Kate Bowell

Caroline Park House

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Jan 152019

Caroline Park Avenue, Edinburgh EH5 1QJ

Caroline Park House, indicated by the red circle, is located in the heart of the industrial Granton site, in the shadow of the gasholders.
© RCAHMS, 1989

Caroline Park House, originally known as Royston House, was built around 1585 by Andrew Logan. In 1683, it was bought by Sir George Mackenzie, 1st Viscount of Tarbat, who had the house completely rebuilt as a quadrangle, and moved its entrance to the south side, facing Edinburgh.

In 1739 the house and its estate was sold to John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, who renamed it Caroline Park, in honour of his eldest daughter. The house was further altered in the 1740s by architect William Adam, father of neo-classical architects Robert, John and James Adam.

Photograph of the gates to Caroline House Park — The gates to Caroline Park House © Gina Fierlafijn Reddie

Engraving of Caroline Park — The elegant Caroline Park House
© Cassell’s Old and New Edinburgh by James Grant

View of north facade of Caroline Park House, Edinburgh, with man playing golf on lawn in front
© Courtesy of HES (Francis M Chrystal Collection)

In 1742, Caroline Campbell married Francis Scott, Earl of Dalkeith. The house and estate were eventually inherited by their son Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, in 1793 – a pivotal event in Granton’s history. Subsequent Tenants of the house were; Archibald Cockburn, father of Lord Cockburn – who was opposed to the development of Granton harbour, and Alicia, Lady John Scott, composer of the tune Annie Laurie, to which the romantic words of William Douglas, 17th Century Scottish poet, were set.

Lady John Scott (image from 1839) was a champion of traditional Scots language, history and culture, her motto being ‘Haud [hold] fast by the past’. One of her best known works, “Annie Laurie,” was published in 1838.
© Wikipedia

Increasingly disturbed by local industrial development, Caroline Park House became less attractive as a formal residence. The house was eventually leased as an office to AB Fleming, a nearby printing ink and chemicals company. In 1872 the company bought the house outright. It was their headquarters until 1966, when they relocated to Corstorphine. Currently, Caroline Park House is in private ownership. It is a Category A Listed Building, notable for its French-influenced south elevation, and its fine internal features.

John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and Duke of Greenwich by William Aikman © Wikipedia

Granton Gas Works Train Station

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Jan 152019

Photograph showing the Gas Works holder is on the left, Scottish HQ across the road on the left and the original station on the right

Once you arrive at the crossing, the Gas Works holder is on the left, Scottish HQ across the road on the left and the original station on the right

Waterfront Avenue, Edinburgh EH5 1JD

Granton Gasworks had its own railway network within the works, both narrow gauge and standard gauge. The internal system of narrow gauge lines used steam locomotives and dealt with ashes from the production process and with other by-products and waste. The locomotives were low in height, with no cabs, and were able to pass under the gas retorts. Built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co Ltd, of Kilmarnock, the Locos were each given names – such as Esme, Jack, and Ralph. The narrow-gauge system closed in 1965.

The coal used to produce the town gas was delivered by standard gauge wagons from both the North British Railway, from East and Midlothian coalfields, and the Caledonian Railway from coalfields in the west of Scotland. Coke and other by-products from the coal were also shipped out by rail.

The Granton Gas Works Station was formally opened on 27 February, 1903.
This was a substantial station, built to take workers to and from the Gas Works and Princes Street. With no other transport to the area at this time, it was suspected that more than just gas workers took advantage of the free service. In 1942, the Gas Works Station was closed by its then-operating Rail Company, the London, Midland & Scottish. Alternative transport had now become available, developed to serve the growing population of the new housing that was being built in the surrounding area.

