During the Siege of Leith in Spring 1560, the headquarters of the English army was located at Restalrig Deanery near the kirk. In April 1572 at the height of the Marian civil war, Thomas Randolph and Sir William Drury stayed in the Deanery. Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange decorated the house with the royal tapestry from Edinburgh Castle. The English ambassadors plotted with Archibald Douglas to kidnap George, Lord Seton from the shore of Leith, but the plan did not take effect.