Old photograph of the Scottish Episcopal Training College in Edinburgh, Scotland. The original house is believed to have been built in 1661 by the Edinburgh merchant and magistrate Walter Chieslie whose family owned the entire estate. Chieslie did not have much cause for celebration when his son John brought the family into disrepute. In 1688, the younger Chieslie attempted to divorce his wife and was not keen to pay her maintenance so that she could care for their 11 children. The courts disagreed and ordered him to pay 93 a year. John Chieslie took his revenge by shooting the judge, the Lord President, Sir George Lockhart, in the High Street in broad daylight. His reward for the murder was to have his right hand cut off before he was unceremoniously hanged. The house was sold in 1696 to Alexander Brand " who tried to dispose of it in a lottery in 1706. " Brand finally sold the house, but not the estate, in 1714. It later passed to the ownership of the Walker family, who bought part of the estate in 1790, and the remainder, including the house itself, in 1812. The house was eventually sold to the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1870 for use as a teacher training college and the Church gifted the building to the Edinburgh and Leith Old People's Welfare Council in 1963, after which it was restored and opened four years later by the Queen.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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