Granton House/Castle

Built: First mentioned in 1479 when it is described as an “L” shaped Tower House. 1544 Destroyed during Earl of Hertford’s Rough Wooing. Restored for occupation. 1620 great alterations for Sir Tomas Hope.

Owners: Date Owners 1479 Melville of Carnbee Fife 1592 John Russell 1603 Sir Alexander Gibson of Drurie 1613 Sir John Arnot of Berwick 1619 Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall 1688 Sir William Patterson 1708 Dame Mary Hope 1714 Sir Walter Riddell 1739 Duke of Argyle and Greenwich

Narrative: Records show that the tower house at Granton was in the possession of Melville of Carnbee, with properties having been acquired by that family in the reign of Robert the Bruce. One of whose family was killed at the Battle of Flodden field, and honourable mention is made of the family before and after the Reformation. The area between the shore at Granton and the City of Edinburgh was primarily farm land and estate hunting grounds. The first record of industrial activity was that of the Granton Quarry being worked and can be seen in the City Treasurer’s Accounts for 1552/3. These show that “1/2 an ell of velvet be given to the Laird of Carube for licencete wym stanes of his lands of Granton, to the schoir, for the hale space of a year”. Granton House was sold to John Russell in 1592, who following a short period of ownership, sold to Sir Alexander Gibson.

Sir Alexander became President of the Court of Session and known as Lord Durie when he gained the lands of Durie in 1614. Such was his honesty and integrity that it was said of him that he was immune to persuasion, bribes and intimidation. In 1613 Granton was sold to Sir John Arnot of Berwick, he was provost of Edinburgh, and treasurer depute to King James VI. He only held the lands until 1619 when he sold to Sir Thomas Hope.

Sir Thomas Hope was Lord Advocate, appointed by King Charles I. Thomas Hope was created a Baron of Nova Scotia in 1638 and is credited as having drafted the National Covenant. The bust of his 6th son, Sir James Hope, is mounted on the east wall within the Cramond Church, with an external headstone to the west of the Barnton Gallery entrance. These memorials are linked to the Hope family who occupied Granton House/Castle within the parish. Sir James was visiting relations at Granton in 1661 when he took a sudden illness and died within six days. The family had the memorial bust placed in the church and requested that it remain to his memory when the Church was rebuilt in 1911. The family became ‘Hope of Craighall’ after acquiring the estates of that name. The archway within the grounds of the Whitehouse came from the gateway of Sir Thomas Hope’s ‘town house’ in the Cowgate. The Hope family remained at Granton until they sold it to Sir William Paterson in 1688.

Sir William, Baronet of Nova Scotia 1687, was the son of John, Bishop of Ross, and a brother of John Paterson the Archbishop of Glasgow. For a time he was Regent of Philosophy in Edinburgh University then became Clerk to the Privy Council. He was succeeded by his son John who sold Granton in 1708 and purchased the estate of Eccles in Berwickshire.

Granton was sold to Dame Mary Hope in 1708 wife of Sir Thomas Moncrieff of Moncrieff who in turn sold it to Sir Walter Riddell in 1714. Granton was in the ownership of Sir Walter’s nephew, Captain Riddell of Granton, when he died without issue and the house was sold to the 2nd Duke of Argyle and Greenwich in 1739/40.

Stone from the quarry was being used for the developments that were taking place in Edinburgh and at Holyrood House, the new developments of Royston Castle and for the Nelson Monument in London. All this activity meant that within time Granton Castle fell to ruin and it was described as a ‘ruinous keep’ by the Duke of Argyle when he bought the site in 1740. The Duke continued with the quarrying operations and the castle remained ruinous.

The Duke of Argyle was responsible for re-uniting the two estates when he bought the Baronies of both East and West Granton. On his death the joint estates fell to his daughter Caroline, who had married the Earl of Dalkeith. The estates thereby passing to the Buccleuch Estates.

Granton Castle Ruins

The 5th Duke of Buccleuch had rock quarried to the west of Royston Castle, around the site of Granton House/Castle, for the construction of Granton Harbour and had this project overseen by the lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenson. The first section of the harbour was formally opened for the coronation of Queen Victoria, in 1838, with the full harbour being completed in 1863. When the rail line was developed it was used for local passenger trains, until 1926, and servicing trade to and from the harbour.

The William Muir making its last trip across the Forth, in 1935. It was replaced by a Mersey ferry steamer.

The success of Granton Harbour saw tracts of land being sold off to commercial and industrial development in the area. Granton had the world’s first ferry-train operating between Granton and Burntisland in 1850, a Marine Science Laboratory and a base for the servicing of the lighthouses around Scotland. All of this was on top of the successful export of coal, the operation of some 80 fishing trawlers, and the imports of materials for the paper making and other industries. The lands to the south and west of Caroline Park were sold for the development of the Granton Gasworks, in 1898, and the development of the railway system to service both the Gas Works and Granton Harbour.

Following the First World War quarrying recommenced in 1928 when the firm Bain & Brown operated the site, this did not last long however as the outbreak of WWII closed operations.

During WW II Granton Harbour was home of the shore based minesweeping training establishment HMS Lochinvar and following the war time activity, it became a site for the scrapping of former Royal Navy ships, these included HMS Newport, HMS Hedingham Castle, among others.

