Timber Bush

Timber Bush is an area of Leith, the port town of Edinburgh, Scotland. "Bush" is a corruption of Bourse, meaning a stock exchange.

History

Timber Bush was originally the open piazza in the lower storey of an ancient building adjoining Queen Street Chapel in Leith, where merchants and traders met for business, and known as the Bourse, or exchange. Later, the whole ground was used as a timber market, hence its name. It was known also as the "Timber Howff", or "Timber Holf": the name is used as equivalent to Timber Yard.

By order of the Edinburgh Burgh Council, no Timber Bushes were allowed on any part of Princes Street in the New Town, or the pleasure grounds there.

Part of the sea wall built by Robert Mylne in 1685, to protect the stores of wood within Timber Bush from being washed away by the sea, still forms the lower part of the walls of the shacks adjacent to Tower Street. The remains of embrasures are still visible, which were used for cannon, and through which the timber cargoes floated from the ships were hauled, for storage within the Timber Bush.

The export of whisky from, and the import of wine into Leith, gave it a large trade in coopering. In his Bride of Lammermoor, Sir Walter Scott speaks of "Peter Puncheon that was cooper to the queen's stores at the Timmer Burse (that is, Timber Bush) at Leith." The Bond Warehouses where the wine and whiskey were stored form the main part of the southern wall and eastern sides of Timber Bush, and externally are remarkably untouched by later redevelopment.

Present day

Timber Bush is now an enclave behind the busy traffic of Bernard Street, and home to up-market flats, marketing firms and small media companies, such as bigmouthmedia and Taste Design, Pro Poor (organisers of the Homeless World Cup), and the flight search engine company Skyscanner.

External links

• Electricscotland.com - Industry in Leith
• Note on origin of name at www.edinburgh.org.uk