Recollections

1.

Dorothy Addison (nee Jenkins)

Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.

Dorothy wrote:

 Shops

"I wish one of your avid readers would add some  more information about Abbeyhill.  Abbeyhill was a bustling little neighborhood when i was young.

My grandparents had the two shops at the top of Waverley Place, and they owned the houses above and at the back.  One store was a licensed grocer, and next door was ladies milliners type of store.

My grandfather, David Forrest, lived above the store with his family.

I also remember my grandmother in her dark clothing, walking along  to Easter Road, to Young Brothers, bakers, every Saturday to get all the nice baked goods."

Dorothy Addison (nee Jenkins), Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada:  May 16+20, 2007

Dorothy added:

Crisps and Salt

"When I was young, which was a long time ago, the only potato chips (use to be called crisps) that one could buy were plain. They cost thrupence a bag. At the bottom of each bag was a little pouch in dark blue  paper filled with salt, which we sprinkled on our crisps.

Two companies produced crisps, Smiths, and Lothian.

One day my girl friend Ann Henderson whose family were the owners of Lothian Crisp Factory, asked me to chum her to her Granny's house. 

Her Granny lived behind the Poppy Factory at Abbeyhill, and not far from Holyrood Palace.  When we arrived, she let us in and immediately returned to her chair by the fire, and continued with her work.

In her lap she had a bowl of salt and with utmost precision she would pick up these tiny pieces of dark blue paper, and with a tiny spoon scoop some salt into each one and screw it up, and place into a bag which already contained hundreds of these little packets, ready for pick-up.

She was the only person who did this for the company.  We left there with the finished goods

I was amazed to think that each time I had enjoyed these crisps that a dear old lady had put the little pouch of salt together by hand.

How simple things were done in years gone by.

Dorothy Addison (nee Jenkins), Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada:  June 15, 2007

So, if you have any recollections of Abbeyhill, please e-mail me so that I can add them to the web site for Dorothy.

Thank you.      -  Peter Stubbs:  May 18, 2007

Recollections

2.

George T Smith

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

George wrote:

Draper's Shop

"My maternal aunt Barbara Lawson worked for years in a small draper's shop on the south side of Abbeyhill. The owner's name I do not remember.

The shop closed half-day Wednesday. It was at street level in a block of flats. I  dimly recollect (I was about 5) that dresses on hangers were hung high against the shelved wall behind the counter."

Dairy

"Further east, almost opposite Meadowbank, was a dairy where I believe the cows were kept without recourse to grazing: there is some special name for this sort of husbandry."

George added:

British Columbia

"By the way: Tsawassen is the other end of the ferry from here  in Nanaimo.  That is the fifth person from Edinburgh that I have come across through your site who is living near here."

George T Smith, Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.

Recollections

3.

Rob Fender

England

Robert Fender, now living in England, wrote:

Family and Friends

"I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Regent Place, just off London Road opposite the Abbey Church.

A pal of mine from school used to live in Mayfield Place.  Ronnie Nicholson was his name."  

Tramlines

 I remember in the late 1940's there used to be a policeman on point duty at the junction of London Road and Montrose Terrace.

The tramcars used to travel down there and one day I was cycling along there when the front wheel of my bike got stuck in the tram rails and I finished almost in the arms of the policeman.

I remember I got a ticking off from him, but worse still I bent the pedal of my bike so I had to walk home.   I wont tell you what my Dad said when I got there."

Shops

"There used to be a butchers shop on London Road. -  I think the name was Drummond and next to it was a hardware shop,  

Across the road from them was a haberdashers where you could buy plastic collars.

Further down on the same side, past the junction with Montrose Terrace was a cobblers and then at the end at the junction of Easter Road was the Fire Station."

Robert Fender, England, September 26, 2007

Recollections

4.

Elizabeth Bell

Murray Bridge, South Australia

Elizabeth Bell wrote from South Australia:

Meadowbank

"I lived at Meadowbank for 25 years, from 1933  till I married and came to South Australia, firstly to Henley Beach, an Adelaide suburb, in 1958."

Parsons Green School

"I went to Parsons Green School, which burned down just after we left.  We used to go to the baths at Abbeyhill School on Friday afternoons for swimming lessons."

Abbey Church

"My family attended Abbey Church and I was married there.  Sadly, when I managed to visit in 1976, it had just been closed and it has now been demolished."

Streets

"I remember Cadzow PlaceI and all the little streets that led north from London Road, and I well remember the variety of shops in Abbeyhill.  It was great  o catch the train at Abbeyhill Station to visit relatives at Eskbank."

Shops

"I remember:

-  a very good newsagent, next to the station entrance

-  a dress shop, next to the newsagents, where I purchased a very good quality coat once.

-   an ice-cream shop.

-  a very good toy and model shop, up Montrose Terrace.

-  Bald's  fish and chip shop, also up Montrose Terrace.

-  one of the first launderettes at the corner of Abbey Street.  I think there was once a Funeral undertakers there.

-   a jeweller and maybe a printers, towards the fire station

-  the licensed grocer's shop where my Granny would often buy port wine.  I have an old family photo including, I think, my late  uncle William Hill, as a young man, complete with the white apron grocers used to wear.

-   Coltart's, the photographers on the north side of London road, where I had to  have my wedding photos taken.

-   a good wool and clothes shop near the photographers.

-  Young's, of course, with their Aberdeen biscuits, gingery hot cross buns etc.  This was always a favourite place to shop.

-  The dairy, called Sunny Bank, which, I think, was the first established to serve the Palace of Holyrood House."

Cinema

"Around the corner was the Eastway cinema and Masonic premises.  I've been in the latter for a wedding reception.

A great aunt lived in the tenement just before the Easter Road corner and we could hear the sound track from the cinema sometimes."

Industry

"And the foundry in London Road used to give off many a clang. I used to wonder how the folks in the tenements could stand the noise

I always remember, too, the smell of the steamy down Rose Lane."

Elizabeth Bell, Murray Bridge, South Australia

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