiers took a quantity of linen and canvas, and two ships, the Salamander and the Unicorn.Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, 1543–1590, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1892), p. 378 no. 238Joseph Stevenson, The History of Mary Stewart by Claude Nau (Edinburgh, 1883), pp. 318, 338-9.
In 1545 Robert Logan of Restalrig used the tower as a Tolbooth for Leith. Timber cut in Aberdalgie for stocking cannon was stored in the King's Wark in 1547.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 104.
Now demolished, the tower of the King's Wark was depicted in a drawing by John Slezer in 1693.
Reign of Mary, Queen of Scots During the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, John Chisholm was keeper of the King's Wark. Chisholm shipped cannon and gun carriages from Leith and Dunbar north to Aberdeen and back in October 1562 during operations against the Earl of Huntly.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. 217-8. In 1565, timber from Perthshire was shipped from the Tay to Leith and the Earl of Bothwell as Sheriff of Edinburgh was made to organise transporting the timber to Edinburgh Castle.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 446-7, 474-5.
Chisholm arranged the firework display for the baptism of her son Prince James at Stirling Castle in December 1566. The fireworks were made in Leith and shipped to Stirling in great secrecy, carried to the castle at the dead of night "for feir of knowledge thairof." In April 1567, Parliament confirmed John Chisholm's possession of the King's Wark.The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, K.M. Brown et al eds (St Andrews, 2007-2013) Retrieved: 3 March 2013
Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie identified Chisholm as the builder of the "lang stair upon Leith pier".Aeneas James George Mackay, Chroniclis of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 257. In 1581 Chisholm was involved in making a pageant of an assault on a mock castle on the Water of Leith for the wedding of Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray and James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.Michael Pearce, 'Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark', Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), p. 119. : Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 58, 403–9.
Anne of Denmark at the King's Wark In October 1589, James VI decided to sail to Norway to meet his bride Anne of Denmark. John Chisholm mounted the royal artillery for the king's fleet. Accounts of expenses made by the Chancellor John Maitland of Thirlestane include the preparation of a ship, the James Royall of Ayr, hired from Robert Jameson, with a payment to Chisholm of £28 for "dressing, mounting and putting the ordinance on board."Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 29.
Anne of Denmark arrived in Scotland on 1 May 1590 with James VI, and stayed five nights in the King's Wark.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10, (Edinburgh, 1936), 863: Robert Chambers, The Life of King James the First, 1 (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 153. The path from the ship to their throne room in Chisholm's house was strewn with tapestry and Turkish carpets.David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), pp. 100, 139: Papers Relative to the Marriage of James VI, (1828) pp.37-8: David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 83. The ceremony of the reception at Leith and the King's Wark had been carefully planned the previous September, when it was thought the queen's arrival was imminent. A special wooden stair was built for her to enter directly into the first-floor hall, beyond which was the queen's bedchamber. There would be chairs for Anne and James VI on this "scaffold", where they would sit in public and listen to a speech of welcome called an oration or "harangue" made by James Elphinstone in French. The directions included the order of entry, seating, and even where people should look. James and Anne would enter the bedchamber, then her Danish ladies in waiting would enter the hall, followed by the Scottish ladies and gentlemen. James would then come out of the bedchamber and greet these people, then leave. Once Anne was lodged in the King's Wark the scaffold would be taken away. The people of Leith were ordered to unload any guns and forbidden to mend ships on the Shore until she left.Thomas Napier Thomson, David Calderwood's History of Kirk of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1844), pp. 60–64, 94. (James Elphinstone also had a house on the Shore in Leith, "Balmerino's House".) On the day, James Elphinstone gave his speech in Latin to the king and queen who were seated on thrones inside the hall.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 186, 863: David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (John Donald: Edinburgh, 1997), p. 100.
Tenants and King's Wark sites
John Dalmahoy occupied a part of the Wark property and garden.Exchequer Rolls, vol. 22 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 79. In 1550 his lease included a waste unoccupied area and garden to the south of the "Kingis Werk", and between the King's Wark and the lands of John Boyman and the deceased Alexander Lyell, bounded to the west by the lane to the Shore and the sea beach on the east, and encircled with a stone wall.Exchequer Rolls, 1543–1556, 18 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 497–98. John Dalmahoy elder and younger had various roles in Leith, and helped at the King's Wark when building supplies and munitions were shipped to the fortress island of Inchkeith in 1561 and 1566.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. 116, 520.
In 1578 John Dalmahoy obtained the site on the bulwark or pier where the "common closets" or Burse was situated. Edinburgh town council bought the burse site from Dalmahoy.Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1573–1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 88–89. By 1598, some of the other spaces in and around the King's Wark were rented by merchants, including James Cowdane who occupied some "rowmes" within the walled area.Marguerite Wood, Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1589-1603 (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1927), p. 229.
Bernard Lindsay The buildings of the King's Wark passed to Bernard Lindsay of Lochhill in 1606 by Act of Parliament. Lindsay had a Leith connection, his father, Thomas Lindsay, had been the searcher-general at Leith, a customs official. His wife Barbara Logan was from a Leith family.Charles Rogers, History of the Chapel Royal (Grampian Club, 1874), p. cxxxii. As a courtier, chamber servant, and valet of the royal wardrobe of James VI,Life and Times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carribber, vol. 2, p. 341. Bernard Lindsay had brought Henry Wotton to James VI at Dunfermline Palace in 1601, when Wotton was masquerading as an Italian "Octavio Baldi".Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 (HMSO: Edinburgh, 1969), p. 876: Henry Wotton, Reliquiae Wottonianae (London, 1654), pp. 29–35. The Leith property was to be regarded as a free barony. Lindsay was required to reserve a cellar for storing wines for the King's use.Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1816), p. 315. Lindsay shipped Scottish coal to supply the royal palaces in London, and in 1608 was compensated for the loss of two coal barques or hoys in a storm.Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (London, 1836), 84.
Lord Walden visited in August 1612 to refresh himself after crossing from Burntisland before continuing to John Killoch's house in the Canongate.Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1855), p. 210. In 1612 Lindsay planned a stone arched open arcade facing the shore with seating for merchants to be the burse or exchange of Leith. The king granted him a tax on wine imports for the building work.John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal, 1609–1620 (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 248–249 no. 668. Lindsay built a "fyne gallerye ... reised upoun arches and pilleris of friestone" and paved underneath with "hewne stone".Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 393. The description of the planned arches resembles the surviving facade of Gladstone's Land on the Royal Mile.