Recollections

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

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and the

'Slidey Stane'

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Ella Glen

-  Jeanie Deans' Cottage

-  The 'Slidey Stane'

Irene Beaver
Kirkliston, West Lothian, Scotland

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - near the brewery

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - right of passage

Peter Stubbs
Edinburgh

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - not found

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - not found

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one?

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-  The 'Slidey Stane'   -  5 is unlikely

-  The 'Slidey Stane'  -  NO, it's not 5

-  The 'Slidey Stane'  -  NO, it's not 5

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one?

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-  The 'Slidey Stane'  -  NO, it's not 8

Park Rangers
Holyrood Park

-  The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one?

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Bryan Gourlay
Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland

-  The 'Slidey Stane'  -  YES, it's 9

Irene Beaver
Kirkliston, West Lothian, Scotland

-  The 'Slidey Stane'  -  YES, it's 9

-  Jeanie Deans' Cottage

-  Army Firing Range

Please scroll down to see the full comments

Recollections

1.

Ella Glen

From Ella Glen (nee Dalgleish) in her 94^th year!  Ella lived at 5 Beaumont Place from 1919 until approx 1936.

Ella is now in Cheshire and looking over the shoulder of her daughter, who is typing this reminiscence.

Ella says:

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

"I remember as a girl of about 12 years of age sitting on the wall next to the cottage reading a book whilst also trying to keep an eye on my younger brother and sister who were playing just inside the Park."

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The 'Slidey Stane'

"Does anyone remember the ‘Slidey Stane’ just further down into the Park opposite the brewery."

"Happy memories!"

Ella Glen (nee Dalgleish), September 22, 2007

If you remember the 'Slidey Stane' please e-mail me, then I'll send an e-mail to Ella to let her know.

Thank you.    - Peter Stubbs

Recollections

2.

Irene Beaver

Thank you to Irene Beaver (nee Brown), now living in Kirkliston, West Lothian, who e-mailed me wrote:

Slidey Stane

"Yes I remember the Slidey Stane, just across from the Brewery.  It was huge and used to have bluebells growing all round it.

I was brought up in 18 St Leonard's Street and South Oxford Street and Ella Glen's daughter, Pat is one of my best friends from Boroughmuir. 

The Slidey Stane is still there but it has shrunk over the years.  Must be global warming.   : )"

Irene Beaver (nee Brown), Kirkliston, West Lothian, September 29, 2007

Recollections

3.

George T Smith

Thank you to George T Smith, British Columbia, Canada, who writes:

Slidey Stane

"I remember being 'taken a walk' in the King's Park and  sliding down that stone.

My mother, brought up in Beaumont Place, probably had a childhood memory of it.

In my turn I took my eldest son to slide on it some time in the 60's. Perhaps it was some sort of  'rite of passage'.

I think I was about 4 when I 'graduated in sliding'  and my son about the same age."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada:  November 12, 2007

Where is the Slidey Stane?

4.

Peter Stubbs

and

George T Smith

I went to Holyrood Park earlier this week, hoping to photograph the 'Slidey Stane' but failed to find it despite having been given fairly precise directions (below) by George T Smith.  

I'll look for it again, next time I visit Holyrood Park.

 -  Peter Stubbs:  January 9, 2008

George T Smith wrote:

Slidey Stane

"To the best of my recollection the Slidey Stane is near the  entrance to the park from what is now Scottish Widows (was Thomas  Nelson's in my day).

Shortly after the park entry, turn left and it is up a gentle slope in the direction of Jeannie Dean's cottage.

It is not large except to the eyes of young children say about three to four feet high and with  a shiny slope facing towards Arthur's Seat.  I seem to  recollect that it was something like a wedge of cheese with a smooth side at  about 60 degrees."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada:  January 6+9, 2008

Where is the Slidey Stane?  -  Answer?

5.

Bob Henderson

I beleive that Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh has found the answer, after walking through Holyrood Park, looking for it.

Bob wrote:

"I followed the instructions to the letter and have found some candidates for the slidey stane show.

I turned left at the park gates and followed the path all the way to Jimmy Clark's school and found nothing.  On the way back I took the high road and walked along the ridge that separates the brewery from the Queens Drive, and Eureka! -  large stones.

Two of these about ten feet apart were likely candidates, then at the roadside, near the park keeper's lodge, a stone being used as a sign board which had all the right shapes but not the right location.

