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Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland. It slopes upwards from "the Foot of the Walk", where Great Junction Street, Duke Street and Constitution Street meet, to the junction with London Road, and then links to the east end of Princes Street via Leith Street. Technically however, none of the properties in its upper half are addressed as "Leith Walk", the name being simply colloquial. The sections here are correctly titled Elm Row, Haddington Place, Crighton Place, Albert Place, etc. ==History== There was a rough pathway in the vicinity of modern day Leith Walk in the time of James II in the mid 15th century. However, Leith Walk, as we know it, owes its existence to a defensive rampart which was constructed between Calton Hill and Leith in 1650. The attack on Edinburgh by Cromwell's army in that year was halted at this line by the Scots under David Leslie (whose army was subsequently defeated at the Battle of Dunbar). The rampart developed later into a footpath described by Daniel Defoe, writing in 1725 and recalling his time in Edinburgh in 1706, as "a very handsome Gravel-walk, 20 Feet broad, continued to the Town of Leith, which is kept in good repair at the public Charge, and no Horse suffered to come upon it." The fact that it was forbidden to wheeled traffic explains why the street became known as "the Walk", the name by which it is still known locally. At the time of its creation it provided an alternative (and shorter) route to Edinburgh compared with the older Easter Road and its counterpart Wester Road (present-day Bonnington Road and Broughton Road) although it did not supersede these routes as the main road to Leith until after the building of the North Bridge, completed in 1772. To deflect possible opposition to the building of the bridge if it was admitted to be for access to the New Town, the development of which was still controversial, the foundation stone of the bridge, laid by Lord Provost George Drummond, bore the inscription that it was part of "a new road to Leith". It is clear, however, that as early as 1763 (when work began on building the North Bridge) the Walk had become a coach route with a regular service running from Leith to Edinburgh, departing on the hour, from 8am to 8pm. The journey took an hour each way, with a rest at the Halfway House at Shrubhill (which existed as a pub until it closed in 1981). At this time it is stated that there were no other coaches in Scotland except the infrequent service from Edinburgh to London. In 1779, Hugo Arnot the historian of Edinburgh, born in Leith, stated that 156 coaches travelled the route daily, each carrying 4 passengers at a cost of 2d or 3d per person. The road apparently fell into disrepair because of its frequent use by coaches and was not repaired until 1810 when it was relaid as a "splendid causeway" raising the road level by around 6 feet. This was "at great expense by the City of Edinburgh and had a toll erected for its payment". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leith Walk」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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