Recollections

1.

Robert Laird

Longstone, Edinburgh

Thank you to Robert Laird who wrote:

Demolition

"Here are some photos of Longstone Road circa 1960, taken just before all the buildings on the opposite side of the Longstone Inn were demolished to make way for flats."

Longstone Inn

   ©

More Demolitions

"The prefabs opposite Gray's Mill were also knocked down around the same time, then Inglis Green Laundry and McNab’s the dry cleaners were flattened, as were a row of small cottages on Inglis Green Road."

Gray's Mill

   ©

Milk Delivery Round

"As a boy in 1960, I delivered milk from age eleven until I left school at fifteen.

The run started at Willie Bauld's house just under the Bonnie Prince Charlie bridge at the foot of Craiglockhart Avenue. It finished at the top of Longstone Road where it meets the Calder Road.

We were out in all weather, with a double-delivery on Saturdays and precious few 'tips'.

But many boys did 'the milk' or delivered morning and evening papers back in those times."

Mrs Brand's Shop

"The shop next to the Longstone Inn was owned by Mrs Helen Brand.

The Shop

   ©

Her son, Ralph Brand, was a famous Rangers football player, and would always take time to speak to the boys, my age, when he was around."

Old Quarry

"About the time these photos were taken the old quarry at Longstone was a landfill site for the council rubbish, and was close to being full.

Houses now sit where it once was."

Summer Holidays

"In the 1960s, Wester was a collection of smallholdings. I spent a couple of summer holidays playing on one of them with a school chum who’s parents owned it.

Wester Hales later became a large council estate."

©

'Snowballs'

"A very small factory, just off Longstone Road, made 'Kingsknowe Snowballs'.

Every week I went round with old bread for their hens and got a box of bashed snowballs."

Canal

"The railway and canal viaducts were magnets for the boys, as was the canal itself where many a naval battle took place on flimsy hand made barges."

Prison

"Saughton Prison backed on to Longstone Road, behind the school.   Every day I could see prisoners working in the fields and when they were close to the Murray Burn, they would often ask me to run and get cigarette papers for them."

Robert Laird, Longstone, Edinburgh, December 12, 2006

Recollections

2.

James Hey

Deltona, Florida, USA

Thank you to James Hey who wrote:

Snowball Factory

"I enjoyed Robert Laird's comments about the Snowball Factory on Kingsknowe Road North as I am the Grandson of the owner, Frank Hey.

'Cameron and Hey, Confectioners' was in business from the 1930s to 1962.  They made Snowballs, Macaroon Bars and nougat wafers to make sliders."

James Hey, Deltona, Florida, USA:  April 16, 2008

Recollections

3.

Robert Laird

Longstone, Edinburgh

Thank you to Robert Laird who replied:

Snowball Factory

"Once again, the mention of the area where I spent my childhood evoked strong and happy images in my mind.

I vaguely remember how the Hey's Kingsknowe Snowball factory was set out.  But what I am not vague about is the dog that sat outside, on a cord, that frightened the living daylights out of me back then.

So good were the rewards for "feeding" the hens and braving the guard dog, that any risk of being savaged was worthwhile."

Robert Laird, Longstone, Edinburgh, April 17, 2008

Recollections

4.

James Hey

Deltona, Florida, USA

Thank you to Jim Hey for also providing this photograph of a class at Longstone Primary School in 1947:

©

Recollections

5.

Margaret Leslie (nee Ellis)

London

Thank you to Margaret, nee Ellis, who wrote:

Inglis Green Road

"I was so pleased to see some recorded evidence of my childhood in the photographs of Longstone and especially Robert Laird''s photo of the agricultural machinery supplier, James H Steele, on the Inglis Green Road.

   ©

In the stone-built house behind Steele's white-painted building (which was an office I seem to remember) lived the Cowie family."

Prefabs

"My family moved to one of the six prefabs opposite Steele's from Lochinvar Camp in 1948 when I was four years old, and moved again 10 years later to a flat in Moat Drive.

The names of the families in five of the six prefabs were:

-  McCardle

-  Ellis

-  Flockhart

-  Ormiston

-  Niven.

I left Edinburgh in 1961 for London where I still live.

Margaret Leslie, nee Ellis, London:  July 17, 2008

Recollections

6.

Margaret Leslie (nee Ellis)

London

Thank you to Margaret, nee Ellis, who wrote again with more memories of the Longstone district.

