Dumbiedykes Survey Photograph

Carnegie Street

Here is a view of one of the streets in the Dumbiedykes area of Edinburgh in 1959.

There were shops at the corners of many of the street in the district. This was a time when shopping was done locally, rather than at 'out of town' supermarkets.

The large photograph above was one of several dozen taken in 1959 by Adam H Malcolm in the Dumbiedykes area of Edinburgh. These photographs were taken shortly before the houses were demolished. Adam H Malcolm donated these photographs to the Edinburgh City Libraries in the 1960s and they can now be found in the Library's Edinburgh Room Collection.

Question

Was there a tenement collapse in Carnegie Street?

George Smith, British Colombia, Canada, writes:

Tenement Collapse

These pictures are evocative of the area. I am sure that an end tenement in Carnegie Street collapsed, like Beaumont Place, some time in the late fifties but I have not been able to trace any record of this occurrence.

George Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Colombia, Canada: November 25, 2005

If you know anything about a collapse in Carnegie Street, can you please
e-mail me so that I can pass on the details to George. Thank you.

Reply

Thank you to John Gibson, Melbourne, Australia for sending me the reply below. John lived in Dumbiedykes and tells me that he still remembers the names of most of the poeple who lived in Carnegie Street in the 1950s.

After leaving Dumbiedykes, John lived in the Inch for two years, then moved to Australia and is still living there.

John wrote:

Demolition of Carnegie Street

I lived in no 28 Carnegie Street from 1940 until 1959 when they pulled it down.

All of Carnegie Street and the surrounding streets were demolished together

John Gibson, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: November 30, 2005

Further Comments

On reading the reply above, George Smith added:

Demolition - Where?

I am a bit vague about which street suffered this gable end collapse. I remember passing it by on my way to a brewery and seeing an open view into some flats.

My father assured me he saw it shortly after it happened and some poor soul was having a bath in front of the fire when it occurred.

That sounds like an urban myth to me now but I am certain I saw the aftermath.

Glenallan Drive

The Inch

I know the Dumbiedykes area was demolished about 1959 and many inhabitants re-located to the Inch.

George Smith: December 2, 2005

John Gibson then wrote again recalling his early memories of the street:

My Earliest Recollections

Carnegie Street and Dalrymple Place

My earliest recollections of Carnegie St and Dalrymple Place were of gaslight and bomb shelters

It is hard to imagine in this day and age that in the nineteen forties we had no electricity in the houses. In that whole area, the only lighting we had was one gas lamp in each room over the fireplace. It also meant no radio but we did have a windup gramophone and we thought it was wonderful!

My mother had to take the weekly wash to the washhouse in Davies St every Tuesday. Upstairs there was a sort of crèche for kids who were to young to go to school

The bomb shelters were everywhere. The green space opposite the Deaconess Hospital was covered with them and all the back yards had them. I can't remember it but they must have knocked down all the walls in the backyards to build them.

One other thing was that although Carnegie sty was all four stories tenements, there was another storey below ground but no one lived there. When I was growing up, they were completely derelict - but great for exploring when you are a kid.

John Gibson, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: December 9, 2005

Jim McNeill, now living in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland writes:

Tenement Collapse

I remember well the collapse in the Beaumont Place gable end that you mention. I stayed in Dumbiedykes Road.

Although I was only about seven or eight at the time I recall it well. My parents said it was called the Penny Tenement seemingly since the landlord who owned the tenement sold it on for a penny, or so the story goes.

And the poor man in the bath, well I remember there was at the time a big hue and cry "aboot the man wi' nae claes on'"

Jim McNeill, now living in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland: May 15, 2006

Comments from Dalrymple Place

Thank you to Emmeline Aris (nee Pardy), Doncaster, South Yorkshire, for sending me her memories of the tenement collapse in Carnegie Street.

Emmeline, who lived in Dalrymple Place wrote:

Dalrymple Place

I lived at 5, Dalrymple Place from 1943 to 1959, where I was raised by my grandparents. We lived at the main door, right opposite to where "Bill the Bookie" stood.

Dalrymple Place was a cul-de-sac at the top of which was a dyke separating our street and the back of Beaumont Place.

Number 17 Dalrymple was the Gable End.

Beaumont Place Collapse

When Beaumont Place collapsed it was with such force that it caused a massive crack all the way up number 17 Dalrymple.

As this was about to develop into another collapse everyone had to be moved out within four or five days.

Move to Craigmillar

Hundreds of people were scattered to different housing schemes all over Edinburgh. I remember seeing all the removal vans in the street taking people and belongings away. In some cases we would never see them again.

My grandparents weren't told where they were going until the day before we moved, in our case to Craigmillar

Dumbiedykes Community

Our street was a good little community.

My grandmother delivered quite a few babies for the neighbours. I remember some of the women would be out at about 9 or 10 at night (when they got the bairns to bed), and stand gossiping at my grandmother's door until about 2 in the morning.

In summertime, the younger women would play "kick the can" with us, and skipping.

My grandmother died a year after moving. I think she missed the closeness of Dalrymple Place, I know I did. My grandparents were Mr and Mrs Arthur.

Emmeline Aris: Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England: June 29+30 2006