I keep meaning to compile a list of “lost” streets, e.g. around Foot of the Walk, Glover and Ferrier Streets have been disappeared and Union, Hope, Morton and Duncan Streets all been renamed.
And just a few hundred metres north and west, Market Street, St. Andrew Street and Parliament Place similarly obliterated
Citadel Street. And so on. And so forth.
Tait Place (now end of Brunswick Road) and East William and Thomas Streets. There were no West Williams or Thomases.
Before it was built up, Brunswick Road had been Lover’s Lane* (or Loan in Scots). And for a short time, Elgin Street was South Elgin Street (again no North was ever built, but perhaps had been planned). Strictly speaking of course these streets aren’t in Leith.
* = Lovers Loans are generally named for routes frequented by courting couples. Traditionally these might have been routes to a church as the walk to Sunday service was one of the places were it was acceptable in society for unrelated, unmarried couples to be seen. More practically, they were places where you could go to disappear into a bush or a hedge for whatever purposes lovers may have in mind.
Lorne and South Lorne Place were originally just part of Lorne Street. Lorne Square was always Lorne Square, even though it was not and is not a square
Charlotte Street became Queen Charlotte Street to avoid confusion with the Charlotte Street of Edinburgh. A lot of Leith streets were renamed to avoid such postal confusion after the incorporation of Leith into Edinburgh in 1920. The Edinburgh streets rarely changed /their/ names
Again, right next door, Quality Street and its lanes became Maritime Street and Lane
Adelphi Place; gone. James Lane; gone. Bath Street, shortened at Salamander Street and rest renamed Salamander Place. James Place, subsumed into Links Place.
Unsurprisingly, the warren of lanes and closes off of Cables Wynd are also gone
Bangor Place and Bowling Green Street are gone; in case you’ve ever wondered why there’s a West Bowling Green Street (it’s on other side of the river) but not an east.
Albany Street became Portland Street, but Fort Place, London Row, Cannon Street and Hamilton Street long since swept away. (An aside, London Row is intriguing because it followed vernacular London architecture!)
And Helen Street and Hamburg Place, gone too
Hamilton Crescent and Nicoll Place; gone. Bathfield lost its “Road” bit, and George Street got the Edinburgh treatment and was downgraded to part of North Fort Street
Ann Street was cleared away and although rebuilt upon, became Annfield Street (formerly in the burgh of Leith) in case it got confused with the Ann Street in Stockbridge (formerly in the Burgh of Edinburgh).
Unsurprisingly, Edinburgh couldn’t stand for Newhaven to keep St. Andrew’s Square (even though the one in Edinburgh is St. Andrew Square, with no possessive) or Parliament Square. These became Fishmarket Square and Great Michael Close.
Spey Terrace was once James Street. Leith lost that one to Portobello.
Carson Street became McDonald Road when it was extended through to meet Broughton Road
I think that’s Leith covered now… Note that this comparison has taken the 1944/45 OS Survey as its basis. Of course there are many other much older streets that have long since disappeared and been lost to memory. And again, those maps are all small snippets from the National Library of Scotland maps website. Go there! It really is amazing what they have digitised and georeferenced maps.nls.uk
Footnote, I am pleased to announce that Leith got to “keep” Pitt Street and Duke Street and Edinburgh renamed its streets of the same to something else (Pitt Street was merged into Dundas Street and Duke Street into Dublin Street).
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