Our 20 October 2015 meeting

The October talk of the Society given by John Lawson, Edinburgh City Archivist, was on ‘What the trams did for the archaeology of Edinburgh and Leith’ and he gave a very interesting presentation describing some of the most significant results of the work carried out in the city for the preparation of the new tram line. Perhaps the most interesting part for Leith Local History Society was the excavation of Constitution Street where a great number of skeletons and partial skeletons were recovered and removed for safekeeping.

It was apparent from this work that many of these remains had been disturbed over the years although no records were held about these previous works. One of the skeletons was almost cut in half by Victorian/Edwardian drainage works.

He also described how the tunnels under the Mound were excavated and the work done at the junction of London Road where there had been a monastic building.

Although the work for the new trams caused a great deal of disruption it also provided a considerable amount of information about the past few centuries.