#gorgie — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #gorgie, aggregated by home.social.
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In light and shadow
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55421502824/in/photostream/lightbox/West face of these Gorgie tenements catching the evening light, the north in shade.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #architecture #photography #photographie #Gorgie #BlackAndWhitePhotography
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In light and shadow
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55421502824/in/photostream/lightbox/West face of these Gorgie tenements catching the evening light, the north in shade.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #architecture #photography #photographie #Gorgie #BlackAndWhitePhotography
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Coming home with chum after stroll and wee break and chat, pass side street by #Fountainbridge Library, several police cars & ambulance in it. Not good sign.
Few moments later, we passed more police cars and an ambulance, plus "police scene, do not cross tape" around entrance to #Gorgie City Farm. No idea if related or wht was happening.
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Coming home with chum after stroll and wee break and chat, pass side street by #Fountainbridge Library, several police cars & ambulance in it. Not good sign.
Few moments later, we passed more police cars and an ambulance, plus "police scene, do not cross tape" around entrance to #Gorgie City Farm. No idea if related or wht was happening.
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On heading out a little earlier, I saw a man being handcuffed by two police officers.
On the way back, now multiple police vehicles & officers around Gorgie Road & parts of the pavements taped off. No idea what happened yet.
I was just trying to go have a final, relaxing coffee & read in nearby wee café before tomorrow.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #Gorgie #police
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On heading out a little earlier, I saw a man being handcuffed by two police officers.
On the way back, now multiple police vehicles & officers around Gorgie Road & parts of the pavements taped off. No idea what happened yet.
I was just trying to go have a final, relaxing coffee & read in nearby wee café before tomorrow.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #Gorgie #police
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The charmingly-named Coffin Lane, at night https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55149524424/in/photostream/lightbox/
This short-cut runs alongisde the high, stone wall of the old Dalry Cemetery, hence the moniker.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #Dalry #DalryCemetery #CoffinLane #cemetery #BlackAndWhitePhotography #UrbanNight #creepy #eerie
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The charmingly-named Coffin Lane, at night https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55149524424/in/photostream/lightbox/
This short-cut runs alongisde the high, stone wall of the old Dalry Cemetery, hence the moniker.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #Dalry #DalryCemetery #CoffinLane #cemetery #BlackAndWhitePhotography #UrbanNight #creepy #eerie
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From a distance there are so many little spots of vibrant colours, it's like the daubs of an Impressionist painter. Gorgeous
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55116483932/in/photostream/lightbox/
So welcome after winter.
#spring #printemps #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #nature #flowers #fleurs #WhitePark #Gorgie #Crocus #Ecosse #Scotland
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From a distance there are so many little spots of vibrant colours, it's like the daubs of an Impressionist painter. Gorgeous
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55116483932/in/photostream/lightbox/
So welcome after winter.
#spring #printemps #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #nature #flowers #fleurs #WhitePark #Gorgie #Crocus #Ecosse #Scotland
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Worth being so easily tired out by short walk to see these (and good to get outside even for a little while) https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55117555398/in/photostream/lightbox/
#flowers #fleurs #nature #printemps #spring #photography #photographie #crocus #WhitePark #Gorgie #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #Ecosse #Scotland
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Worth being so easily tired out by short walk to see these (and good to get outside even for a little while) https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55117555398/in/photostream/lightbox/
#flowers #fleurs #nature #printemps #spring #photography #photographie #crocus #WhitePark #Gorgie #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #Ecosse #Scotland
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#BlueHour over Gorgie Road this evening.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #sky #ciel #Ecosse #Scotland
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#BlueHour over Gorgie Road this evening.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #sky #ciel #Ecosse #Scotland
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Bite & Go
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55077550717/in/photostream/lightbox/
Chinese takeaway on a rainy evening
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #Urban #UrbanNight #Rain #Pluie #Gorgie #BiteAndGo #Restaurant #Takeaway #Ecosse #Scotland
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Bite & Go
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55077550717/in/photostream/lightbox/
Chinese takeaway on a rainy evening
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #Urban #UrbanNight #Rain #Pluie #Gorgie #BiteAndGo #Restaurant #Takeaway #Ecosse #Scotland
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"Key cutting & engraving"
Local cobblers, at dusk.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #Photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #NeonSign #Window #Fenetre #cobbler
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"Key cutting & engraving"
Local cobblers, at dusk.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #Photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #Gorgie #NeonSign #Window #Fenetre #cobbler
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Going for their dinner?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55059221735/in/photostream/lightbox/Takeaway at night, Dalry Road. Improvised night shot walking home from the station this evening. I liked the way the yellow of the restaurant & red of the post box stood out while the darkness had faded all the other colours from the street.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #Photography #Photographie #LongExposure #Dalry #Gorgie #PostBox
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Going for their dinner?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55059221735/in/photostream/lightbox/Takeaway at night, Dalry Road. Improvised night shot walking home from the station this evening. I liked the way the yellow of the restaurant & red of the post box stood out while the darkness had faded all the other colours from the street.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #Photography #Photographie #LongExposure #Dalry #Gorgie #PostBox
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Bus going to warp drive on a rather soggy evening
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55057478294/in/photostream/lightbox/#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #LightTrails #WarpDrive #LongExposure #DalryRoad #Gorgie #bus #LothianBuses #Scotland #Ecosse
