1901

Segmental pediment over eaves with matching bracketed cornice, carved coat-of-arms and date 1901 in tympanum, of the ex-Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street.

The building is significant historically in its connection to the worst disaster to befall the community of Leith. On Friday 22 May 1915 a south-bound troop train crashed into a stationary local train outside the signalbox at Quintinhill, near Gretna, and was then hit by a north-bound express. 227 passengers were killed, and 246 injured.
485 officers of the 7th battalion of the Royal Scots, on their way to Gallipoli, were on the train, 215 of whom were killed. Relatives of the soliders congregated outside the drill hall seeking news, and eventually a list of the dead was read out from a window, before being posted up outside. By Sunday the bodies had been transported from Gretna to Leith Central Station, and were taken to the drill hall then functioning as a temporary mortuary, before being buried in Rosebank Cemetry.