History of Leith

I have always been intrigued by this little graveyard. I wondered if these were the gravestones of pirates or rich merchants. I took this picture and then researched further to find that the old St. Ninian's church became too crowded and small for the congregation.

"Being crowded to the roof with gallery upon gallery was stuffy and unhealthy from want of proper ventilation. The congregation were about to move to a new church (the present building in Madeira Street), which, like St. Anthony's, had been built in the fields beyond the town, and like it, too, was ere long to find itself in the heart, instead of the outskirts, of the town."

The church no longer remains but the graveyard does and is just called the North Leith Graveyard.