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Bus going to warp drive on a rather soggy evening
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55057478294/in/photostream/lightbox/#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #LightTrails #WarpDrive #LongExposure #DalryRoad #Gorgie #bus #LothianBuses #Scotland #Ecosse
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Listen to them, the Cakes of the Night, what sweet music they make (apologies to Bram Stoker)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55052608835/in/photostream/lightbox/#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #CakeBox #Cake #Gateau #Gorgie #Shop #Magasin
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Listen to them, the Cakes of the Night, what sweet music they make (apologies to Bram Stoker)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55052608835/in/photostream/lightbox/#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #CakeBox #Cake #Gateau #Gorgie #Shop #Magasin
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Tail end of #BlueHour this evening, looking past the Turkish patisserie (great baklava!), sun now set, but still that glow in the western sky.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #UrbanNight #patisserie #Gorgie #tenement #immeuble
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Tail end of #BlueHour this evening, looking past the Turkish patisserie (great baklava!), sun now set, but still that glow in the western sky.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #UrbanNight #patisserie #Gorgie #tenement #immeuble
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Winter sunlight and shadows on the tower of Gorgie Parish Church. Beautiful light today.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #architecture #church #eglise #Gorgie #GorgieParishChurch
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Winter sunlight and shadows on the tower of Gorgie Parish Church. Beautiful light today.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #architecture #church #eglise #Gorgie #GorgieParishChurch
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Once upon a time, a railway ran here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55036148566/in/photostream/lightbox/Now the exit slipway from the Approach Road, but this used to be a rail line. In fact the photo was taken from an old-fashioned railway pedestrian bridge leftover from that era.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #architecture #bridge #pont #LongExposure #Gorgie
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Once upon a time, a railway ran here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55036148566/in/photostream/lightbox/Now the exit slipway from the Approach Road, but this used to be a rail line. In fact the photo was taken from an old-fashioned railway pedestrian bridge leftover from that era.
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #architecture #bridge #pont #LongExposure #Gorgie
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The Bridge Into Night's Realm https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55013523402/in/photostream/lightbox/
This used to be a railway footbridge, now it crosses the Approach Road, which follows the old rail line, a ghostly reminder of the area's changing history
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #Photographie #History #Histoire #bridge #pont #Gorgie #Polwarth
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The Bridge Into Night's Realm https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/55013523402/in/photostream/lightbox/
This used to be a railway footbridge, now it crosses the Approach Road, which follows the old rail line, a ghostly reminder of the area's changing history
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #Photographie #History #Histoire #bridge #pont #Gorgie #Polwarth
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Passing the pub https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54962192751/in/photostream/lightbox/
Light trails from cars passing by Diggers, #Gorgie
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #LightTrails #DiggersPub #UrbanNight #LongExposure
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Passing the pub https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54962192751/in/photostream/lightbox/
Light trails from cars passing by Diggers, #Gorgie
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #LightTrails #DiggersPub #UrbanNight #LongExposure
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Golden, winter light and shadows, in the old bone orchard today.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #Photographie #cemetery #cimetiere #graveyard #boneyard #winter #hivre #Gorgie #DalryCemetery #Ecosse #Scotland #shadows #ombres
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Golden, winter light and shadows, in the old bone orchard today.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #Photographie #cemetery #cimetiere #graveyard #boneyard #winter #hivre #Gorgie #DalryCemetery #Ecosse #Scotland #shadows #ombres
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Yes, it is that time of year again, already - the #Christmas tree lot has opened for business https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54948316559/in/photostream/lightbox/
#Gorgie #photography #photographie #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #trees #arbres #ChristmasTrees #Noel
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Yes, it is that time of year again, already - the #Christmas tree lot has opened for business https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54948316559/in/photostream/lightbox/
#Gorgie #photography #photographie #Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #trees #arbres #ChristmasTrees #Noel
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This old-style railway footbridge is a tiny bit of local history; the modern Approach Road follows a long-gone rail line. The bridge still carries people, but now over a road rather than tracks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54946943645/in/photostream/lightbox/
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #WestApproachRoad #Gorgie #UrbanNight #LightTrails #longexposure #bridge #pont
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This old-style railway footbridge is a tiny bit of local history; the modern Approach Road follows a long-gone rail line. The bridge still carries people, but now over a road rather than tracks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54946943645/in/photostream/lightbox/
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #photography #photographie #NightPhotography #EdinburghByNight #WestApproachRoad #Gorgie #UrbanNight #LightTrails #longexposure #bridge #pont
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Curving lights https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54946636071/in/photostream/lightbox/
Long exposure creating light trails from passing cars
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #WestApproachRoad #LightTrails #UrbanNight #Gorgie
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Curving lights https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/54946636071/in/photostream/lightbox/
Long exposure creating light trails from passing cars
#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #NightPhotography #photography #photographie #WestApproachRoad #LightTrails #UrbanNight #Gorgie
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The #Christmas tree is already up in the wee park near me.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #Photography #Photographie #WhitePark #Gorgie #ChristmasTree #tree #arbre
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The #Christmas tree is already up in the wee park near me.