Margaret wrote:

Water of Leith

"On the other side of Steele's yard from Inglis Green Road ran the Water of Leith.  Children in their wellies, including my sister and I, would climb over the wall by Steele's gates to fish with their jeely jars and nets for minnows and sticklebacks.  The riverbank behind the wall was well worn from all this activity.

A horrible accident happened around 1951 when the father of a classmate of mine was killed after he lost control of his motorbike and flew over the wall into the river by Steele's."

Beside Saughton Prison

"Further down at Longstone village, the Water of Leith met the Murrayburn and continued past the embankment that carried a path alongside the fencing of Saughton Prison.  This path took one out to Stenhouse Road.

I don't know if the following memory is a dream or of something real but I seem to remember there was a watermill at the end of this path, nearly opposite the prison warders' houses.

Just down from the confluence of the Leith and the Murrayburn, the river was wide and full of boulders and there was an island. Many children played around this section of the river and many fell in."

Escape

"On my family's annual visit to Corstorphine Zoo we had just turned on to the path, over 'The Longstone', in order to get the bus from Stenhouse when, high excitement, a Saughton prisoner had escaped and was being pursued by a warder.

He finally captured the escaper on the shore of the island.  The local carrier took both men, who were thoroughly drenched, back to Saughton.  The prisoner was placed in the corner of the lorry by its cab and the warder stood guard over him."

Margaret Leslie, nee Ellis, London:  August 13, 2008

Recollections

7.

Avril Coats

Longstone, Edinburgh

Avril Coats wrote:

Longstone Road  -  Question

"I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm trying to trace photographs or recollections of my gran and grandad's shop.  It was EW Thomas (General Store).  It was located at 23 Longstone Road from 1920s until 1950s (across from Mrs Brand's shop).

 Avril Coats, Longstone, Edinburgh:  January 8, 2009

Reply

If you'd like to reply to Avril, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to her.

Thank you.    -  Peter Stubbs:  January 8, 2009

Thanks for the Reply

Thank you to Robert Laird for replying to Avril Coats' request above.   Please click on the thumbnail image below to see the photo that Robert sent, and to read his comments about it:

23 Longstone Road

    ©

Recollections

8.

Alan Welsh

London, England

Thank you to James Hey who left a message in the EdinPhoto guestbook.  Alan wrote:

The Welsh Family

"I was born at Haugh Park, Longstone.

I am the youngest of thirteen brothers and sisters:

-  I still have brothers Michael, Jimmy, Alec and Martin.

-  John died a few years ago.

I'm just wondering if anybody remembers us."

Alan Welsh, London, England:  Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book, August 5, 2010

Reply to Alan Welsh?

If you remember Alan, or any of his family, and would like to contact him, please email me, then I'll pass on your message to him.    Thank you.

Peter Stubbs:  August 8, 2010

Recollections

9.

Sheila Stewart

Edinburgh

Thank you to Sheila Stewart who wrote:

Haugh Park

"My Grandparents lived in Haugh Park and I was a regular visitor.  Their name was Smith. My mother was Gladys. 

My Grandfather, at one time, had a Market Garden there. They lived in the last house.  The only other name that I can remember is Mrs McKendrick.

I'd love to hear some history of the area."

Sheila Stewart:  January 29, 2011

Reply for Sheila?

Please email me if you have any memories, photos or other information about Haugh Park that you'd like me to add to the EdinPhoto web site and / or pass on to Sheila.

Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: February 6, 2011

Recollections

10.

Sheila Stewart

Edinburgh

Thank you to Sheila for writing again.

Sheila wrote:

Longstone Village

"I recall visiting my grandparents who lived in Longstone when it was really a village."

I remember walking from Stenhouse school, past Saughton prison gates, through the 'burnside' to Longstone.

Haugh Park, where they lived, was entered from a venel onto an area composed of drying greens and back doors.  My grandparents lived in 29, which no longer exists.

My grandfather had a large garden there where, during the 1920s or 1930s, I think, he had had a 'market garden'  until houses were built on the land.  He was gardener on Woodhall Estate, Colinton.

I'd love to hear more history of Slateford and Longstone."

Sheila Stewart:  February 24, 2011

Recollections

11.

Robert Laird

Longstone, Edinburgh

Thank you to Robert Laird for writing again, this time in response to Sheila Stewart's request (9 + 10 above) for more information about the history of Slateford and Longstone.

Below are some extracts from notes about the area written by Robert's dad who lived in Longstone from his birth in 1927 until 1962 when most of the houses between Inglis Green Road and Haugh Park were flattened:

Haugh Park

"In Haugh Park you had folk like:

-  Betty Mair.  She is still there (2010) in the sheltered housing complex. Haugh Park is all sheltered housing now.

