image copyright Rachel Windsor

It is said that this road near the coast at Newhaven, now part of Newhaven Road, was named for a school of whales which once grounded here.  James VI granted the first monopoly on whaling out of Leith in 1615, the Edinburgh Whale Fishing Company was established in 1750 and whaling continued until 1905.  Whaling ships travelled to the Arctic, and whales even appeared sometimes in the Forth, where they were harpooned.   18th century maps show an area called The Whale here.