Prefab housing at Craigour - Photos, 1950 to 1953

John and Joan Morton at their Prefab, 5 Craigour Avenue - 1950
John Morton is the elder brother of Andrew Morton who sent these photos to me. John was born in 1948.

This group includes John Morton and Ronnie Allan, Eleanor Bathgate (with ribbon) and Andrew Morton

Andrew Morton (who provided this photo) tells me that the grass and the house style in
the background lead him to believe that the Coronation Party would have been held near
the bottom of the Avenue next to where the Bass family lived at the bend in the road.

Andrew Morton, Boy wearing glasses (name?). John Morton (Andrew's elder brother) and Ronnie Allan (from No.6),

Recollections

Andrew Morton

Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Andrew Morton who wrote:

5 Craigour Avenue

"I thought you might be interested in these photos. My family were the first occupants of 5 Craigour Avenue.

My parents were Jack and Joan Morton. Our neighbour across the Street, was Ronnie Allan. I believe that he is still living there."

Andrew Morton, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland: September 9, 2014

Thank you, Andrew.

Hi Andrew. I certainly am interested in those photos. Thank you. Can you tell me anything about what life was like, living in the prefab?

This seems to be the one district of Edinburgh that has retained quite a lot of the old prefabs. They are now about 65 years old, and most appear to be in very good condition.

When the prefabs were put up, they had an expected life of 15 years!

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: September 11, 2014

Update

Thank you to Andrew Morton for responding to my first paragraph above and sending more recollections of living at Craigour. See Andrew's 'Recollections 2 below.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: September 13, 2014

Recollections

Andrew Morton

Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Andrew Morton added:

5 Craigour Avenue

Born in 1951

"I was born on Friday, 28 September, 1951 in the back bedroom of 5 Craigour Avenue, Edinburgh. It was around the middle of the day for my mother recalls hearing the children coming up the road from school for their lunch at the time that I was born.

My parents were Jack and Joan Morton who, with my elder brother John, had moved into the house the year before. The world I came into was a post-war one.

My First Memory

"My first memory is of sitting on a rocking horse in the living room, eating an orange which my mother had peeled for me. When I finished the orange, I ate the peel, not something I’d care to do now!2

Prefab Houses

"Our house was a single storey prefab, one of hundreds which had sprung up almost overnight on what was then open countryside on the southern edge of Edinburgh to accommodate the many newly married ex-servicemen and their families.

The homes were pre-fabricated in the Blackburn aircraft factory (hence their name). As and an old Edinburgher recalls:

'In the late 1940s, I can remember seeing pre-fab houses being delivered, going down Dalkeith Road on the back of low-loader lorries, as I walked to school. They were like small bungalows sliced in half with sinks, bathrooms and lots of other things already fitted.' ”

Inside the Houses

"Viewed through modern eyes, accustomed to variety and choice, it was a very peculiar place. Every house was exactly the same; when you entered, there was a narrow hallway with two bedrooms on the left and the bathroom ahead. On the right was a door into the living room where everyone would have had a dining table, for meals were taken in the living room.

Heating was by a coal fire with a back boiler to heat the water. A door at the far end of the living room led to the kitchen which, wonder of wonders, held a gas powered fridge!"

Gardens

"Every house had a good sized front and back garden with a shed for storage. All of our fathers had to dig the debris of building work out of the gardens before lawns could be laid and vegetable gardens dug.

Our fathers all wore a bits and pieces of old service dress to work in and in one family photo my father can be seen in his old army trousers with a pick axe digging out assorted bits of rubble."

Neighbours

"There was a broad mix of social classes, my father was the Buyer at MacKenzie and Moncur, the heating engineers whilst next door was the local chemist, Mr McPherson who was able to maintain a car which he kept in a lock up garage down the road.

Across the street was Ronnie Allan who drove long distance buses to and from London for SMT. Very few people could afford cars so the streets were safe to play in. That's just as well, because almost every house soon held several children with so many of the occupants being newlyweds.

Other kids in the street that I can recall are:

- Eleanor Bathgate (at No 2)

- Ronnie Allan (at No 6)

- Michael Spence (at No 7)

- George and Jennifer Hughes (at No 8)

- Pauline Minor

- Jennifer Roy

- Brian Bass

- Isobel McPherson."

Playing

"I recall playing with other children in the back garden in the sunshine and hiding among the blackcurrant bushes when we played hide and seek.

In the winter, if there was snow, someone would get hold of a long, wooden bread delivery tray which we would sledge down from the top of the road to the bottom with several of us on board.

One day, when I was 3 or 4, some kids came past the garden and suggested that I came with them to play in their garden. Their house was near the west end of Moredun Park Road, so I drove my pedal car round there with them.

After a while I announced that I should get home and pedalled away. However, I took a wrong turning and ended up in Moredun Park Street where I asked the way from a man cutting a hedge. When I got home it turned out my mother had been cruising the area in a police car looking for me! I couldn't understand what all the fuss had been about."

Craigour Loan

Moving House

"We moved round the corner from 5 Craigour Avenue to one of the larger houses in Craigour Loan in 1956 when I was nearly five years old.

We moved all our furniture on the local coal man's lorry. My brother and I stood on the back. There was no 'Health and Safety' then!"

Andrew Morton, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland: September 13, 2014