Water of Leith Walk
from Bell's Mills to Canonmills

The WEA Women's Forum Project

We wanted a project that would be interesting both for us to research and for those that would be shown the results. We wanted something that we would be willing to do in summer when we are loath to stay indoors. So we set out to design a walk that we could run as a mini tour one evening. As we live in Edinburgh we thought that the Water of Leith provided a suitably varied place to start. There is a walkway already there and plenty of material that could be used as research. As it was obvious that the whole river would take all day to walk, we chose a section running through town that had plenty to see in a short distance.

The Water of Leith today is but a shadow of its former self for much of the water is extracted for industry. Originally it provided power in its 23 miles for over 70 watermills, a higher output than any other river in Scotland.

There were paper mills, grain mills, spice mills, sawmills, waulk mills, mills that ground snuff, mills that ground provender for animal feed or sawdust to wood flour for the linoleum industry, mills for cutting and polishing stone, mills for grinding bark and pumping water for tanning. There were all here on the Water of Leith.

Belford Bridge

Sources

The Water Mills of the Water of Leith. Graham Priestley
The Buildings of Scotland - Edinburgh. the National Trust
Dean Village Online
Canonmills and Inverleith Joyce M Wallace.
The Villages of Edinburgh Vol 1. J Kant

© 2021