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#Edinburgh #Edimbourg #EdinburghByNight #Photography #Photographie #WhitePark #Gorgie #ChristmasTree #tree #arbre
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The other Banana Flats: the thread about a pioneering modernist council housing block in Gorgie
The Category-A listed Cables Wynd House. Leith’s answer to Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation. Unmistakably the “Banana Flats” on account of their bendy plan form: but did you know they are neither the only nor the original Banana Flats in Edinburgh?
Cables Wynd House. CC-by-SA 2.0, Tom Parnell via FlickrBecause there’s another in town and it precedes Cables Wynd by over a decade, and (controversially for Banana Flats purists) they are in Gorgie. I’m talking of course about the equally bendy (but rather less iconic) Westfield Court. So why is this block also interesting and why is it important? Let’s make the case.
Westfield Court started life before WW2, the brainchild of local property developer Alexander Glass who had acquired a substantial plot of land around the old village of Gorgie Mills. It is for Glass that the street Alexander Drive, on which Westfield Court sits, is named and it was Glass who had recently changed the face of – and modernised and expanded – Gorgie by building expansive new flats and shops along the western length of Gorgie Road. He had sold a plot to the Poole family who built the Roxy cinema.
One of Glass’s 1930s development blocks along Gorgie Road, notice Westfield Court peeping out on the left distance.His next venture was to be an even more modern structure, a concrete and steel high rise that mixed modernist living and community facilities, directly inspired by Maxwell Fry’s equally bendy Kensal House in Ladbroke Grove. This was the first modernist municipal housing block in the UK and as well as thoroughly cutting edge flats, included a community centre, laundry, canteen and nursery.
Kensal House, Ladbroke Grove. CC-by-SA 2.0 Julian OsleyInspired by London (as his shopping parades along Gorgie Road and also St. John’s Road in Corstorphine obviously were), Glass’s new flats at Westfield would have been his working class answer to Edinburgh’s first modernist flats, those of Ravelston Garden (the “Jenners Flats”).
Ravelston Garden, picture © selfBut this of course never happened because the war intervened. Glass’s modernist dream remained just that. Post-war, the economic and strict regulatory environment prohibited private speculative building. But permits to build – and financial compensation – could be gained by private developers if they handed their plans and land over to the municipal authorities to progress. And that’s exactly what Glass did; the land and plans for Westfield Court were offered to the Edinburgh Corporation, who jumped at the chance to kick-start their post-war reconstruction of the city with ready-made plans for ultra modern housing.
As early as 1946, the housing committee approved the idea. There was some resistance to the idea, as the “Civic Survey and Plan for Edinburgh” (aka the Abercrombie Report) made it known that the land between Haymarket and Dalry was intended for industry. The idea eventually won through against the report however, and final plans were approved in May 1949 to the designs of architects Henry Hubbard and William Williamson.
Page from the Civic Survey and Plan for Edinburgh, as published in 1949There had been big changes from the original design however, to befit its new use as municipal housing. The basic building was a steel and concrete frame and floors, the exterior walls being pre-cast panels by the notorious Orlit company, with the inner face of the walls in brick and internal partitions of newly-patented “Eecon” blocks. At 8 storeys tall, it was the tallest (for its time) 20th century housing block not just in Edinburgh, but in Scotland. Rather than later “streets in the sky” ideas, with lateral access corridors along certain floors, it was a single 445 feet long block with 6 traditional “tenement” access stairs, each with the modern convenience of a lift.
Plans of Westfield Court, from The Architect journal, 1952The total accommodation was 88 flats, with every flat above the ground floor had its own south-facing balcony for the “airing of children“, and on the ground floors there were 14 “special” bedsit flats and two smaller flats for “spinsters and ageing persons“. All the other 72 flats had 4 rooms. The entire building had had no fireplaces or coal fuel. There was a central domestic boiler for hot water and heating, which also circulated around a drying cupboard in each flat. Each kitchenette had gas cookers and its own “gas incinerator cupboard” where rubbish could be burned, before being disposed of down ash chutes on the north face of the building.
