Edinburgh History - Old Town

Recollections
1.	Dex Hannant	- Lemonade Bottles
2.	Cath Tuff Warwickshire, England	- Canongate and Jeffrey Street
3.	Ian Peebles Bloomsbury, London	- Prince Albert Buildings - Canongate - Photographs
4.	Michael Melrose Greenbank, Edinburgh	- White Horse Close
5.	J Brown Perth, Western Australia and replies from Jean Robertson Wright Adelaide, South Australia and from J Brown Perth, Western Australia	- St Savior's Child Garden
6.	Pamela Hunter (nee Burns) near Pathhead, Midlothian, Scotland	- Family History - John Burns - Canongate Kirk Churchyard - Backgreen at 171 Canongate
7.	Frank Ferri Newhaven, Edinburgh with replies from 1. Andy Duff Queensland, Australia and 2. Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh and 3. Bob Henderson Blackford, Edinburgh and 4. Stuart Lyon Blackford, Edinburgh and 5. Stuart Lyon Blackford, Edinburgh and 6. George Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada	- Sunday Drinks - Skeechan or Skeachan
8.	Ian Carroll	- Family History - John Burns - Canongate Kirk Churchyard - Backgreen at 171 Canongate
9.	June Robertson (nee Wood) Arroyo Grande, California, USA	- Old Friends
10.	June Robertson (nee Wood) Arroyo Grande, California, USA	- Neighbours
11.	John Lawson	- The Lawson Family - Chessels Court - Canongate - Middle Arthur Place
12.	Tony Ivanov	- The Lawson Family - Chessels Court
13.	Ann Coventry Australia	- White Horse Close
14.	Jim McClusky Bolton, Lancashire, Scotland	- White Horse Close
15.	Alex Rutherford, Australia	- White Horse Close - Robertson's Court - Milton House School
16.	June Robertson (nee Wood) Arroyo Grande, California, USA	- Old Friend George Mothersole
17.	June Robertson (nee Wood) Arroyo Grande, California, USA	- Freedom
18.	Peter Stubbs Edinburgh	- Sugar Sandwiches
19.	Betty Hepburn Waikanae, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand	- Sugar Pieces

Recollections

Dex Hannant

Thank you to Dex Hannant for adding the following message to the EdinPhoto guest book.

Dex wrote:

Lemonade Bottles

"I found your site having looked for photos on the old 'south side' .

I was born and raised with my younger sister Helen in 5 Prospect Terrace in 1945 and lived above the grocers shop on the corner.

As kids we would buy lemonade in bottles then return them for the penny, go round the back of the shop, nick them and sell them back again! They got wise to this and started marking the labels.

Above us was Mrs Lamb who's voice would carry on down to the park when tea time came and she wanted her son back to the house.

Although it was considered a slum it was the best years of my life until moving out just before the tenements were demolished."

Derick (Dex) Hannant, Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh: February 26, 2006

Recollections

Cath Tuff

Warwickshire, England

Cath Tuff has already sent me recollections of Dumbiedykes and Craigmillar that I have added to the EdinPhoto web site.

Here Cath is looking for more information about her family.

Cath wrote:

Canongate and Jeffrey Street

"My Dad's uncle William Hay lived with his wife Helen and children, Margaret, Jessie and David at 96 Canongate. He is long gone but he may have grandchildren, still living."

My Dad's aunt Alison Ballie Hay married Robert Bickerton. They lived at 22 Jeffrey Street. Robert was a widower who had children, Robert, Margaret, Isabella, Helen. Alison and Robert also had a daughter, Jessie, and possibly other children."

If any family members are out there please get in touch. I will be over the moon as I don't know this side of the family."

Cath Tuff: June 1, 2007

If you would like to contact Cath, please e-mail me and I'll pass on your message to her.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: June 3, 2007.

Recollections

Ian Peebles

Bloomsbury, London

Thank you to Iain Peebles who wrote:

Prince Albert Buildings

"I was very interested to see the photographs of Prince Albert Buildings, Dumbiedykes. My great great grandfather, James Cameron and his family lived at 114 Prince Albert Buildings from about 1865 until 1870."

Canongate

"He ran a house painting business from premises at 214 Canongate. The business was continued by his son, also James Cameron, who died in 1954.

The shop would have been demolished not long after that when so much of the Canongate was redeveloped, but I've often wondered if it might have been captured in any old photographs."