New Granton House

Built: 1807 for Charles Hope, Lord Granton. 1945 significantly modified for multi-occupancy. Destroyed by fire in Jan 1954.

Owners:

Year Owner/Occupiers 1807 Charles Hope, Lord Granton 1863 Sir John McNeil 1883 Lord Gifford 1885 J Sommerville jnr 1994 Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod 1902 Edinburgh and Leith Corporation Gas Commissioners 1940 Edinburgh City Council

Narrative: Charles Hope was the eldest son of John Hope, a Member of Parliament for Linlithgow, and a successful merchant in London. In 1806/7 he contracted with the Duke of Buccleuch for a section of land, to be obtained on a 99 year lease, on which he would build his home, Granton House.

Charles, born in 1763, was a distinguished student at the Royal High School and went on to study Law at Edinburgh University, then was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates at the age of 21. He became Lord Advocate of Scotland in 1801, was then raised to the bench as Lord Granton and served 7 years as Lord Justice Clerk. He also served as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh from 1802 – 1805 and succeeded in getting through the Commons an Edinburgh Road Improvements Bill and an Act for Augmenting the Salaries of Parish Schoolmasters in Scotland. He became Lord President in 1811, and subsumed the role of Lord Justice General when this role was combined with that of Lord Justice Clerk in 1836 and served in these two roles until 1841.

The 1951 edition of Blackwood’s Magazine tells of some of the written recollections of Margaret Hope, Lord Granton’s daughter, of living at Granton House. She tells of a steam ship that had struck the black rocks at Granton Point on the evening before King George IV’s visit to Edinburgh, in 1822. She outlines how her father (see photo) and his staff helped the passengers get ashore and how her mother made ‘every preparation to refresh them in her kitchen’. That her mother discovered a delicate lady and gave her and her child a bed for the night then took them to Edinburgh the following day to see the Royal Parade. She also tells of other occasions when smugglers were bringing goods ashore and hiding them in the woods close to the house. Of brighter moments, she recounts when fishermen would haul ashore ‘lovely trout from the river’ and tales of how the downtrodden were given food by the occupants of the mansion houses.

Sir Charles died in 1851 and the house passed to his eldest son, who then sold the house and leasehold to Sir John McNeil, a Scottish surgeon and diplomat in 1863.

John McNeil spent much of his early years as a surgeon working for the East India Company, serving both in India and Persia. On his return home in 1836 he became envoy to Persia, then in 1845 was appointed chairman of the Board of Supervision, entrusted with the working and implementation of the Poor Law (Scotland) Act, a post he held for 30 years. At the beginning of 1855, when the Crimean disasters had raised public indignation, he and Col Alexander Tulloch were sent to the Crimea, on secondment, to report on the whole operations and management of the Commissariat. Their report led to reforms of the Commissariat and McNeil became a Privy Councilor and Tulloch appointed a KCB.

During his time as chairman of the Board of Supervision, and following his time in Crimea, John McNeil arranged for Florence Nightingale to advise on the building and layout at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Florence Nightingale was a guest of the McNeil’s at Granton House in 1857. Following her visit she wrote to the family and said “I think Granton House the most poetic place I ever saw”. Sir John McNeil died in 1883 and was succeeded by his 3rd wife Lady Emma Augusta Campbell, daughter of John Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyle and the house and leasehold was sold to Lord Gifford.

Lord Gifford, a Scottish advocate and judge from 1870 – 1881, had a lucrative private practice from which he made his fortune. He died in 1887, leaving generous bequests to his son, relatives, members of staff, and the church. He was clearly a supporter of the Free Church of Scotland as in his will he gave legacies to four Free Church Ministers, one of which was the Rev James Smith of Davidson’s Mains. His will outlined details for the use of bequests to the four principal universities in Scotland (Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews). The bequests have been set up and are known as the Gifford Lectures on natural theology. Granton House was in the possession of J Sommerville jun’, a junior lawyer, for some years before being occupied by Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod in 1895.

Reginald MacLeod was the son of Norman MacLeod of MacLeod, 25th chief of Clan MacLeod. Reginald married Lady Agnes Northcote, they had two daughters. In 1890 he became the Registrar General and presided over the 1901 census and was the first to appoint women as temporary clerks in the Census Office. This arrangement was so successful that he introduced women into the regular establishment of the General Register Office. He was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary for Scotland in 1902 and was knighted in 1905.

In 1929, he became chief of the Clan MacLeod following the death of his brother Norman. On Sir Reginald’s death, as there were no immediate male heirs, he was succeeded by his eldest daughter Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod – the first female chief of the clan. Sir Reginald was the owner of St Kilda when the last inhabitants left the island in 1930.

The lease on Granton House was almost expired and in 1898 the Duke of Buccleuch had sold 106 acres of his lands, west of Caroline Park, to the Edinburgh and Leith Gas Commissioners. The Gas Works was built and opened in 1902 with Granton House being occupied by the Chief Engineer and Manager Mr W R Herring and then by his successor Mr T F MacMillan.

When Edinburgh and Leith amalgamated in 1920 the ownership of the house passed to Edinburgh Corporation.

Granton House, like its neighbouring mansion houses, was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during WW II. At the end of hostilities it was returned to Edinburgh Corporation and was modified to accommodate some 12 homeless families.

In January 1954, a fire broke out on the ground floor, all the occupants were rescued, but the house was so badly damaged that it had to be demolished.

Granton House 1954