Granton Gas Works Station about 1903

Black and white photograph of a Scottish Gas Works, Granton Works locomotive inside the Gas Works

Scottish Gas Works, Granton Works 0-4-0 2′ 0″ locomotive inside the Gas Works

Granton House

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Jan 152019

Photograph of a field near the gasworks where Granton House once stood — The nearby location of Granton House (now demolished)

Forth Quarter, Edinburgh EH5 1FH

Near this site once stood Granton House, a 24-room three-storey mansion with a balustraded roof, built by the Earl of Hopetoun in 1807 on the Duke of Buccleuch’s land as part of a 99-year lease. In 1883, the house became the property of Lord Gifford (1820 – 1887) the Scottish advocate and judge. Visitors to the house included Sir Walter Scott and Florence Nightingale who, following her visit, wrote to the family and said “I think Granton House the most poetic place I ever saw.” The house was purchased by the Edinburgh and Leith Corporations Gas Commissioners around the time that Granton Gas Works was built (opened in 1902), for use as the official residence of the Chief Engineer and Manager. The first Chief Engineer and Manager to occupy the house was Mr W. R. Herring. When Edinburgh and Leith amalgamated in 1920, the house passed to Edinburgh Corporation. From 1946 Edinburgh Corporation used the property to house homeless families following World War II. On 1 January 1954 it was destroyed in a disastrous fire and what was left demolished.

Black and white photograph of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford — Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford (1820-1887)

Photograph of the edge of a walkway bordered by reeds, titled "Turning Point" by Stuart Ogilvie — “Turning Point” by Stuart Ogilvie

Granton Gasworks

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Jan 152019

The entrance to Forthquarter Park, the location of Granton Gas Works

West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1RH

In the 1890s, gas was being produced in Edinburgh City, Portobello, and in Leith. All the sites were operating at full capacity. It was decided to build
a substantial new single-site gasworks capable of future expansion. Following negotiation with the sixth Duke of Buccleuch, a 43 Hectare site
at Granton was purchased for £124,000. An impressive structure, the most elegant gas holder in Scotland in terms of its external framing, was erected as part of a £450,000 stateof-the-art coal gasworks between 1898 and 1903, under the direction of engineer WR Herring.

Gas Holder Number 1, still standing and fully renovated today, has an external framework constructed of riveted rolled steel. It has 26 vertical columns with finials, divided into four tiers by horizontal tie beams with latticework bracing between. The gasholder had a capacity of 180,000 cubic metres, and was built on the telescopic principle, with four lifts. The masonry tank, within which the holder moved up and down, was 77 metres in diameter and 11 metres deep.

Gas manufacturing stopped in 1987 and the gasholder is now Category B Listed as a building of architectural and historic interest. Two more gasholders, built in 1933 and 1966 respectively, were demolished in 2003-4.

Sepia photograph of the three separate gas holders at Granton Gasworks.. — The three separate gas holders at Granton Gasworks. Photo from the John Dickson collection.

A black and white aerial photograph of Granton Gas Works showing the gasworks, the Caledonian Railway lines going into the site and the station building. — An aerial picture of Granton Gas Works showing the extent of the gasworks, the Caledonian Railway lines going into the site and the station building (bottom right corner)

Photograph of the gasworks — Picture by Gareth Hutchison

Painting of the gasworks — Gasworks by Harry Mafuji

Granton Sea Quarry

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Jan 152019

West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QT

Looking West toward Cramond Island, over flooded quarry and Arc © Universal History Archive

This stretch of grassy fields (Gypsy Brae) was the location of Granton Sea Quarry. The earliest recorded use of stone from this quarry is for Holyrood Palace (1532) and Leith Bulwark (1552-53). Later, the stone was used for Granton Harbour’s pier and breakwater, the Granton Hotel, and even the statue on top of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London. The quarry, nearly 80 feet deep and over eight acres, collapsed and flooded after a storm in 1855. In 1884, it became the headquarters for the Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research. This organisation carried out research on marine life in the quarry both from a floating platform and nearby buildings.

Photograph of a field with the harbour in the background; this was the original location of the quarry — The original location of the quarry, now near-invisible

Extract from Mechanic’s Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal & Gazette, Jan-June 1842, p480

Black and white illustration of the Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research in the quarry — Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research in the quarry

The inconspicuous rock beds along the Forth shoreline are known as the Muirhouse ‘shrimp-bed’, in which geologists made a major discovery: a complete conodont, an eel-like creature whose teeth are the earliest found in the fossil record. The first trace fossils of the body of a conodont was unknowingly collected in the quarry in the 1920s. Starting in the 1980s, 11 more near-complete conodonts were found and identified, and then more again in 2013.