Westfield Court, north façade showing rubbish/dust chutesEach flat had its own bathroom and toilet, and wooden floors overlaid the concrete (except on the ground floors, where they were laid with mastic). Sound deadening around the lift shafts was with wood wool. But Westfield Court’s most unusual feature (and possibly unique in Scotland) was on its 8th storey, where the entire floor was given over to a 3-class nursery school for 80 children, complete with a penned-in rooftop playground.
Floor Plans for Westfield Court Nursery SchoolThere’s a wonderful picture on Scran, which I cannot share here but can only link to, showing a forlorn looking child rattling the bars of the playground, looking down on the world below from 8 storeys up. Sound insulation around the nursery was a constant problem in its years of operation; the builders had given attention to the noise from the lift shafts but seemingly not from the noise of the feet of 80 children on the ceilings of 7th storey flats. Staff and children reputedly went around the place in their slippers.
Westfield CourtThe builders of Westfield Court were Hepburn Brothers of Dunfermline and Edinburgh, and this was a big departure for a company who were one of the primary constructors of the city’s sprawling interwar Bungalow Belt. The consulting engineers were Kinnear & Gordon and they had their work cut out for them: construction wasn’t simple as Westfield is a flood plain of the Water of Leith and was cut through by old mill lades, with the water table just 7 feet below the surface. Extensive piling work had to be undertaken to provide secure foundations.
Advert from the Architect journal, 1953, showing construction of Westfield CourtThe completed structure was not the distinctive orange, cream and brown paint of today (that is from a later modernisation) but bright white concrete
Westfield Court. The Architect journal, 1952The first phase of work completed in June 1951, and Lord Provost James “Miller Homes” Miller proudly unveiled the new flats to an assembled audience of workers.
Edinburgh Evening News- Friday 29 June 1951, Lord Provost James Miller at the opening ceremony of the first phase of Westfield CourtLittle over a month later, on July 27th 1951, the first residents – the Mcaslan family – were handed over the keys to their new house by Councillors P. J. Robson and D. Wilkie.
Edinburgh Evening News- Friday 27 July 1951. The Mcaslan family receive the keys to their new flat.The “Super Flats” as the press called them had cost the city around quarter of a million pounds, about 10 million in 2023 money, and rents for the 4-room flats were set at 38s 7d per week, including 21s rent, 5s 7d for rates and 12s for the heating and water. The communal heating system was very effective – too effective – and the houses gained an envious reputation as the warmest in the city. The daily consumption of hot water was found to be 60 gallons /house, and the charges covered only 5% of the council’s bills for the system. For that reason alone, all the subsequent multi-storey flats built at this time had individual gas fires or electric heaters / immersion systems as the city was unwilling to take on such a financial burden again. Communal heating in Edinburgh was finished before it ever got going.
Children outside Westfield Court, 1954. Unknown credit. © Edinburgh City LibrariesOver the door of the main pend is a carving by Hew Lorimer ARSA, with the city’s motto (Nisi Dominus Frustra) and a diorama of Scottish workers and industry around a mother and children, perhaps symbolising the optimism of post-war rebirth and reconstruction.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43675100@N08/7851761886
By the 1980s, the once bright banana block was now a rather grim soot and pollution stained one, so Edinburgh District Council took the fateful decision in 1991 to bring the block “up to date” with a coating of multicoloured carbonation-resistant “Mulsicoat” acrylic.
Rear elevation of Westfield Court, 1982The council chose a palette of “caramel, chocolate, beige and white”, and a pattern on the rear elevation reputedly based on the Baths of Carcalla, and covered the whole block in it
Rear elevation of Westfield CourtThe rooftop nursery remained until 2010, specialising in helping children with additional needs, when the council took the decision to close it, ostensibly over health and safety fears for fire evacuation of children down 8 storeys of stairs, but it was part of a wider cuts programme.
Former Lord Provost Eric Milligan, who had been one of the nursery’s pupils back in the 1950s, spoke up in its defence (in a letter to Michael MacLeod at the Guardian), saying it was “distinctive and quirky” and “one of the most imaginative uses of space in Europe.” The nursery was converted into 5 flats, and appropriately for the story of modern Edinburgh, one is now being run as a Short Term Let, the council having been unable to take action against it as it found it had already given it permission to operate as a Bed and Breakfast…
So now you know that Westfield Court is much more important than it looks. It has a formative position in the story of post-war Scottish council housing, was for a short time the tallest “multi” in the land, pioneered the idea of mixing housing with other social facilities* and pre-dates the “other” banana flats by some 12 years.
