The Citadel Gate: Cromwell's Fortress in Leith
Why is it significant?
Wedged between modern housing on Dock Street stands a single stone archway, a gate that no longer leads anywhere at all.
Key Facts
| Place | The Citadel Gate: Cromwell's Fortress in Leith |
|---|---|
| Address | Dock Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6, UK |
| Geo Coordinates | 55.97680, -3.17620 |
| Part of Walk | Leith Uncovered: The Shore, the Docks and the Birthplace of Golf's Rules in Edinburgh |
| Generated | Generated |
Wedged between modern housing on Dock Street stands a single stone archway, a gate that no longer leads anywhere at all. Walk up to it and look at the rounded opening and the heavy masonry: this is all that remains of a fortress that once held Leith, and through Leith the whole of Edinburgh, in an iron grip.
After defeating the Scots at Dunbar in 1650, Oliver Cromwell's English army occupied Scotland, and to hold it down they built a chain of great citadels, at Ayr, Perth, Inverness and here at Leith. This one was begun in 1656 under General George Monck. It was a five-sided fortress with bastions at its corners, barracks and stores, planted right on the harbour so that no ship and no soldier could move without English permission.
Here is the neat irony of this walk. The earth rampart that became Leith Walk, where you started, was thrown up in 1650 to keep Cromwell out. Within six years his own fortress stood at the far end of it, right on the harbour. After the monarchy was restored in 1660 the English garrison left, and the citadel was gradually taken apart, its stones carried off into the houses, walls and quays of the growing port.
So pieces of Cromwell's fortress may still be hiding in plain sight all around you, in the lower courses of old walls and in Leith's back yards. Only this gateway was left standing whole, like a full stop at the end of a sentence most people have forgotten.
And that is Leith: a port of kings and pirates, siege guns and golf clubs, claret and whisky, where every quiet corner has an older story underneath. If you still have energy, the docks lead on towards Ocean Terminal and the Royal Yacht Britannia. Otherwise the Shore is a few minutes back the way you came... the perfect place to sit by the water and raise a glass to a town that never quite agreed to become part of Edinburgh.