St Leonard's Hospital, Edinburgh

The Hospital of St Leonard was a mediaeval hospital in the St Leonard's area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to which it gave its name. Founded by David I, it existed until some time after the Scottish Reformation. The hospital was founded by David I and re-founded in 1493 by James IV at the bequest of Robert Bellenden, abbot of Holyrood. The abbots of Holyrood served as the hospital's superiors and the manse of the hospital's vicar was located near the Abbey in the Canongate. The hospital supported support six "hospitallers" or "bedemen", who worked the hospital's two crofts: the Hermit's Croft and the Terrar's Croft. It is notable for having served as a meeting place for the Incoporation of Hammermen and as the site of a gathering of conspirators in an unsuccessful plot to kill James V in 1529. The hospital continued in use after the Reformation but its buildings were ruinous by 1653. Attached to the hospital was St Leonard's Chapel, whose ruins were excavated and demolished between 1854 and 1855. All that then remained of the hospital was its chapel, which stood around 70 ft (21m) long by 20 ft (6m) wide. The excavations uncovered a large number of burials in its vicinity. James Clark Technical School was built over the site in 1913. The hospital's name lives on in the name of St Leonard's, Edinburgh while its crofts gave their names to Hermits and Termits.