A gift from God?

Sitting outside the cafe Hula enjoying a coffee when Bill took this picture of me under the inscribed lintel. it was part of an early 17th century building on the corner of the Grassmarket and the West Bow. It is a 5-storey and attic tenement with gabled stair tower to left and 4-bays. The inscription should read '(blessed be) God for all his Gifts 1616.' The lines of the former string courses stepping up over windows and blocked updoor can also be seen under the harling at ground, 1st and 2nd floors on this elevation. The long rectangle of Grassmarket was already a suburb and a secondary market place by 1500. After the Battle of Flodden in 1513 the city walls were strengthened and the Grassmarket and Cowgate enclosed by the Flodden Wall. Agricultural produce was sold in the Grassmarket until well into the 20th century; old photographs show up-ended carts and the bars and hostels associated with the market. It was also a place of public execution. Nos 98 Grassmarket and 105 West Bow are now a hotel.