Bernard Street, Edinburgh
{{Short description|Street in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
File:Bernard Street, Leith, Jan 2014 (12019099113).jpg
Bernard Street is a thoroughfare in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs west north westerly from the junction of Constitution Street and Baltic Street to meet the Water of Leith at The Shore. It forms the northern boundary of what was known in the 19th century as 'Old Leith'.
{{cite book |editor-last=Groome |editor-first=Francis H. |title=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical |url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townhistory292.html |access-date=21 November 2013 |year=1882–1885 |publisher=Grange Publishing Works |location=Edinburgh }}
Overview
File:Leith Bank, Bernard Street, Edinburgh.jpg
File:Robert Burns statue, Bernard Street.jpg
It is thought that Bernard Street takes its name from Bernard Lindsay of Lochhill, a courtier to James VI and I, who was granted the King's Wark in 1604. An early name for the area was "Bernard's Neuk".{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Stuart |title=The Place Names of Edinburgh: Their Origins and History |date=2002 |publisher=Steve Savage Publishers |page=90|isbn=1-904246-06-0}}
In 1780, the first public sewer in Scotland was built in Bernard Street, flowing into the Water of Leith. The iron seal of the sewer is still visible by the bridge at the end of Bernard Street.
At the east end of the street is a statue of Robert Burns by David Watson Stevenson erected in 1898.
{{cite book |title=Frommer's Edinburgh and Glasgow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hh_BQfG3cR4C&q=bernard+lindsay+edinburgh+bar&pg=PA122 |access-date=21 November 2013 |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Chichester |isbn=978-0-470-97808-5 |page=122}}
Other buildings include the premises of Leith Merchants Club and the former home of the Leith Banking Company. Today, the buildings of Bernard Street have been converted to use as pubs, cafes and the offices of media, marketing and publishing companies.
From the mid-18th century, a stagecoach service ran from Bernard Street to the city's Old Town. Bernard Street forms part of the main coastal route around north Edinburgh. From the 1970s until the 1990s a Bernard Street bypass was proposed, Taking traffic northward through the docks and closing the street to through traffic at its east end. This was then to preserve Bernard Street as a historic enclave.Leith Local Plan 1972, EDC
Bernard Street was a stop on Leith's electric tram line from 1905 until 1955
With the completion of the Edinburgh Trams light rail line extension to Newhaven in 2023, a new tram stop opened at the junction of Bernard Street and Constitution Street.
The decision was made to name the stop The Shore due to the area's close proximity.
Buildings of Interest
- King's Wark - 1702 with silhouette of the former forestair on its north flank
- Currie Line offices - lead roofed building at centre of north side
- Former Norwegian consulate/Christian Salvesen HQ - south side, west of domed bank
- Waterloo Buildings - huge tenement of 1816
- Leith Bank 1806 - by John Paterson
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.edinburghtrams.com Edinburgh Trams]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120402161630/http://www.edinburghtrams.com/index.php/local_update/by_tram_stop/?tram_stop=Bernard%20Street&route_section=Edinburgh%20North Bernard Street information]
{{Streets and Squares in Edinburgh|state=collapsed}}