* = One feature that had originally been proposed for Westfield Court – but was not included in the final designs – was a mortuary and chapel of rest. There was a genuine concern over lack of such facilities for the working classes, and some Labour councillors hoped to include them
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Two different visions of secondary education: the thread about the origins of Tynecastle and Boroughmuir Schools
This thread starts with a picture taken of the former Tynecastle School on McLeod Street – it was moved to new buildings further down the same street in 2010. It was built by the Edinburgh School Board from 1910-12 to the designs of their architect John A. Carfrae. This was what was known as a Continuation or Supplementary School i.e. continuing education beyond the statutory limit, or gaining supplementary education in specialist subjects. Such schools were later known as Junior Secondaries. It was to provide a “technical and clerical” education for 1,200 children in the Gorgie and Dalry area. This was meant those who didn’t pass their qualification (Quali) exams at the age of 11 for Higher Grade school, which at this time were schools offering the “Intermediate Certificate” to prepare students for going on to professional vocations and for a few perhaps, University.
Former Tynecastle School © SelfSuch schools were the beginning of a specialisation in secondary education for many children into more technical, career-focussed education. Previously most would had stayed on until the age of 14 (13 until 1901) and been taught a largely academic curriculum in a non-specialist school; the brighter or better off being able to attend the Royal High School or one of the endowed schools such as James Gillespie’s, George Heriot’s or those of the Merchant Company for a “proper” secondary education. Tynecastle was one of three schools planned at the same time and was the first built. The two others would follow later as the James Clark School at St. Leonard’s and Bellevue School (at Bellevue, now called Drummond High School), as the School Board sought to greatly increase this sort of provision.
These schools were aimed at working class children who aspired to pick up particular specialist trades or to enter a clerical rather than a strictly manual occupation. Tynecastle was built to a fairly strict budget and instead of the traditional stonework, it was built almost entirely of brick, most of which was hidden behind harling to greatly reduce the cost; facing brick, which was more expensive to produce and for which Scotland did not have a large supply of skilled bricklayers, was saved only for detailing. The use of external landings to give access to classrooms was very of its time; there was a real concern about the spread of infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis, and huge efforts were being made in school design to try and deal with it. It also reduced costs as internal corridors were not required.
Children from 11-14 were taught at Tynecastle when it opened, with evening and weekend classes for older children or adults. There was a strict separation of the sexes, with academic lessons taught in the main building and the practical skills being taught in workshops to the rear of the quadrangle. As such they could not be seen from the road so were “given Spartan treatment” architecturally.
Former workshop block at TynecastleThe school opened with only 12 classes, for 500 boys, in the spring of 1912, fully opening on November 12th 1912, the ceremony being performed by the Rt. Hon. Alexander Ure, Lord Advocate. Within a few years, 25 classes were occupied and there was a roll of 790 boys and girls. Subjects on offer included woodworking, plumbing, cobbling, hairdressing, engineering, plastering, laundry, sewing, cooking, trade blouse-making, millinery, dressmaking and housewifery. A speciality of Tynecastle was motor body building.
Woodworking, for boysLaundry, for girlsMetal casting, for boysCookery, for girlsPictures of children at Tynecastle School, c. 1912, from Edinburgh at Work by Malcolm CantSchools like Tynecastle can directly be compared and contrasted to their far more lavishly finished and appointed Higher Grade contemporaries; where you went if you passed your Quali. For this district of Edinburgh this meant Boroughmuir (the only other School Board Higher Grade schools at this time being Broughton and Portobello). Coincidentally, at the same time that Tynecastle was being built, Boroughmuir was being rebuilt, also to the designs of Carfrae.
Former Boroughmuir School, CC-by-SA 4.0 StephenCDicksonAlthough it still made use of some harling and brick on the façade to lower costs, the lower floors were in traditional stone and it was heavily ornamented with pilasters, finials and even a corner tower. Where Tynecastle had a single 3,200 square foot hall that doubled as as gymnasium, Boroughmuir was built with *two* dedicated gymnasia, each of that size. Tynecastle was built with “spray baths for the benefit of dirty children” – Boroughmuir most definitely was not. With regards Tynecastle, never before had the Board “been so economical over school buildings“. Boroughmuir in contrast was slated as “the last word in public school building“.
This was not the first grand Boroughmuir School however; the now venerable institution had a faltering start to life. It was built as a brand new school in the Free Renaissance style reminiscent of London board schools (again to Carfrae’s plans) . It was opened with much civic pride in 1904 on Bruntsfield Links, this is the building referred to by Muriel Spark as “the school on the Links.“
The original Boroughmuir School buildingJust 6 years later however, the same changes to the structure of Higher Education that resulted in the School Board building Tynecastle caused a significant reduction in class sizes at the Higher Schools and removal of many of the “supplementary” subjects from their curriculum meant that the classrooms of the new Boroughmuir were far too big, its facilities for specialised teaching (art, music, etc.) were sorely lacking and it had other facilities and workshops that were not required. To right those wrongs, a whole new school was built! The same Evening News article reporting on the business of the Edinburgh School Board on April 15th 1910 announced both the new Boroughmuir school and the school that would become Tynecastle.
“Proposed New Higher Grade School”. Edinburgh Evening News, April 15th 1910In a curious twist of fate, the newest Boroughmuir High School, completed in 2018, was built too small and was in need of extending before it was even opened.