Iain Peebles, Bloomsbury, London: June 21, 2007

Photographs

If you know of any old photos that show James Cameron's shop in the Canongate, please e-mail me and I'll pass on the news to Iain.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: June 26, 2007

Recollections

Michael Melrose

Greenbank, Edinburgh

Thank Michael Melrose who wrote:

White Horse Close

"I was born in 1954 and was brought up at 8 Horse Wynd and 6 Canongate, up to the mid-'60’s.

I have very vivid memories of life at the bottom of the Canongate. Old White Horse Close was demolished and rebuilt in the early-'60’s.

Your photographs of the 1800’s are not greatly different from my recollections of what the close looked like in my childhood.

Many of my primary school pals, some of who’s fathers were whalers with Salvesen, lived in the Close.

Our tenement in the Canongate was no big deal, but the squalor in the Close was unbelievable, even for a youngster like me.

The buildings were falling down. One recollection is of my pal not being able to open his front door as the frame was so crooked. There were no inside toilets or baths then !"

Michael Melrose, Greenbank, Edinburg: August 31, 2007

Recollections

James Brown

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Thank you to J Brown who wrote:

St Savior's Child Garden

Nursery School

"I am a product of the "St. Savior's Child Garden" which was located in Chessels Court, on the Canongate, Edinburgh. I entered the "Child Garden" as a Two Year old, in 1935.

I've checked yours, and other web sites, but have found little reference to it."

James Brown, Perth, Western Australia, Australia: October 14, 2008

If you have any memories or photos of the Child Garden nursery, Edinburgh, please email me. It would be good to be able to add them to the web site, and to let J Brown in Australia know about them.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: October 14, 2008

Reply 2. to

Recollections

James Brown

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

I emailed James and mentioned mentioned the book that Jean Robertson Wright told me about in 'Reply 1' above.

James replied:

Diary of a Free Kindergarten (Lileen Hardy)

"I searched the Web, for the Author, and immediately came up with the Diary mentioned. The Diary is out of print. However, anyone clicking on this page on the Amazon Library of Congress web site is free to read it online * .

The book includes photos taken by Francis Caird Inglis in the garden and premises of St Saviour's kindergarten, then at Chessels Court, Edinburgh.

As a child myself, there in the mid-1930s, I can remember someone coming in and taking photos of us putting our requests for Santa Clause up the chimney of that 'big range fire' that you can see in one of the pictures.

I don't know, what happened to all the photos that were frequently taken of us children then."

James Brown, Perth, Western Australia, Australia: March 1, 2010

* Just click on the pages of this book on the web site to turn them.

The Book

The book, Diary of a Free Kindergarten, was originally published in 1913. It comprises:

- letters written between 1906 and 1912

- sixteen photos taken by Francis Caird Inglis in and around St Saviour's kindergarten, then at Chessels Court, Edinburgh.

The book explained that St Saviour's Child-Garden in Chessel's Court, Canongate, was closely connected with the oldest Episcopalian Church in Edinburgh, Old St Paul's, Carruber's Close.

St Saviour's Child-Garden opened its doors for the first time on All Saints' Day, 1906.

I found Francis Caird Inglis' photos to be very appealing. The book features 16 photos by Francis Caird Inglis. I have selected the 12 photos below to be included on the EdinPhoto web site.

Photos by Francis Caird Inglis

Please click on the thumbnail image below to see 12 of Francis Caird Inglis' photos of St Saviour's Child-Garden from this book:

Recollections

Pamela Hunter

(nee Burns)

near Pathhead, Midlothian, Scotland

Thank you to Pamela Hunter (nee Burns), who wrote:

Family History

"I have a family history going back 150 years in The Canongate and The High Street, Edinburgh. Four generations of my mother's family lived in 160 Canongate, the only 'main door' house. Many of the family were born in that house.

Here is a photo taken in the tiny back garden at 160 Canongate."

John Burns

"My father, John Burns, was one of eleven children in the family who were born in Baillie Fyfe's Close, off the High Street.

He worked in Edinburgh Castle for 20 years as Chief Bar Steward, looking after the Officers and Sergeants who looked after Edinburgh Castle. He also worked in Huntly house Museum and The Museum of Childhood and was responsible for turning the wheels of the famous Canongate Tolbooth Clock.

He told me many stories about the High Street and the people he knew. As the years passed, he continued his life in Baillie Fyfe's Close, then moved to 171 Canongate, beside the Tolbooth, where my three sisters and I were brought up."

