1685 - "The Laigh Council House" and Argyll's Final Letters

[This is part of  a series of articles on the year 1685.  You might want to read the Overview first.]

June 30, 1685

On the day of his execution, Archibald Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll, was led from his "cell" in Edinburgh Castle to the Laigh Council House.  In this building that no longer exists, the 9th Earl wrote his last words to his wife, Anna Mackenzie, step daughter, Sophia, (soon to be daughter-in-law when she marries his son Charles),  step daughter, Henrietta, whose husband was Campbell of Auchinbreck now exiled in the Netherlands, and his son, John, whose inability to fight due to disfigured hands saved his life,

Robert Chambers recorded in his "Traditions of Edinburgh" that the Laigh Council House occupied the present lobby of the Signet Library.  The Signet Library is now attached to the northwest corner of the 1636 Parliament Chamber which still stands behind St. Giles Cathedral.

This statue of Charles the II dates to 1685.  It sits behind St. Giles Cathedral.  The old 1636 Parliament chambers are behind it.  The Court  Building is to the left.  The Signet Library (and the Laigh Council House) sits behind the Parliament Building shown in this photo.

The 1647 Rothemayus map identifies this building as "The town Counsel hous."  Laigh means low-lying in Gaelic, so perhaps this refers to a lower governing body (with respect to the neighboring Scottish Parliament), such as the town governing body.  [I confess my ignorance of Scottish Government.]

1647 Rothemayus Map

Layout of Old Parliament Complex.  Signet Library at top was the location of the Laigh Council House.

The Laigh Council House may also have been referred to as the Laigh Parliament House? In 1662, the "Laigh Parliament House" became the holding place for parliamentary and other legal records.  

That the Earl could write in such a composed manner only minutes before his execution is a tribute to his acceptance of his fate, the justness of his cause, and confidence in his belief in God.

His first letter was to Anna Mackenzie, his wife.

Dear heart
   As God is himself unchangeable, so He hath been always good and gracious to me, and no place alter it; only I acknowledge I am sometimes less capable of a due sense of it: but now, above all my life, I thank God, I am sensible of his presence with me, with great assurance of His favour through Jesus Christ; and I doubt it will not continue till I be in glory.
   Forgive me all my faults, and now comfort thyself in Him, in whom only true comfort is to be found. The Lord be with thee, bless thee, and comfort thee, my dearest!
   Adieu, my dear!
   Thy faithful and loving husband,
   Argyll