Page 40 - Fenning_Scoland

1662 - Privately carried letter from Dumfries to Edinburgh

24th May 1662. Privately carried letter from Dumfries to Edinburgh. At this date there were no
public postal services operating within Scotland other than the one that ran along the North Road
from Edinburgh to Berwick. Personal letters sent within the country had to be canied privately.

Thesfor
Her deir and worthie
brother
Alexr. Hepbume and in
his absenc to Andrew Gray
give it to his
landlorrJ William Herper

in gladstons land

Gladstone's Land is a six-storey building on the High
Street, Edinburgh.

In the 16th and 17th Centuries the road between the castle
and the Palace of Holyroodhouse was known as the King's
High Street. On either side of the road were plots of ground
called tenements. These plots were bought by merchants
and the buildings erected on them were known as lands.
In 1617, Thomas Gledstanes, a merchant, and his wife,
Bessie Cunningham, bought the property which became
known as 'Gladstone's Land'.
On the ground floor was an arcade of two arches behind
which booths were set. Above the ground floor were frve
floors of apartments, some of which were rented out.
Access to all floors other than the ground floor and
basement was by way of a turnpike stair approached by an
outside flight from the pavement. Under, or close to this
flight of stairs, was a pen for livestock, often a pig, which
would forage amongst the rubbish in the street