When he died in March 2008, I arranged for a glass carriage driven by horses, and a procession to leave Edinburgh Castle and go down the Royal Mile to Canongate Kirk.

Procession in High Street

Procession approaches Canongate Kirk in the Royal Mile

The Royal Mile was closed to traffic for the procession. The Edinburgh Evening News described it as the only funeral of this kind in living memory and posted the funeral on You Tube.

Old Neighbours and friends lined the streets to show their respects to an 'Edinburgh Institution', Mr John Burns, 1921-2008. Happy, happy memories for The Humes, and The Burns families."

Canongate Kirk Churchyard

"Along with my sister, I used to have great fun in Canongate Kirk churchyard, as that was our playground! We used to take visitors, mostly Japanese, on tours around the cemetery.

We told them the tales of Clarinda, a friend of Rabbie Burns, and about the murder of David Riccio at Holyrood Palace, and would show the tourists the grave sites. We built our gang huts there and played hide and seek in the kirkyard.

I learned to play the Organ in The Edinburgh Organ Studio. At the age of eight I played the church organ in Canongate Kirk in front of Rev Selby Wright. My sister and I would also polish all the Queen's silverware in the church for the caretaker, and clean the pews.

Our reward was the leftover flowers which we took home to my Mum, Betty, who would not appreciate them, as on many occasions they were funeral flowers from the services."

Backgreen at 171 Canongate

"We held jumble sales in the backgreen of 171 Canongate, through the close under the arches at the Tolbooth. We would knock on the doors of all the Canongate households, asking for jumble, sell the jumble at a sale then donate the money to Queensberry House Hospital and Whitefoord Hoose.

Of course, we would ensure we always had some money for our ice cream and sweets from Nicki's shop which was opposite St John's Close. close."

Pamela Hunter (nee Burns), near Pathhead, Midlothian, Scotland: February 1, 2009
Pamela was born in 1963 and lived at 171 Canongate, 1964 to 1988.

Recollections

Frank Ferri

Newhaven, Edinburgh

Frank Ferri wrote:

Question

Sunday Drinks

"In my youth, back in the late-1940s and early-1950s pubs were not allowed to open on a Sunday. The only premises you could get a drink was at a hotel, but you had to be a bonafide traveller, eg you could get a bus to Musselburgh sign the hotel register stating that you were travelling from Edinburgh to Musselburgh then you'd get a drink.

But there was one exception in Edinburgh. There were premises where you could drink a shandy (a weak beer mixed with lemonade).

I remember one such place a child. It was a dingy wee shop with scrubbed wooden floors and tables where many old guys would meet on a Sunday. It was right opposite the bus stop at Canongate Church.

There was an old Scottish name for these premises, but I cannot recall it. Does anyone know or remember the shop?"

Frank Ferri, Newhaven, Edinburgh: June 10, 2010

Reply to Frank Ferri?

If you remember the premises that Frank refers to above, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to him.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: June 10, 2010

Reply

to Recollections

Andy Duff

Queensland, Australia

Andy Duff wrote

Reply

The Shop

"Your query from Frank Ferri brought back some old memories of the Sunday drinks. I remember the shop well. It was called the Sheekin Shop." (I think that is how you spell it.)

As frank said, the shop was clean but very dingy. You could not see for cigarette smoke.

The Shop

"The drink a clear liquid and you could buy a lemonade bottle of it for 1/- (a shilling). I don't know what the stuff, was but mixed as a shandy it tasted great

P.S. if you bought a bottle of the stuff to take out you had to bring your own bottle."

Andy Duff, Queensland, Australia: June 18, 2010

Reply

to Recollections

Bob Henderson

Burdiehouse, Edinburgh

Bob Henderson added:

Reply

The Shop

"I' never personally saw the Skeechan shop but my mum and dad were both brought up in the Canongate area, and I heard them and my uncles and aunts talking about it many times.

When did it Close?

"I always got the impression that it closed some time in the 1930s - but this is only an impression. I would be really interested to hear from someone who actually visited it and hopefully had a drink there"

Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: June 24 2010

Based on Frank Ferri's comments above, it seems likely that the shop remained open until at least the 1940s.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: June 24, 2010

Reply

to Recollections

Stuart Lyon

Blackford, Edinburgh

Stuart Lyon wrote:

Reply

The Skeechan Shop

"Frank Ferri mentions the Skeechan shop in the Canongate.

