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Recollections
Edinburgh Old Town
The Pleasance |
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View Another Page
Please click on the thumbnail image
below. |
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1.
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Please click on the thumbnail image below to view a page with:
- a photograph of the back green behind the Pleasance
- a map of the area.
- recollections of the back green.
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5.
Part
1
132 Pleasance |
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Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian,
wrote: |
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Our Family
"I stumbled onto this site by accident but am
very pleased that I did. I lived at 132 Pleasance with my mother
Annie father Bill and two sisters Margaret and Moira Sutherland. My
granny McNab had the house before us."
Friends and Neighbours
"Our next door neighbours were the Cockburns,
"Auntie Nellie and her family, husband George, Maisie, Billy (who
wrote 3 above) and Helen who was my friend for a while.
I had another friend Pat Armit who lived at
120 with the roof garden, who lived with her parents and sister Christine
and two brothers Charles and Eric."
Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian: November 16, 2007 |
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5.
Part 2
Questions 1
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Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian,
asks: |
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Bobby Croal
"Would the photographer
Wullie Croal be any relation to my
father's friend, Bobby Croal who lived in the Canongate?"
Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian: November 16, 2007 I don't know about that, but I've sent an
e-mail to Wullie's son, Tam, to ask him.
- Peter Stubbs: December 6, 2007 |
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Answer 1
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Thank you to Tam Coral, son of Wullie Croal
for replying. |
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Tam wrote:
Bobby Croal
"Robert Croal was my dads younger brother who
is now sadly no longer with us , but was a great photographer."
Tam Croal: December 8, 2007.
Photos of Southside
Tam tells me that his uncle, Robert Croal, took a lot of photos of
Edinburgh Southside, but neither Tam nor his dad, Wullie, knows where the
photos are now.
If you know where Robert's photos might be now, or if you remember
Robert and would like to make contact with Tam or Willie, please e-mail me
and I'll pass your message on to them.
Thank you.
- Peter Stubbs: December 9, 2007. |
Here are photos sent to me by Tam. They show:
- Wullie and Robert doing a 'cheap removal' in Holyrood Road.
- A photographic enlarger made by Wullie and Robert.
©
©
Peter Stubbs: December 9, 2007 |
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5.
Part
3
Questions 2
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Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian,
asks: |
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Photos of 132
"I wonder if there are any photos with 132
Pleasance still standing."
Anne Gowans, Broxburn, West Lothian: December 7, 2007 |
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6.
132 Pleasance |
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Please click the thumbnail
image below to see a photograph of the front of the buildings facing on to
the Pleasance, and to read what Bill Cockburn remembers of them:
©
Bill mentions several families living there, including the Sutherland
family.
Margaret Anderson (nee Sutherland) has just contacted me to tell me
more about the area. |
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Margaret writes:
Our Family
"I was surprised and really pleased to
come across this site. I am one of the “McNab/Sutherlands” mentioned by
Bill Cockburn (above).. My granny was McNab, and my mum and dad Bill and
Annie Sutherland. I am one of 3 sisters, Anne (who has also written),
Margaret (me) and Moira.
I remember all the occupants of the stair and
often see Liz Walker on the passing. My Auntie Margaret also moved to
Prince Albert Buildings (No 37)
©
I used to go along to my “Auntie Nellie’s”
house and get Helen to school. If I remember right, she want to
Darroch school and I went to Boroughmuir.
It really took me back to when we lived there
(I moved when I was 12) and although it was over 40 years ago it just
feels like yesterday now."
Mags Anderson (nee Sutherland): November 16, 2007 |
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7.
Edinburgh University Buildings |
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Cobbles
For the past two days, I've been adding some of my recent photos of
cobbled streets in Edinburgh to the web site, including some photos of the
University buildings at the Pleasance:
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©
Peter Stubbs: December 30, 2007
Soon after adding these to the web site, I received a message from Eric
Gold (Eric McKenzie) now living in East London. |
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Eric wrote:
Cobbles
"The
cobbles speak for themselves as every stone has a different character and
personality.
I loved the Pleasance photos too as my nursery
was in shot. It is now the Pleasance Fringe Theatre.
The
close in the Pleasance with the big siver (drain) was great too. I bet
that siver has been there for nearly 200 years. My dear old
mum told me that the bogyman had relatives there.
We will have to send your photos in to the
Edinburgh council planning department and put a header saying “Don’t touch
the Cobbles” (ha ha ha ha ha)."
Eric Gold (also known to many as Eric McKenzie), East
London: December 29, 2007 |
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8.
Shops in The Pleasance |
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Thank you to Matthew O'Neill,
now living in South Texas, USA, for sending his recollections of the
Pleasance.
©
Matthew wrote:
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My Wee Shop
"I bought a little newsagent / grocery
store in the Pleasance when I was 19, from a lady by the name of Mrs.
Sharp. This would be around 1963.
- To my immediate left was a little
store that sold pre-packaged coal.
- Directly across the road was a
butcher's shop.
- To my right, up the Pleasance a few
yards, was a grocery store on the corner of Pleasance and Drummond
Street." |
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Then Another Shop
"I think the name of the guy who owned the
grocery store on the corner of Drummond Street was Ian or Stuart. I'm not
sure. He lived out of town and had a car accident, so he offered me
the opportunity to buy his store. I was glad to accept. I
loved the Pleasance.
Well, here I was, a young kid with two stores
and working from 5am until 9pm, seven days a week. I don't
know where I found the time, but I found my first true love in the
Pleasance. It really was a unique neighborhood. Even
after all these years she still crosses my mind on occasion.
I sold the shops a couple of years later.
I think the grocery store at the corner of Drummond Street ended up back
with the guy I bought it from. I hope so. He was a really
decent guy." |
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The States
"For those who remember me, I went to the
States and, other than an interlude back in Edinburgh, I have spent my
entire life either in the States or overseas in American uniform. I
retired from the American army as a senior NCO and went on to develop and
sell real estate here in my beloved Texas.
How many of us that have the Pleasance as part
of our young lives now find ourselves scattered all over the world?
I'm now retired, playing cowboy on our ranch in South Texas (where the
snow never falls)." |
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Salt of the Earth
"When I bought that little store from Mrs.
Sharp all those years ago, she told me "You will find the salt of the
earth in the Pleasance" She was so correct. I look back
on my time there with the fondest of memories." |
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Matthew O'Neil, South Texas, USA: January 8, 2008 |
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9.
Shops in The Pleasance |
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Thank you to Bob Henderson for
adding:
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Tenement on the Grassy Slope
"The shops Mathew is talking about
(8 above) were the
ground floor of the tenement that stood on the grassy slope at the Flodden
wall.
I do not know Mathew but I remember the shops.
There were shops all the way up from the recess at the Sally Ann
(Salvation Army building)
where the alcoholics sat all the way up to the corner of Drummond Street.
Then when you crossed over the end of Drummond
Street. to continue up The Pleasance there were another couple of shops."
Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: January 9,
2008 |
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Bob added:
"This photograph shows the row of shops on the
grassy slope."
©
The photograph above was taken
around 1961-63.
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Matthew O'Neil replied:
"The
picture highlighted by Bob is of my little Newsagent/ Grocery shop.
If you have the opportunity please thank him for me."
Matthew O'Neil, South Texas, USA: January 11, 2008
I've thanked Bob. |
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Here is how the grassy slope
in front of the Flodden Wall looks now (photo taken December 2007) with
the old tenements and shops demolished long ago:
©
Peter Stubbs:
January 11, 2008 |
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