St Mary’s Star of the Sea, Leith

Excavations at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea in Leith were not expected to reveal a cemetery, despite the presence of a 19th-century Catholic chapel. Excavations there in March 2004, directed by Ross White and funded by Gregor Properties Ltd, had the aim of locating the foundations of Balmerino House. The House, built in 1631 by John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, belonged to the Balmerino family from 1643 to 1746.  By the early 19th century the house had been subdivided and let to tenants, and in 1848 it was bought by the Catholic Bishop of Edinburgh.  A chapel was erected and the house was used as a school, finally being demolished in the 1970s.

The excavations revealed medieval deposits dating to the 13th/14th centuries and, dug into these, it was a surprise to find four burials and a small quantity of disarticulated bone.  The skeletons were incomplete, having been disturbed by later pipe trenches, but disarticulated remains of at least two other individuals from within the graves suggested that earlier burials had been present.  The skeletons lay to the west of the House foundations on a similar alignment, but there was no stratigraphic connection between the building and the burials.

All six individuals were probably male, and only one was younger than 18 years of age.  Two were probably below 30, and two were identified as middle-aged or old, perhaps in the range 40-60 years.  Height could be estimated for four of the men, and all were above average — at 5’ 6” to 5’ 10” — when compared with other contemporary groups.  No evidence was found which might suggest a genetic relationship between these individuals.  Tooth decay, abscesses and gum disease had affected two of the men.

For such a small group, there was a relatively high degree of bone disease.  The usual changes associated with ageing were present in the spines and some other joints of the middle-aged and older individuals.  Four skulls showed evidence for either a disease associated with dietary deficiency or a scalp infection.  Physical stress lesions were common, particularly in the spine, and may have been work-related in at least one man.  One of the older men had been involved in at least one violent incident which had left him with several broken bones and a mild skull injury.  Three of the men had suffered from sinusitis, and this may be connected with living or working in a smoky atmosphere.  Two had an inflammation of the shin bones, one of which was probably long-term.  Whilst this can be related to infections such as syphilis there was no specific evidence for the cause in these examples; varicose vein formation, or even infections elsewhere in the body are other possibilities.

Stratigraphically, these individuals appeared to be of post-medieval date, perhaps belonging to the 16th or early 17th centuries.  Bones from two skeletons were submitted for radiocarbon dating, which indicated that they had been buried between 1440 and 1660.  Dental analysis suggested that the date might lie towards the end of this period, as two of the four main inhumations showed signs of clay pipe wear on the anterior teeth.  This would indicate a date later than the mid-16th century, and means that the burials could well have taken place within living memory when Balmerino House was built.  Other skeletal remains have been found in the area on the opposite side of Constitution Street, in the vicinity of Wellington Street and on Leith Links, and these have been attributed to the plague in 1645 (Russell 1922).  This post-dates the construction of Balmerino House, so it seems unlikely that these individuals were buried here as a result of that incident.  The siege of Leith in 1560 also resulted in a large number of deaths.  However, the presence of disarticulated bone within the fill of two of the graves would appear to indicate further burials, and therefore a long-term cemetery rather than a temporary solution to a crisis.  The approximate north-east to south-west alignment of the graves could perhaps indicate a burial place for executed criminals.  Excavations elsewhere, for example at Oxford Castle, have shown that criminals were often denied a proper Christian burial in the post-medieval period, being buried without much care in unconsecrated ground and generally not on an east-west alignment.

Sue Anderson and Ross White
(This article was previously published in Scottish Archaeological News)

References

Russell, J.,  1922,  The Story of Leith. Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, Edinburgh. (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/leith/)