There is a reference to this shop in James U. Thomson's book 'Edinburgh Curiosities' (page 37) to poorer people's eating habits. Part of the description refers to washing down cheap dishes of food 'with a champagne bottle of skeechan (treacle beer)'.

I wonder what it tasted like!"'

Stuart Lyon, Blackford, Edinburgh: November 5 2010

Reply

to Recollections

Stuart Lyon

Blackford, Edinburgh

Stuart Lyon wrote again with more information about skeechan.

Stuart wrote:

"I found the following description of some of the types of shop in the Lawnmarket in the 1950s, in a book* that I was reading about Milnes Court, Lawnmarket.

Skeechan

'... and a skeechan shop. Skeechan was an intoxicating malt liquor produced during the brewing of ale, it was then mixed with treacle or molasses and sold under somewhat clandestine circumstances as a kind of beer. This shop was only open on Sundays, and claimed to be supplying its customers with nothing more potent than sherbet, as an antidote for the previous night’s excesses.'

I hope it is of interest to those who referred to the Skeechan Shop in the Canongate;

Stuart Lyon, Blackford, Edinburgh: November 5 2010

* Book: 'Three Hundred Years of Lawnmarket Heritage' by Roy M Pinkerton and William J Windram, published 1983, ISBN 0 902511 20 3, p.68

Reply

to Recollections

George Smith

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, Canada

George Smith wrote:

"I guessed that skeatchan (various spellings) was fermented sugar and found this recipe.

There is also a skeachan cake."

Recipe

Skeachan or Treacle Case

''Molasses, hops or ginger or extract of gentian, yeast, water. Boil for 20 minutes four pounds of molasses in from six to eight gallons of soft water, with a handful of hops tied in a muslin rag or a little extract of gentian.

When cooled in the tub, add a pint of good beer-yeast, or from four to six quarts of fresh worts from the brewer's vat. Cover the beer with blankets or coarse cloths. Pour it from the lees and bottle it. A little ginger may be added to the boiling liquid if the flavour is liked, instead of hops.

This is a cheap and very wholesome beverage. Yule Ale was usually made in this manner.'

George Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Recollections

Ian Carroll

Thank you to Ian Carroll who wrote:

Re-housed to Canongate

"I was born at 13 Holyrood Square in July 1948. My parents were William and Sarah Carroll. I attended Milton House Primary School from 1953 to 1960

We were also re-housed from Holyrood Square to the Canongate in 1956/7 and I was introduced my first indoor toilet and first plumbed in bath. The neighbours on our top landing were:

- the McNabs

- the Blackwoods

- the Mcleods

There were others but the passing of time has lost their names to me."

Ian Carroll: September 6, 2010

Recollections

11.

John Lawson

John Lawson wrote about:

- his grandfather and family who lived at Chessels Court then Canongate (below)

- his own family who lived at Middle Arthur Place then Niddrie.

John wrote

The Lawson Family

Chessels Court

"Can anyone recall any of my family who lived in the Canongate area up until the early-1950s? My Grandad (George Lawson) and his wife (Williamina, nee Paterson) raised their family in Chessels Court.

Their family were:

- George (Dode)

- Florence

- John (my Dad)

- Margaret

- Tommy, who became a Japanese Prisoner of War

- Richard, who worked in the Bus Depot at the bottom of New Street, but died of an illness when he was only nineteen."

Canongate

"My Grandad, George, was a veteran of the Boer War (Black Watch). Due to a war wound, he had one of his legs amputated. In the late-1930s or early 1940s, he and his wife moved from Chessels Court to 206 Canongate (ground floor, two doors down from the Blue Blanket pub and opposite the top of New Street)."

John Lawson: July 11, 2011

Reply to John

If you'd like to send a reply to John, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to him. Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 11, 2011

Recollections

12.

Tony Ivanov

Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Tony Ivanov for replying to 'Recollections 11' above.

Tony wrote:

The Lawson Family

Chessels Court

"As a young child in the early 1950s, I lived at No 8 Chessel’s Court in the Canongate. At that time, there were three Lawson households in Chessel’s Court. There were:

- at No.6, Mrs Lawson, an elderly lady who lived on the first floor.

- at No.8, just across the landing from me on the second floor, another elderly couple named Lawson who I used to call gran and grandad Lawson.

