NEWHAVEN, a village (sea-bathing) and quoad sacra parish
(for a time), in the parish of North-Leith,
county of Edinburgh, 1 mile (W. by N.) from Leith,
and 2 (N.) from Edinburgh; containing 2103 inhabitants.
This place derives its name, in contradistinction
to the old haven of Leith, from the construction by
James IV. of a port and dockyard here, in which a ship
of very large burthen, called the Michael, was built in
1511. In the early part of the fifteenth century the
hamlet contained a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
of which there are still some remains, consisting chiefly
of part of the outer wall, now inclosing the buryingground
in the centre of the village. The chapel, together
with the lands appertaining to it, was annexed to
the parish of North Leith in 1630, by the provost and
town council of Edinburgh, who had previously pur-
chased from the king the village, chapel, and harbour,
with all the privileges belonging to them. For a long
time the place was inhabited almost exclusively by fishermen
and their families. The fishermen are a hardy
and industrious race, acting also as pilots, and annually
engaging in the great herring-fisheries in the north of
Scotland; and their wives and daughters, like the women
of Fisherrow, supply the Edinburgh markets with fish
and oysters, of which they carry immense loads in baskets.
In the original village the houses are ill built and of
mean appearance, with the staircase on the outside.
The more modern portion contains many good houses,
and some inns and public-houses, partly for the accommodation
of parties from Edinburgh, who resort hither
to dine upon fish; there are several pleasant villas, and
numerous lodging-houses for families that reside here
during the bathing season. The pier is commodiously
formed; and to the west of it is the chain-pier constructed
in 1821 by Capt. Sir Samuel Brown, R.N., at
an expense of £4000; it is 750 feet in length and four
feet wide, and is the property of a company called the
Trinity Chain-pier Company. In this part of the village
is the Newhaven station of the Edinburgh, Leith, and
Granton railway, the course of which from the city to
Trinity is north-by-west, and two miles and a quarter
long. For the purposes of the line, it was found necessary
to make a cutting here more than ninety yards in
extent, and seventeen feet in depth. The approaches to
Newhaven by land are pleasant on all sides except from
Leith, where the sea has made very great encroachments,
as well as between the stone-pier and the Trinity cottages,
which are now defended by a strong embankment. A large
tract of land called the Links has almost entirely disappeared.
The church was erected in 1837, after a design
by Mr. Henderson, of Edinburgh, and contains 630 sittings.
The members of the Free Church have a place of worship.