“New Boroughmuir School is already too small.” BBC News website, July 18th 2018The original school did not lie vacant, it was occupied by the James Gillespie’s School (which at this time was a selective, endowed school, and not a Board school, but confusingly was administered by the School Board). Here it stayed until the 1960s when a reorganisation of education saw Gillespie’s formally join the state comprehensive system and move to a purpose built new school nearby in the grounds of Bruntsfield House. Boroughmuir reoccupied their old building as a junior annexe. More recently it was sold to the University of Edinburgh who converted it into student halls of residence.
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City of Brewing: the thread about 150 years of brewery opening and closure in Edinburgh
In December 2019, the Edinburgh Evening News ran an article about a new brewery planned for the city which it claimed “will be the first major brewery to be built in Edinburgh for 150 years.” (and also the biggest).
Edinburgh Evening News headline, 17th December 2019By my count (luckily, I keep a handy spreadsheet of such things for such counting eventualities) there were actually fifteen major breweries built in Edinburgh in the last 150 years and a good number of these were larger. So let’s take a closer look at them.
Starting us off at number 15 is the Caledonian Brewery – universally known as The Caley – it was opened by Lorimer & Clark 150 years ago (at the time of first writing) in 1869 in Shandon. This was one of the first Edinburgh brewers taken over by an English firm, Vaux, in 1947, who closed it in 1985. It reopened soon after in a management buyout and was one of the pioneers of the real ale revival locally. It was still going strong currently under threat of closure closed by then owners Heineken in 2022 and will likely be sold off for housing.
At number 14, G. & J. Machlachlan’s Castle Brewery opened in the Grassmarket in 1875, some 144 years ago. It relocated out to Craigmillar in 1901 as the New Castle Brewery (not to be confused with the Newcastle Brewery!). The Grassmarket site was sold in 1913 and was used as a mines rescue and research station by a consortium of Lothians mining companies. It is now part of the site of George Heriot’s School.
A non-mover at number 13, Jeffrey’s opened the New Heriot Brewery at Roseburn in 1880. This replaced a facility in the Grassmarket along from the Castle which was known, unsurprisingly, as the Heriot Brewery and took its name from that nearby school (see picture). Brewing took place at Roseburn until 1992, by which time it was an outpost of Glaswegian lager manufacturer Tennent Caledonian. Coincidentally the Grassmarket brewery was built on top of the Crawley Pipe which brought water into the town. That little brown wooden door you can see to the left of the gateway gives access to the conduit in which the pipe runs.
Holding steady at number 12, brothers Thomas & James Bernard opened the New Edinburgh Brewery on Robertson Avenue in Gorgie in 1888. For obvious reasons the firm used a St. Bernard dog as its mascot and logo (a Saint that has a local connection too), except with a bottle of their beer around its neck instead of a flask of brandy. They were bought up by the industry giant Scottish Brewers in 1960 who shut them down in order to reduce the competition and industry over-capacity.
At 11, the Edinburgh United Breweries of 1889. This company consolidated the existing smaller brewers of David Nicolsons; Robin, McMillans; Dishers and George Ritchies. The Robin, McMillans site at the Summerhall was demolished to make way for the new buildings of the Royal Dick Veterinary School, Dishers’ facilities were sold to rivals Aitchisons, and brewing was consolidated at Nicolson’s Palace Brewery at Abbeyhill and Ritchie’s Bell’s Brewery at the Pleasance. EUB’s remaining assets were acquired by Jeffrey’s in 1935 after what was (at that point) the UK’s largest tax duty scandal; the firm had been brewing off the record out of hours for years and avoiding taxation.
Sneaking in at number 10, the Craigmillar No. 1 Brewery was opened in 1891 by the firm of William Murray & Co. Murrays were an old, established brewer in the town of Jedburgh at the Caledonian Brewery but Mr Murray and his Wife died on the same evening on Wednesday 6th January 1886 leaving no living partner to take the firm on. The business was sold and its new owners relocated it to just outside the (then) city boundary at Craigmillar in 1890, where transport links were good, as was the water, and land was plentiful. This was the first brewer to locate to what would become a hotspot of this industry in this district. This operation was bought by United Breweries in 1960 and closed in 1963 by which time they were United Caledonian.
Holding steady at number 9, Drybrough’s were one of the bigger Edinburgh brewers. They were long established on the North Back of the Canongate but followed the lead of Murrays and joined them in the Craigmillar suburb in 1892 at the Duddingston Brewery. They were bought out by the firm of Watney Mann in 1965 as the big English brewers moved north of the border to expand into the Scottish market and were closed by Allied Lyons in 1987. Most of the brewery buildings remain here, in various uses as workshops, storage and offices .