- on the ground floor of the adjoining building, I can’t remember if this was No 10 or No 8a, there was also another elderly lady who was called Lawson.

This is not a direct answer to John Lawson's question, but every piece in a jigsaw helps build the whole picture"

Tony Ivanov, Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland

Recollections

13.

Ann Coventry

Australia

Thank you to Ann Coventry who wrote saying that she had happy memories of Edinburgh.

Ann wrote:

White Horse Close

"I read Michael Melrose's contribution (4 above) saying he had lived in White Horse Close as a child, until mid-1960s.

I visited White Horse Close again in 2002, after an absence of 50 years and saw a great transformation from when I was a young Architect working for Sir Frank Mears in 1952."

1952

"My job, in 1952, was to measure up the entire buildings on the site as a precursor for the design of a scheme to renovate all the buildings. (See also 'Reconstruction' below)

It was a difficult task as the buildings were still inhabited by poor people living in deplorable accommodation. No wall was the same thickness as any other, nor parallel or at right angles to any other and nor were the floor levels in any way related.

I well remember my shock at the realisation that the only tap and trough for washing for the use of all tenants was situated on an open landing fairly near the top of that stone staircase."

1530?

"I think the date above the archway entrance on Canongate was 1530." (See also 'Datestone' below)

Ann Coventry, Australia: July 14, 2011

Here is an extract from the book: 'The Buildings of Scotland - Edinburgh'.

After commenting on the arcade into the Canongate, the authors wrote:

White Horse Close

Reconstruction

"The close itself is much more enjoyable, so blatantly fake that it can be acquitted of any intention to deceive. A court built for Laurence Ord in the late C17, its buildings focused on the inn at the N end, was bought in 1889 by Dr Barbour and his sister and reconstructed by James Jerdan as working-class housing, then even more extensively bu Frank Mears & Partners in 1962.

- The W side is now a very plain row of harled two-storey houses.

- The E side very self consciously picturesque

- The N end, a Hollywood dream of the C17."

Datestone

"Even the datestone of 1623 joins in the fantasy; it used to read 1523, but was re-cut c.1930 to give a more plausible date."

Source: The Buildings of Scotland - Edinburgh (John Gifford et al) p.216

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 19, 2011

Recollections

15.

Alex Rutherford

Australia

Alex Rutherford wrote:

White Horse Close

Robertson's Court

Milton House School

"I was born in White Horse Close in1930, and moved to Robertson's Court when I was three. I attended Milton House, New Street and then James Clark Schools.

Alex Rutherford, Australia: December 23, 2011

Reply to Alex?

Alex also mentioned his later life, and says that he'd love to hear from anyone who remembers him. If you'd like to send a message to Alex, please email me to let me know, then I'll pass on his contact details to you.

Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: December 29, 2011

Recollections

16.

June Robertson (nee Wood)

Arroyo Grande, California, USA

June Robertson who wrote:

Old Friend

"I'm on a mission to find my old friend and neighbour, George Mothersole. I'll never give up. I will find him!

George lived next door to us at 5 Canongate. He was born a Henry, but took Mothersole as his last name.

He came to my rescue when I got locked out, and also when I had my first drink. He laughed while his mother made me tea and toast to sober me up. I think I had 2 beers. Wow!

George went to live in Canada and was in the antique business, last I heard.

His sister Mary and my sister Chrissie were great friends. Alas both gone now. His brother Ronnie still in Edinburgh, but has lost touch with him thru the years.".

June Robertson, Arroyo Grande, California, USA: January 18, 2012

Reply to June?

If you'd like to send a reply to June, please email me, than I'll pass on your message to her.

Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 21, 2012

Recollections

17.

June Robertson (nee Wood)

Arroyo Grande, California, USA

Thank you to June Robertson for posting this message in the EdinPhoto guestbook.

June wrote:

Freedom

"Hi. It's me again, thinking of when we were all running around Edinburgh with such freedom.

My mother would open the door, put two pennies in your hand and say: 'Don't come back till dinner time." We didn't have a watch between us, but we were never late.

If you got to the point when you wanted something to eat. my chum, Betty Miller from White Horse Close and I would stand in the street and yell up to my mother: 'Throw me doon a piece'.

It would then fly thu' the air, wrapped in newspaper - white bread butter and sugar. Did anyone else get fed this way?"

June Robertson, Arroyo Grande, California, USA: January 30, 2012