King's Wark

King's Wark
Leith, Scotland
Site of the King's Wark Royal Arsenal
King's Wark is located in Scotland
King's Wark
King's Wark
Coordinates55°58′34″N 3°10′10″W / 55.9761°N 3.1695°W / 55.9761; -3.1695
Site history
Builtin royal occupation since 1434
In usedisused as arsenal since 1647
Battles/warsdestroyed May 1544
Garrison information
Past
commanders		John Chisholm (1564-1606)

The King's Wark in Leith was a building on the Shore of Leith, at the mouth of the Water of Leith into the Firth of Forth. The King's Wark was the Scottish royal arsenal where cannon used on royal ships were kept and maintained, and where supplies shipped to Leith for the royal household were stored. To the north east of the King's Wark the Shore was extended into the sea by a pier known as the "Bulwark".[1] To the west was the Broad Wynd, and on the south, there was a walled yard. An inn on the site was documented in 1623.[2] The site on the Shore includes a public house and restaurant called "The King's Wark" on the corner of the Shore and Bernard Street.[3]

  1. ^ Henry Paton, HMC Mar & Kellie, 2 (London, 1930), p. 39.
  2. ^ John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 1620–1633 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 158 no. 454.
  3. ^ Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1951), p. 256.