A new entrant at 8, Daniel Bernard was a son of the T. & J. Bernard family, but fell out with the other partners in that business in 1889 in an acrimonious dispute that ended up in him leaving the firm and taking them to court. He set himself up in business in the Canongate as Bernards Ltd, and moved to a site in the Damhead area of Gorgie in 1893 where there were some good wells, just down the road from the family’s New Edinburgh site. When Daniel died in 1901, there was nobody to take it over. It was used for a while as a distillery before pharmaceutical company T. & H. Smith of Canonmills moved there in stages between 1904-1908. It is still in use for those purposes by their successor company.
At number 7, Pattisons were a big new name in the Leith whisky distilling, blending and bottling industry. Formed from the dairy of Pattison, Elder & Co., they were also the sole Scottish agent for St. Anne’s Well beer from Barnstable in Exeter and decided to enter the brewing market for themselves. This they did in 1896 at Craigmillar, the third such operation in the district. They were known for lavish spending on facilities, advertising and their directors personal lives. But their empire was built too quickly and built on sand; sand sitting atop a huge financial bubble which collapsed in spectacular stile 1899, bringing down much of the Scotch whisky industry with it. The Pattison brothers ended up in court for mixing cheap grain whisky with malt and passing it off as mature malt to increase their profits and ended up in jail. Their brewery assets were taken over by Robert Deuchar, a name now associated with Edinburgh brewing but actually from the northeast of England. Deuchars were closed by Scottish & Newcastle in 1961.
Up one at 6, Somerville’s joined the growing brewing suburb at Craigmillar in 1897 when they opened the North British Brewery. Messrs. John Somerville & Co. were an established wine and spirits merchant on Quality Street in Leith who amalgamated with Blyth & Cameron, a company formed that same year by business partners of Somerville to build the new brewery at Craigmillar. The consolidated firm was known as John Somerville & Co. Ltd. Neighbouring Murray’s took it over as the Craigmillar No. 2 in 1922 and when United Breweries took over Murrays in 1960 they quickly shut it down.
We’re in the top 5 territory now. Robert Deuchar (whose name would later be given to that pioneer India Pale Ale of the 1980s real ale revival in Edinburgh) built their own premises at Craigmillar in 1899 to complement those they had recently taken over from Pattisons. Deuchar is an old Scottish family name from Lauderdale in the Borders, but their brewery was established in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1888. They made the move up the railway to Edinburgh when they bought Pattisons and would transfer all their brewing operations north in 1920, but kept their tied public houses in the northeast of England. They were bought by Newcastle Brewery in 1954 and closed by that firm’s successor, Scottish & Newcastle, in 1961.
Straight in at number 4; T. Y. Paterson & Co. opened the Pentland Brewery, the smallest of the Craigmillar breweries, in 1898. Thomas Yule Paterson was a brewer and maltster established in Glasgow’s Bridgeton in 1884 who decided to move to Edinburgh when the advantages of the Craigmillar location became obvious. They were bought out by Edinburgh brewer Aitkens in 1936 and the site was used for other purposes thereafter. Only the gates remain now.
Another entry for Maclachlans in at 3. They moved from the Grassmarket to Duddingston (a bigger site, a more modern brewery and a rail connection beckoned) in 1901 at the New Castle Brewery. In 1960 the company were bought by Glasgow’s Tennent’s, a move which made sense as Maclachlan’s main market was in that city (as was their head office). But this was a period of rapid industry consolidation and Tennent’s in turn was in turn taken over by London’s Charrington United in 1963. A further reorganisation took place, with Charrington merging their Scottish subsidiaries – United Caledonian – with Tennent’s to form Tennent Caledonian. But it did not end there; in 1967 Charrington merged with Bass of Burton-upon-Trent to form Bass Charrington, under whose ownership the New Castle was shut down, Edinburgh operations of Tennent Caledonian were instead concentrated at Jeffrey’s former New Heriot Brewery in Roseburn
At number 2, W. & J. Raeburn were the last to open a brewery at Craigmillar, in 1901. Raeburn’s Brewery relocated from Merchant Street off the Cowgate in the Old Town where they had brewed since 1863. They were bought over by Robert (not William!) Youngers in 1913. They in turn sold it to the Brewer’s Food Supply Company of Fountainbridge in 1919, formed by a syndicate of Edinburgh brewers. They turned it over to dry waste brewers malt, enriched with surplus yeast, for use as cattle and poultry feed. The Inland Revenue took exception to the missed tax potential of turning a waste product into a commodity and took them to court, but lost. The War Office requisitioned the site over in 1939 to produce industrial yeast. It was returned to the BFSC and later found its way into the Scotish & Newcastle empire and the site seems to have closed around 1975.
And no surprises and still at no. 1, for the umpteenth year in a row since 1973, Scottish & Newcastle built the then ultra-modern Fountain Brewery in that year to replace the older William McEwan brewery of the same name on the other side of the road. S&N dominated the Scottish brewing scene and, along with the big English brewer, bought it up bit by bit then slowly tried to kill it. They very nearly almost did.