The Park in that area has really changed a lot and there has been a program of tree planting on the hillside on the west side of the Queen's Drive.  It was not like that when I was a boy during the war.  So it could be that stones have been moved and one has been re-used for a sign board, perhaps.

The sign board stone is the largest of the three.

©  Reproduced with acknowledgement to Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh    Jan 11, 2008

The other two stones were pretty much the same size, and both had quite shiny shiny surfaces which would have facilitated sliding.  It was hard to gauge the size of them as they were overgrown with couch grass, but did appear to have the necessary wedge shape and the desired slope to make them suitable for sliding down."

Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh:  January 11, 2008

Incidentally, this is the same stone that I photographed in the snow about a week earlier, on January 3, 2008.

Bob's picture (above) shows the wedge-shape of the stone far more clearly than my photo (below)

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Where is the Slidey Stane?  -  Answer to be Confirmed

6.

George T Smith

George T Smith, British Columbia, Canada replied:

"Seeing the pictures of 'Slidey Stanes' I feel the notice board stone  is the most likely candidate. Perhaps an enquiry of the 'parkey' will  provide a definitive answer.

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada:  January 11, 2008

George thought again, and wrote two days later.

"The Slidey Stane' is surely smaller than my childhood recollections.

However, I think it  unlikely that it has been moved as  suggested, because of the costs involved v. any obvious benefits."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada:  January 13 + 14, 2008

Where is the Slidey Stane?  -  Answer to be Confirmed

7.

Peter Stubbs

I visited the Park Rangers' office today to ask about this stone.

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They told me that the stone with the notice on it, close to the park gates near the Royal Commonwealth Pool,  had come from the 'Rock Trap'.  This is an area of fallen rocks below Salisbury Crags.  i.e. on the opposite side of Queen's Drive to the location described for the 'Slidey Stane'.

Peter Stubbs:  January 21, 2008

It's not 'that stone'

8.

Thomas Croal

and

Peter Stubbs

Thomas Croal wrote:

"Me and my brother played on the slippery stone regularly but its not the stone you have pictured

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The one we played on and the one me and my father still visit is on the hill behind the old Stewarts distillery. I wonder if there could have been two. I will try and get a picture for you soon."

Tam Croal, Edinburgh:  January 21, 2008

Hi Tam.  Thanks for your comments.  I hope you find that the stone is still there, and that you are able to photograph it.

I had a look for it twice, a couple of weeks ago.  All that I found in the area that you mention was a small group of stones.  I wondered if this one of them was the 'Slidey Stane'.

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However, it didn't match the description given to me by George T Smith, and when George saw the pictures above, he told me that it was not the 'Slidey Stane' stone.

Peter Stubbs:  January 21, 2008.

I hope this is the 'Slidey Stane'

9.

Holyrood Park Rangers

Thanks to Lily Laing and others from the Historic Scotland Park Rangers' office in Holyrood Park for helping to locate this stone.  I hope we now have the right stone.

To find it:

1.  Start at the park entrance at the south end of St Leonard's Bank

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2.  Take the footpath on the right for 80yards.

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3. Turn left up the hill for 15 yards and the stone is straight ahead.

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Peter Stubbs:  March 3 2008

Answer confirmed

10.

Bryan Gourlay

Thank you to Bryan Gourlay

"I was trying to get round to having a look for the Slidey Stane.

I was going to start looking around where you’ve now described. I remembered it was not far from Jeannie Deans Cottage.

We used to run along the path on the left and down the hill to the stane.   I think this is the right one at last.

Bryan Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland:  March 4, 2008

Answer confirmed

11.

Irene Beaver

Thank you to Irene Beaver (nee Brown) who wrote:

Slidey Stane

"That's the very one, although it does seem to have shrunk.  Maybe all the wee bottoms sliding down it.  The surrounding area was always covered with bluebells."

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

"I'm sure that Jeannie Dean's Cottage was still lived in in the 1950s as I seem to remember hens in the garden, although maybe that's just a figment of my imagination."

Army Firing Range

"Around the same time, the army regularly used the area to the west of Hunters' Bog at the south end of the Crags as a firing range.  You knew to stay away when the red flag was flying."

Happy Hunting Ground

"My dad, Bobby Brown, born in 1906, was brought up in various homes around the Southside, and he called the King's Park (Holyrood) his 'happy hunting ground'."

Irene Beaver (nee Brown), Kirkliston, West Lothian, September 29, 2007

Recollections

Contributors

Jeannie Deans' Cottage

Holyrood Park

'Slidey Stane'