Named after the village of Roslin in Midlothian, south of Edinburgh, known for Rosslyn Chapel and Rosslyn Castle (note the different spellings, Roslyn is a third historical spelling). Roslin was of interest to Walter Scott, both for the beauty of its glen and for the history of its antiquities. Hawthornden Castle is also situated on the edge of Roslin Glen, one mile downstream. This landscape is described in Canto VI of Scott's poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805):
O'er Roslin all that dreary night A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam; 'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light, And redder than the bright moonbeam. It glar'd on Roslin's castled rock, It ruddied all the copse wood glen; 'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak And seen from cavern'd Hawthorn-den. Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud, Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie, Each Baron, for a sable shroud, Sheath'd in his iron panoply.
Roslin has attracted numerous other poets, writers and artists over the centuries, including Ben Jonson, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, Robert Burns, Dorothy and William Wordsworth, Lord George Byron and JMW Turner. Rosslyn Chapel also featured in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003). See also Hawthornden Road / Way.
Burns paid a visit to Roslin Glen and village in the summer of 1787 with his friend, painter Alexander Nasmyth. They walked all the way from Edinburgh, a walk of at least ten miles, straight after spending the evening in a tavern. Years later James Nasmyth, son of Alexander, painted their early morning visit to Roslin Castle in a painting, imagining the scene from accounts he had heard from his father. At the end of the walk Burns and Nasmyth breakfasted at the Roslin Inn. Burns scribbled the following poem on the back of their bill, praising the hospitality of their hostess, Mrs Annie Wilson:
At Roslin Inn
My blessings on ye, honest wife!
I ne'er was here before;
Ye've wealth o' gear for spoon and knife:
Heart could not wish for more.
Heav'n keep you clear o' sturt and strife,
Till far ayont fourscore,
And by the Lord o' death and life,
I'll ne'er gae by your door!
Roslyn Street runs parallel to Rosebery Road. It used to open onto London Road at its northern end, but this is now a cul-de-sac. Roslyn Street National School, later Roslyn Street Junior Primary School, was here c. 1897-1955.
The minutes of the Town Improvement Committee of Belfast Corporation on 25 April 1894 indicate the naming of 3 streets at My Lady’s Road and Ravenhill Avenue: Roseberry Road, Roslyn Street and London Road.
PT, Mar 2025.