Dove Street
Dove Street| In Dove Street near its junction with Pottergate once
stood the premises of Daniel Hurn, ropemaker, where a
massive fire started on 1st August 1898. Spreading
rapidly to the adjoining warehouse of Chamberlin and Son,
which it quickly consumed, the blaze also gutted the
Subscription Library, resulting in the loss of most of
its 60,000 volumes. The Edinburgh public house standing at the corner of the two streets managed, by some miracle, to escape the inferno. Four days later, though, weakened by the loss of adjoining premises, it suddenly fell with an enormous crash, seriously injuring two or three people. Above its doorway was a stone dated 1586 and inscribed S. R. M. - the initials of former owners Richard and Mary Scottow. The cellars beneath, however - an upper and a lower one - were believed to be those of a much earlier house, probably of the thirteenth century, once occupied by the city’s Elizabethan printer, Anthony Solempne. After the fire the site was surrounded by an advertisement hoarding. It remained vacant until a few years ago when two or three new shops were built facing Dove Street. Text Copyright © G.A.F.Plunkett 2001 |