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Recollections - Edinburgh
Granton Ice Works
1950s - 1980 |
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Comments
from
John Stevenson
Thank you to Forbes Wilson formerly from Edinburgh, now living near
Guildford, Surrey, England, and his father for providing the following details of Granton
Ice Works.
Forbes' father, John Forbes Wilson, was the Factory Engineer from 1965-66, then the
Factory
Manager from 1966 to 1980 at the West Shore Road ice works.
He was also the Factory
Manager of the
ice works at Granton Harbour, Middle Pier from 1966 until their closure in the early-'70's.
Forbes wrote: |
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Middle Pier
"Granton Ice Company (GIC) had ice
works on the Middle Pier at Granton Harbour."
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Granton
Ice Works c.1960
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Middle Pier - 2002
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"These ice works
continued to operate until the early-1970s when demand for ice started
to fall." |
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West Shore Road
"GIC also had ice works on
West Shore Road, immediately in front of the gas works.
Their original ice works at West
Shore Road
closed around 1950 and a new ice works there in 1952. This
new plant continued to operate
until 1980."
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Ice Works
- 1952
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West Shore Road - 2004
©
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Ice for Trawlers
"On the Middle Pier the ice was
crushed and fed directly into the trawlers via the hoist and conveyor
system.
The West Shore Road factory was built
primarily to supply ice to the trawlers in Anstruther, Pittenweem, Port
Seton and Eyemouth. |
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New Factory
"The new GIC facility opened on
the West Shore Road in 1952, immediately adjacent to, and to the east
of, the old factory. The new
facility produced 112 tons daily to meet the growing demand of the
Scottish fishing fleet immediately following WW2.
Each block of ice weighed 2cwt
with 36 ice pans in one row. The ice was produced by immersing the pans
in a brine solution chilled to -5 centigrade. The cooling plant for the
compressors was at the back of the West Shore Road factory and was
dwarfed by the gasometers."
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Gasometers - 2002
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Packing
and
Delivery
"The pans took approximately 24hrs
to freeze, then lifted, thawed in a tank of water, lifted again and
tilted such that the ice slid down onto the platform ready to be fed
into the crushers, bagged by a hoist and chute system, then loaded onto
the lorries to be taken to Croans, Devlins and to Eyemouth for the FMA
(Fisherman's Mutual Association), Burgen and Marshalls." |
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Ice Cubes for Drinks
"In the late-1960s, my father saw the
potential for selling ice cubes to
the catering, pubs and drinks industry - quite a visionary, selling ice
cubes in Scotland!
So he
started this as part of the GIC operation in 1970. Demand very quickly
outstripped supply and at its peak we had 6 machines producing nearly 10cwt of
cubes per day.
During my summer breaks from school and
university I used to work there, loading the lorries, feeding the
crushers and bagging the ice cubes. I recall those lorries, sometimes up
to a dozen, waiting for us at 0700hrs, to take ice as far as Mallaig and
Ullapool." |
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Names Remembered
"Names my father and I recall at
the GIC included Dick Angus, Mathew Mant, Tommy Connelly, John Jackson
and Mr Dunningham, Factory Manager at West Shore Road in the 1950s;
he retired in 1966." |
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Forbes Wilson, near
Guildford, Surrey, England: August 26, 2006 |
Granton Ice Works
Comments
from
John Stevenson
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Thank you to John Stevenson, Trinity, Edinburgh, who wrote: |
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Photos
"Boy ! Do these photos not
just bring memories flooding back !!!!!!!
Thanks so much !"
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Ammonia
"I
can remember these
plants well.
They both had ammonia machines for making the
ice and, boy, did it clear your head when you passed by and got a whiff
!!"
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John D Stevenson: Trinity, Edinburgh: August
29 + September 2, 2006 |
Granton Ice Works
Comments
from
Walter Lyle Hume
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Thank you to Walter Lyle Hume, Cowes, Isle of Wight, who wrote; |
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Middle Pier
"The
only Ice House I knew was a large brick building half way down, on the
west side of the middle pier.
It
was a natural attraction to many Sunday strollers, standing at the
half-door and watching the huge steam engine, similar to the kind fitted
to paddle ships, turning a massive flywheel which drove a belt-driven
dynamo to power the ice-plant. The engine room was spotless." |
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Walter Lyle Hume, Cowes, Isle of Wight, England: September
2, 2006 |
Granton Ice Works
Comments
from
Edinburgh Post
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Thank you to Forbes and John Wilson, for sending me a report from the
front page of the Edinburgh Post, May 28, 1970.
The newspaper's reporter had visited the ice works and met Mathew Mant
and the firm's Manager, John Forbes Wilson.
The reporter wrote: |
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46 years' service
"Mathew Mant, 46 years with the firm, ...
retired recently but felt so fit that he just had to return to work.
Matthew, now 69 and a bachelor, lives with his
cat in a caravan which has a splendid sea view on the firm's premises at
Shore Road."
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Ice Cubes
"The firm, established in 1906, has
scored a big success with ready-made ice cubes. They are supplied, among
other places, to Holyrood House when the Queen is in residence.
The idea came from Mr [John] Wilson, who
served in the Merchant Navy. He noticed when he was travelling abroad that
ice cubes were hard to come by, even on the Riviera, and thought there
would be a big demand amongst caterers
Mr Wilson told me.
'My directors allowed me to set up one machine
here to see how it worked out. Now we've got three machines'."
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Forbes Wilson, near
Guildford, Surrey, England + John Wilson: September 23, 2006 |
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