We've finally got our teeth into the great meat robbery

But for one cook, waking to discover the entire contents of her master's larder had been stolen during the night, Christmas Day on Heriot Row suddenly filled her with dread.

For where she had carefully stored two sides of mutton, a goose, a turkey, fowls and an 8lbs piece of beef, there was nothing but fresh air - thieves had forced the back door to the New Town property and made off with all its culinary treats.

As suspicion spread through the neighbourhood, it soon emerged the cook was not the only victim of theft, with a further five larders broken into and stripped during the early hours of that Christmas Eve.

The Great Heriot Row Meat Robbery - as the incident is now being called - is just one story to have been unearthed by residents who now live on the street, one of the Capital's most attractive and historic neighbourhoods.

They have spent two years researching Heriot Row and have now unveiled www.heriotrow.org, a website revealing its fascinating past, the characters who once lived behind its doors and tales from its history - many never told until now.

"I thought the meat robbery story was wonderful," says resident Judith Maccoll, one of the website creators. "I stumbled upon it in some archives and thought it was crazy."

It was in 2008 that the idea for a Heriot Row website first emerged as around 50 residents came together for a party to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the street, which was built using money from the Heriot Trust.

The trust was formed after the death of 16th-century Edinburgh businessman George Heriot, whose finances were also used to create a self-titled school, originally used as a hospital for orphans, after his death.

"We all collected some information on the street to take to the party, which was held in one of our homes," Judith explains.

"So, we were left with all these pieces of paper and wondered what to do with them."In the old days they would have been put in a scrapbook, but these days we felt it was a good idea to use them to create a website."

The residents group - which helpfully includes an expert web designer - hope people from all over the Capital will enjoy reading about their neighbourhood and may also go on to contribute more information about its history, as most of the website so far focuses on the east end of the street, from numbers one to 19.

"It's a privilege to live here," explains John Macfie, who owns number 17 Heriot Row, the former home of the renowned author Robert Louis Stevenson.

Mr Macfie has lived in the property with his family since he was ten years old, and now runs it with his wife and six children, not only as a home, but as a hospitality venue, Stevenson House. "Sometimes it is strange as tour buses go by and visitors watch our daily lives unfolding, but I have never really known any different.

"I think people think of Heriot Row as a beautiful street, but it can be difficult to imagine what has gone on over the years behind its windows.

"I think the website will help explain that through its stories."

The Great Heriot Row Meat Robbery

After the cook at 18 Heriot Row discovered thieves had forced entry to her larder and made off with the ingredients for Christmas dinner, the owners of the property rushed to tell police in Stockbridge.

In a letter dated December 27, 1845, the owner, a Mrs Graham, writes to her brother Robert, describing how she made officers aware of her washerwoman seeing a suspicious man on Earl Grey Street at 3am on Christmas Eve.

"The policeman said that if they met people carrying large parcels at that time of night, they could not question them as they might be brought in for deformation of character! The police have been too trifling and indifferent over this whole affair," she wrote.

No mention is made of what food was eventually eaten in her home on Christmas Day, except that her mother was very thankful her washing house "quite full of clothes was left unmolested" by the intruders.

Number One Heriot Row

Peter Spalding was the first owner of this house, buying it immediately after its completion in 1808. As the son of an Edinburgh jeweller, he had spent much of his life in Calcutta, but returned to the Capital in 1801 with his fortune.

He lived on Heriot Row as a recluse, using his home to study and draw, as well as making models to recreate the battle of Waterloo, many of which were eventually displayed in Holyrood Palace after his death.

His former home has been described as "the best address in Edinburgh", but as a main-door flat, is actually one of the most modest on the street.

Ghosts

Sightings of ghosts have been reported in at least three properties on Heriot Row over the years. Perhaps it is fitting that the Edinburgh Psychic College was founded in 1932 at number 13 by Ethel Miller, who believed she could keep in touch with her dead husband through mediums.

The college later moved to Melville Street, but residents believe the spirits of many of its former visitors may live on in the neighbourhood.

Childhoods on Heriot Row

Thousands of people have made the neighbourhood their home over the centuries, including children who grew into adulthood on the street.

Victorian artist Jemima Blackburn (1823-1909) was one of them, describing fond years spent in the New Town in her memoirs.

She was born and raised in 31 Heriot Row.

"Our house," she wrote, "had a hot bath in it, a rarity at that time, a great leaden thing generally with 'black clocks' (beetles] floating in it, of primitive construction and requiring a boiler to be heated by a big fire in the laundry half a story underground. Every Friday we girls were scrubbed in it with yellow soap, every Saturday the boys, from top to toe."

She also describes having her hair frequently shaved off as a sickly toddler and leeches being placed on her temples by her family doctor.

"After, they were stripped and salted I kept them to make pets of but they seldom lived long," she wrote.

• Discover more about Heriot Row, its history and former residents, at www.heriotrow.org.

Famous Faces from Heriot Row

ALTHOUGH author Robert Louis Stevenson is the best-known former resident of Heriot Row, the street has been a home to many famous faces.

Writer Elizabeth Grant, far right, (1797-1886), author of A Highland Lady, owned number four for many years, as did architect and businessman John Poulson, below, (1910-1993). He used the building as the registered office of Caledonian Terminal Investments Ltd and Poulson JGL, before a high-profile bribery case in the 1970s.

James Ballantyne (1772-1833), Walter Scott's friend and printer, lived at number three in the 1820s, while the artist Alexander Graham Munro (1903-1985) took up residence at number 37.

Admiral and adventurer William Duddingston (1740-1817) was one of the first owners of number four, where his widow continued to live after his death. He had been commander of HMS Gaspee, sent by King George III to Rhode Island in 1772 to enforce the Stamp Act and prevent smuggling.

James Muirhead (1830-89), professor of law at Edinburgh University, was raised at number seven and James Ferguson Ferrier, philosopher and poet (1808-1864), was the son of the first occupants of number 15.