Medieval Hospice & The Preceptory of St Anthony

An actual dating for the founding of the Templar hospice is impossible to say accurately, but it would have been around 1128. The hospice existed until 1327 with the coming of the Knights of St John who would have continued on the site until around 1390 at which time the Preceptory of St Anthony was approximately founded.

The Preceptory of St Anthony was the Church or Monastery of the Knights of St Anthony, who came into Scotland from Northern France (with their principal house in Vienne, the South of France). The Preceptory of St Anthony (Monastery and enclosed Monastic grounds) was of considerable size occupying the area from what is now the foot of Leith Walk along Great Junction St, along the Water of Leith to Parliament Street and then across to Constitution Street and back to the foot of Leith Walk.

The Preceptory continued in existence until 1560 where the Reformation was completed in Scotland and all links with France were broken. The next clue to its Templar origins comes from the fact that James the VI annexes the Preceptory to the Crown and then unannexes it in 1593 because it was discovered that it was not church property. The property was then passed through several hands and eventually under crown charter was passed to the Session of South Leith Church in 1614 to found a hospice which later became the King James VI hospital which continued in existence until 1822.