Editing Leith (section)

===1600s===
In 1622 there was conflict between privateer "[[Dunkirkers|Dunkirker ships]]" flying the Spanish flag and ships from the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref>[[Maureen Meikle]], ''The Scottish People 1490-1625'' (Lulu, 2013), p. 150.</ref> [[James VI and I|King James]] allowed a Dunkirker to lie at [[Leith Roads]] in June 1622, and soldiers from the ship were able to come ashore at Leith. Three Dutch ships, commanded by [[Willem de Zoete]], Lord of Hautain, [[Admiralty of Zeeland|Admiral]] of [[Zeeland]], arrived and attacked the Dunkirker through the night. The fighting stopped in the morning when the tide beached the ships. The Scottish authorities requested the fighting stop. The ships were allowed into Leith harbour where artillery from [[Edinburgh Castle]] was placed to ensure order.<ref>''Melros Papers'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1837), pp. 456-9.</ref>

Leith suffered during the 1645 plague outbreak, with over 50% of the population in the southern district dying. Archaeological excavations in 2016 at St Mary's RC Primary School, by Wardell Armstrong, as part of a planning condition, found a mass grave of 81 bodies from the 1645 plague. The archaeologists surmised that there was extreme fear of dying from this plague, likely [[Pneumonic plague|Pneumonic]], as many of the bodies were hastily buried in their clothes and still had money and other personal items on them, indicating that people did not want to touch the bodies, even to remove money.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vol 86 (2019): 'Great fears of the sickness here in the City … God preserve us all …' A Plague Burial Ground in Leith, 1645: an archaeological excavation at St Mary's (Leith) RC Primary School, Leith Links, Edinburgh {{!}} Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports|url=http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/sair/issue/view/297|access-date=2021-09-07|website=journals.socantscot.org|archive-date=7 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907192851/http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/sair/issue/view/297|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1650, Leith was a prospective battleground when the Army of the Covenant, led by [[David Leslie, Lord Newark|General David Leslie]], threw up an earthen rampart between [[Calton Hill]] and Leith to defend the northern approach to Edinburgh against [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s forces. This rampart became the line of one of Edinburgh's longest streets, [[Leith Walk]]. After Cromwell's victory at the [[Battle of Dunbar (1650)|Battle of Dunbar]] in 1650 and subsequent occupation of Scotland, a fort known as ''Leith Citadel'' was erected in 1656 to regulate the port traffic. All that remains of the fort today is a vaulted trance in Dock Street which was its main entrance. New industry in Leith included the [[Leith Sugar House]], founded in 1677.<ref name="auto">T. C. Smout, 'The Early Scottish Sugar Houses, 1660-1720', ''Economic History Review'', 14:2 (1961), pp. 248-250.</ref>