-  Archie and Daisy McNab who lived above the chip shop.  Archie was my brother Robert's best pal. They were great people.

-  I also remember the Welsh, Knox and Naughtman Thorburn and Morris families and Ian Mitchell.  They all lived in the area.

-  Tommy Preston lived in Haugh Park. He went on to play football for the Hibs. His father was called 'Stranger'.  I don’t know why.  He used to coach athletics, and he used to organize sprints up at Redhall Park and things like that.

There was always something going on in the village when I was a wee lad."

 Opposite Gray's Mill

"Opposite Gray’s Mill, which later on would be owned by Steeles, there was:

-  a yard shared by Weatherston the coal man and Cowie the milkman.  Later on a Mr Burroughs, a builder, took over the yard.

-   just beside Weatherston’s yard, and stretching up to the top of Redhall was Pye’s Farm. The farm buildings were on the land that became McNabs and the Inglis Green Laundry.  It was a big farm, the biggest in Longstone. They had barns and other buildings it was a real farm, no' like the wee ones at Wester Hailes.

So from Weatherston’s yard to the lane leading into Redhall Park, and right back to the top of Redhall where the primary school is now, that was all Pye’s Farm."

Laundry

"The laundry and dry cleaners were built  pretty much an addition to the dye works that were already on Inglis Green Road.

It was the two Stevenson brothers who owned and ran them:  John ran the Dry Cleaners and Cyril ran the laundry.  They had the two big houses beside the footpath into the Redhall Public Park.

We called it the 'Polly Park'. When I was about ten I waited outside one of the Stevensons' houses for a wedding party to set off for the church.  All the bairns gathered outside of house  that someone getting married left from, because there was always a  'poor oot'.

Money was thrown out of the car windows and the bairns scrambled around to get as much as they could.  Normally it was just coppers, pennies and ha’pennies, but the poor oot from the Stevensons was all silver, half crowns as well. I couldn’t believe it at the time."

Kingsknowe

"At the far end of Longstone village, where Haugh Park finishes, there were farm fields.  Kingsknowe Road North takes you up to Kingsknowe railway station.

It looked completely different when I was a wee boy; it was all fields most of the way up."

Shops

"The Thomas family had a shop just along from us, opposite the pub, and the Frasers then took it over.      

Mrs. Brand had a wee shop over the road beside the Longstone Inn.  She sold cakes and things like that, as well as sweeties.

All the shops had some sweeties, except Findlay's, the bakers,, which was right over from the school.  That's a chip shop now, as you know.

Mrs Brand's wee shop used to be owned by the Forresters.   Mrs Harper rented it from them.  She traded as a bakers back then.  When I was a youngster, working in the laundry, I’d get stuff from her each day and settle up on the Friday when I got paid.  She was a smashing woman, and lived in a house at the back or side of the shop back then."

Sutherland's Shops

"It was Mr Sutherland who owned just about all the shops in Longstone  He had the Wines and Grocers shop, where he worked, opposite the Longstone Inn. Sandersons used to have a wine shop there and he bought it off them.

When we were growing up, Mr Sutherland would tease us. His Grocer's shop was full of boxes with everything in them from biscuits to sugar and tea. You’d tell him how much you wanted, say, a quarter pound of sugar and he’d weigh it out and put it in a brown bag;  the same with butter and cheese.  He'd cut you off a bit cheese or pat out a square of butter and wrap it up.

He had this trick where if your change was just one coin he’d fool you into thinking it was under one hand when it was in fact under the other one.

Next door to Sutherlands fruit & veg shop on Redhall Gardens was his fishmongers. On the other side of the road from the fishmongers he had two other shops, a butcher’s that he sometimes worked in, and his first grocers shop, the one he had before he bought Mrs Sutherlands. I remember during the war how he was in all his shops at some time or other during the week."

Kerr's Newsagents

"The shop on the corner of Redhall Gardens and Longstone Road, that’s now a bookmakers, used to be Kerr’s paper shop.

I delivered the papers for Mrs Kerr when I was a boy; but Mr Sutherland bought that shop and changed it to a fruit and veg shop.

Mrs Kerr’s daughter, I don’t remember if it was Betty or Jessie, , married the laddie Bangholm and they built a newspaper shop next to the entrance to Haugh Park, because Mr Sutherland never bothered with that kind of business, papers and fags and sweeties and stuff like that."

Opposite the School

"The chip shop opposite the school used to be Mrs Finlays grocers shop back when I was a kid at the school.  She had these wee bags of broken biscuits all made up, that they sold to the school kids."

