Abbey Strand

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Abbey, a precinct in Canongate parish, Edinburghshire, adjacent to the foot of the lines of street eastward from the centre of the Old Town of Edinburgh. It contains Holyrood Palace and Abbey, and includes the Queen's Park. First enclosed by James V., it has, from ancient times, been a sanctuary for insolvent debtors, a bailie for it being appointed by commission from the Duke of Hamilton, and sitting in a small court-house on the first Saturday of every month. Its population has dwindled since the alteration of the law respecting debtors, and it now has few inhabitants except in connection with Holyrood. The objects of interest, particularly the palace, the abbey, and their adjuncts, are described under Edinburgh.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better