Etching of Chancellor Court, Edinburgh, by Robert Smith Forrest

Comment

Peter Stubbs

Edinburgh

Etching

Thank you to Linda Smith, a descendant of Robert Smith Forrest for allowing me to reproduce etching 1 above of Chancellor Court, Edinburgh, by Robert Smith Forrest.

Location

UPDATE

PLEASE NOTE: The paragraph below has turned out to be wrong.

Please see 'Comment 2' and 'Comment 3' below instead.

I believe that Chancellor Court probably no longer exists, and that it used to be somewhere around or to the west of where the new Scottish Parliament has been built. Please see the explanation below:

Chancellor's Court was the court reached through Brodie's Close (south side at foot of Canongate)***, not to be confused with:

- Brodie's Close (Castle Hill) or

- Brodie's Close (304 High Street and 52 Cowgate)

Brodie's Close (south side at foot of Canongate) has had several names over the years. In 1800, it was known as Chancellor's Close.

Ref: The Place Names of Edinburgh (Stuart Harris et al.)

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 1, 2011

Comment

John Dickson

Royston, Edinburgh

Thank you to John Dickson for contacting me to give me a different location for the scene in etching 1, and for also providing etching 2 above. It didn't take John long to reply, pointing out my error above!

It appears that Chancellor's Court in etching 1 is not the court at Brodie's Close as I suggested above, but is Chessel's Court further up Canongate.

John wrote:

Location

"The Robert Smith Forrest (1 above) is in fact the same view as appears here in this etching taken from the book

'Bits of Old Edinburgh drawn and etched by Frank W Simon' (2 above)."

John Dickson, Royston, Edinburgh: January 1, 2011

Location

There is no doubt that the two etchings are the same view. Even the positions of the birds in the sky are the same (apart from a couple of the birds on the Forrest etching which I accidentally deleted when I was removing some blemishes from the sky!)!

The description of the FW Simon etching above in 'Bits of Old Edinburgh' begins: "It was in Chessels' Court that the ancient excise office was situated".

So that may explain why RS Forrest titled his etching: 'Chancellor Court'.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 2, 2011

Comment

John Dickson

Royston, Edinburgh

Maps

Thank you to John Dickson also sending me two extracts from a map titled 'Edinburgh in the Mid-Eighteenth Century' drawn by Henry F Kerr in 1918 and published in The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Vol XI, 1922.

Extract 1 shows Brodie's entry, the first close in Canongate up from Horse Wind, and now part of the new Scottish Parliament site. (This is the location that I referred to erroneously in 'Comment 1' above.)

Extract from map, including Holyrood

Extract 2 shows Chessels Court, further up Canongate, almost opposite New Street. This is the location that John referred to in 'Comment 2' above.

Extract from map, including Nether Bow

Please click on the thumbnail images above to enlarge them.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 2, 2011