Piggery

"The Kerr’s had a Guest House beside the school; that’s the house which used to belong to the Brand family.

The Brand’s piggery was at the back of it next to the school when I was wee.  It was just beside the janitor’s house.

Jock Dow used to work for Mr Brand, he was a bit daft, but a good worker."

 Brickworks

"My dad used to 'chum' Sandy Preston as he delivered bricks that were made in the Longstone’s brickworks.  The brickworks aren’t there now of course.  The Bus Depot stands where the brickworks used to be.

Hailes Quarry was right behind the brickworks back then.  The quarry was actually a part of the brickworks and the quarry managers’ house was just a few yards from our house in the cottages.

Later, his house was turned into a sort of midwives' station where mothers from the village went to see the midwife and get powdered milk and wee bottles of orange juice for their bairns.

I don’t know what it is now, but it’s the sandstone house, just beside the roundabout opposite the bus depot."

Sheila Stewart:  January 29, 2011

Recollections

12.

Avril Currie (nee Darling)

Canada

Thank you to Avril Currie (nee Darling) contacting me.  Avril tells me that she and her sister now both live in Canada.

Avril wrote:

Haugh Park

"I lived at 30 Haugh Park and remember:

-  the Smith's who lived below us.

-  the Welsh family.  I knew Maureen John Jimmy and Alan.

My Grandmother was Lizzie Knox who lived next door to Ian Mitchell."

Avril Currie (nee Darling), Canada:  May 1, 2011

Recollections

13.

John Hair

Thank you to John Hair who wrote:

26 Haugh Park

"My mother’s family  first settled in Haugh Park around 1910.  My Granny Mrs Smith (No.26) was 85 when she died in 1964, still living in the same house

Two of my  mother’s brothers still lived there until the sheltered housing was built.  They then got one of the new houses;  they were like palaces compared to what they had lived in."

28 Haugh Park

"My Family lived in No.28 next door to Jim Waugh.  My mother had been in the house from the time she was married 1923 until we moved in 1978 to Hutchison.

This was before they modernised Haugh Park and turned it into sheltered housing. All my brothers and sisters had married by then, so it was just myself and my mother that moved, by coincident  Betty Mair (mentioned in 'Recollections 11' above) now lives in our old house"

Neighbours

"I knew everyone by name who lived in Haugh Park. It was interesting to read Robert Laird's stories in 'Recollections 1, 3, 11' above.

I can only assume that he is the son of David Laird who drove the McNab Laundry van and lived in the village before moving to Broomhouse. If so, he has brothers David (same age as myself) and Terry who worked with the Gas Board.

Avril  Currie (nee Darling) lived in the next stair to us No.30, and next door to her were the Forests.  She was great friends with my older twin sisters and it would be good if they could contact each other.

Mr Darling worked in Alexanders Garage, Semple Street. He was the first person that I knew who owned a car.  Once, when I was small, he gave me a lift round the street.  What an amazing experience.

I think that on another occasion he took me and some of my sisters along with Avril Coats (see 'Recollections 7') on a picnic but I'm  not too sure as I was very young."

Old Worthies

"I was still at primary school when they started to knock down the old village to widen the road, but I've listened to many stories of my family growing up in Longstone and of all the characters that lived in this area

I knew many of the real old worthies that lived in these houses. I remember this ancient lady - Helen or Jessie Robb.  She used to stand at the junction of Longstone Road and Kingsknowe Road North, behind the wall.

Everyone called it Jessie’s Pulpit as it was similar to a church pulpit.  I'm  she had a beard, and to a young boy like me that was rather scary."

John Hair:  October 18, 2011

Recollections

14.

Brian Skelding

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Thank you to Brian Skelding for allowing me to reproduce this photograph of  Longstone Dramatic Society performers in Zurika.

Brian wrote:

Longstone Dramatic Society

"The photo was published as a postcard, but there is no publisher's name or photographer's name given on the postcard.

©

From other documents that I have, I think this photo must have been taken around 1917."

My Grandparents

"My grandparents came from Longstone and Slateford.   They lived on Slateford Road next to the bowling green over the post office, but their home is now long gone.  It was knocked down when they built the new bridge.

My grandfather's name was Kinnemonth and my grandmother was born a McDonald.

Other Family Members

"Other family members:

-  my grandmother's sister

-  her husband

-  my great aunt and uncle

lived facing the post office which is now a garage."

Apple Tree

"The apple tree was still standing on the green the last time I was back there."

Brian Skelding, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:  February 5+6+8, 2012

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