Lamb's House facts for kids
Lamb's House is a historic A-listed building in Leith, a northern district of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has served as both a place of residence and warehouse. The present house is an example of early-17th-century architecture typical of harbor towns around the North Sea.
The site was originally owned by Edinburgh merchant and shipowner Andrew Lamb. The Lamb family were reputed to have entertained Mary, Queen of Scots, somewhere nearby on her return from France in 1561. A contemporary record claims the young queen "remainit in Andro Lamb's hous be the space of an hour" while messages were sent to Edinburgh informing nobles of her return. In January 1581 he was the owner of the Mary Grace, which was sailing to Flanders with Montbirneau, a servant of Esmé Stewart. In November 1583 his passengers were an embassy to France led by Lord Seton with his son Alexander Seton and the architect William Schaw.
Lamb's House is situated at the corner of Burgess Street and Water Street. According to a report prepared by Headland Archaeology Ltd,
The front of the house faces SW onto a sunken courtyard, which is currently paved with concrete slabs and surrounded by grass-grown steps rising to the level of the street, approximately 1 m higher than the courtyard, to the SW and SE. A modern single-storey extension to the NW of the house projects out to the SW as far as Burgess Street, and also faces onto the courtyard to the SE.
Lamb's House was a National Trust for Scotland property until it was sold to conservation architects for a sum believed to be around £1 million.