The graph below charts the rise and fall of the brewing industry in Edinburgh – note there would have been many more brewers operating prior to 1800, but small concerns rather than on an industrial scale. Treat the earlier end of the timeline with caution therefore. It can be seen that by numbers alone, the 1890s were the peak but there was a long, slow decline thereafter, with things falling off a cliff after the 1950s.
A graph of the number of commercial breweries operating in Edinburgh & Leith since the late 18th centuryIt’s worth noting too that many of these were, even by the standard of the day, relatively small concerns and overall production would actually have increased into the 1960s even though numbers were dropping due to modernisation of the larger breweries on the periphery of the city and closure of older, smaller, less-efficient city-centre sites.
If you look in the right places, it’s not hard to find the evidence of many of those old breweries not already covered in this post. Alexander Melvin’s at the Boroughloch Brewery has surviving outer walls and buildings, with tenement flats long ago built within its courtyard. If you get a chance to see it, the former brewery office off of Boroughloch Lane has a cracking Melvin’s frosted glass window still in place.
Robert Younger , one of the three Youngers of Scottish brewing, brewed at St. Ann’s in Abbeyhill. Their brewery site was converted into sheltered housing, with some of the original buildings preserved. Look out for the RY monogram above the former office door on Abbeyhill.
Archibald Campbell, Hope & King were an ancient name in brewing and distilling, they brewed at the Argyle Brewery off of Chambers Street, but which was at one time Argyle Square. They were one of the last old surviving city centre brewers when they were closed in 1970 by their new English owners, Whitebread. Many of the buildings have now been incorporated into the University of Edinburgh.
Someone later built the King’s Theatre on top of it, but Taylor, Macleod & Co. brewed on the old site of Drumdryan House at the Drumdryan Brewery, an old placename that you can still find in a neighbouring street. Drumdryan comes from the Gaelic – Druim drioghion – a ridge covered in thorn bushes, describing the local topography at one time. Interestingly the nearby street Thorniebauk comes from Scots and means exactly the same, also called Brierybauk at one time.
Steel, Coulson & Co. brewed at the Croft-an-Righ Brewery at Abbeyhill, next door to Robert Younger’s at St. Ann’s. Croft-an-Righ, named for the adjacent old house, at first glance seems an ovbvious Gaelic name meaning “King’s field” but is actually romantic corruption of an older Scots name, Croft Angry – with a possible German root. Some of the buildings were preserved and are in use by Historic Environment Scotland as workshops. These are called St. Ann’s, despite note being on the St. Ann’s brewery site, as St. Ann’s Yards is an even older placename for this area.
Charles Blair started brewing in the Canongate around 1886 at a site known as the Craigwell and within a few years it was rebuilt and expanded into a model Victorian brewery; the Craigend Brewery. In 1898, Blair combined with his relatives James and Charles Blair who brewerd in Parkhead in Glasgow and with James Gordon, a wine merchant in that city, to form Gordon & Blair Ltd. The firm was taken over by local firm Mackay’s in 1955 and closed before 1963 when the latter were bought by Watney Mann. It was used as a cash & carry warehouse before being sympathtically convereted into flats in 1986.
Thomas Carmichael’s Balmoral Brewery was on what is now Calton Road but was then the North Back of Canongate. This place appears to have always struggled financially (apparently due to water supply problems) and the site was used principally for its maltings or sublet to other brewers before being bought by Charles Blair in 1895 for use as the maltings for the Craigwell over the road.
And lastly, until recently you could still see the ground storey of the Calton Hill Brewery on Calton Road in use as a rental car garage. The brewery went through a variety of ownerships, apparently founded in the first half of the 19th century by John Muir & sons before it too was taken over by Charles Blair in around 1890 to be incorporated with the Craigwell. The remains were demolished around 2019 to be replaced by student flats.
In terms of numbers and production, Edinburgh was second only to Burton-on-Trent as the Empire’s second city of brewing. Most cities had breweries but to serve their local market, Edinburgh was notable as serving not just the whole country but also world. The McEwan’s logo, before the recognisable Laughing Cavalier, was a self-confident declaration of the Globe being supported by the strong hand of the Union Flag and the Royal Standard. This was as a result of the importance to McEwan’s business of export and military sales.
Long story short. Don’t let your local paper fool you into believing things about the history of brewing in Edinburgh!
Footnote. My personal ambivalence towards S&N is sincere; I believe they were a good company who lost their way and lost sight of what they did, and tried to grow fat by eating themselves; in the end nothing much was left worth mourning. I also have absolutely nothing against Innis & Gunn. Personally I think their beers taste of a mix of soap and marshmallows, but I also really like Tennent’s lager so I’m no authority on the matter of what “good beer” tastes like.
Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.Explore Threadinburgh by map:
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret