Pilrig House

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who commented on my 100 blipday yesterday, I was really delighted by the kind comments.

Today I stayed in Leith. This is a reconstruction of Pilrig House, it is literally 5 minutes walk from home. The original house was built in 1638 on the site of a fort for an Edinburgh goldsmith, Gilbert Kirkwood. It was bought in 1709 by local Leith entrepreneur Robert Balfour and remained in the Balfour family until around 1940. Most notable of the Balfours were Robert himself and Margaret Balfour, mother of Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson refers to the house in "Catriona", the follow-up to "Kidnapped". It may also have been the inspiration for the "House of Shaws" in the original novel.

After the house left the ownership of the Balfours it was used as various hostels until, it fell into total disuse in 1970. Two fires after that practically raised the building (we knew how to look after our historic buildings then). In 1984 it was rebuilt exactly as it had been in 1710 and turned into flats three of which are now holiday cottages.