Portrait of Patrick Geddes Inga Mantle — Patrick Geddes was the director of Education & Zoology of the Royal Scottish Marine Station (Laboratory) based at Old Sea Quarry in Granton 1884.

Charles Darwin in Granton

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Jan 152019

Granton Harbour wall in the distance and the outlying rock beds

Walking Path, West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QG

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and entered Edinburgh University to study medicine in 1825. Interested in natural history, he joined the Plinian Society, a University student club, and collected specimens along the shores of the Firth of Forth. The book The Berwick and Lothian Coasts, by Ian Campbell Hannah (1913), refers to Darwin and notes that, “About this point the coast again becomes rocky, and Charles Darwin found it a convenient spot for the study of seaweed and shells.” In 1859, a little over two decades after he started university, Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species would be published and go on to become a worldwide bestseller.

Black and white photograph of Charles Darwin taken in 1868.

Charles Darwin. Photo taken by Julia Margaret Cameron during the Darwin family’s 1868 holiday in her Isle of Wight cottage

WWII Air Raid – 16 October 1939

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Jan 152019

The entrance to the shore path

Walking Path, West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QG

On October 16th, 1939, the skies over Granton’s shoreline were filled with enemy bombers. In the first major raid against Britain of WWII, the German Luftwaffe sent twelve Junkers Ju88A-1s to intercept Royal Navy Battleship HMS Hood. Approaching from the west, the bomber crews saw they were too late – a battleship already safely docked in Rosyth Dockyard. Seeking alternative targets, the Junkers dived to attack shipping in the river below. With total surprise they dropped their bombs unopposed, narrowly missing HMS Edinburgh and HMS Southampton. Wave after wave of bombing harried the desperately zig-zagging ships. Then a shock… Spitfires! The raiders had been briefed there were no Spitfires in Scotland. Now two squadrons of them swarmed in defence. The bombers broke and fled for their lives, chased back down the river or across Edinburgh at rooftop height. Citizens dived for cover as machine guns rattled and bullet casings cascaded onto the streets. Two bombers were shot down into the Forth, their surviving crew rescued by local fishing boats. The 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron had claimed the first ever Spitfire victory. Edinburgh’s skies were safe, but disaster had only narrowly been averted.

The Three Bridges

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Jan 152019

Photograph looking across a road towards the three bridges — The view from the shoreline towards the three bridges

Walking Path, West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QG

From this viewpoint, you get the first glimpses of the three bridges. The Forth Bridge is the first, and oldest, an iconic railway bridge and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction of the bridge began in 1882 and when it was opened on 4 March, 1890, it was the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world. It held that record until 1919 when the Quebec Bridge in Canada was completed. The second bridge is the Forth Road Bridge, a suspension bridge that opened in 1964 and, at the time, was the largest suspension bridge in the world outside of the United States. At its peak, the Forth Road Bridge carried 65,000 vehicles per day. On 5 September 2017, all bridge traffic was transferred to the Queensferry Crossing, the third bridge which stands parallel to the Forth Road Bridge. The new bridge is a cable-stayed structure, with three towers each 207 metres (679 ft) high. Including approaches, the overall length of the bridge is 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles). Currently, it is the longest triple tower cable-stayed bridge in the world.

Photograph of the three bridges — The three bridges, built in 3 different centuries: 19th, 20th and 21st. Photo from the John Dickson collection.

Painting by Lesley Skeates titled "View at Silverknowes" looking towards the three bridges — View at Silverknowes by Lesley Skeates

Original Entrance to Granton Castle

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Jan 152019

Photograph of the entrance gate to Granton Castle along the shore road

Along the shore road is the location of the entrance gate of Granton Castle

West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QG

This stone structure is the remnant of the original entrance to Granton Castle. Although the building no longer stands, it was one of the oldest developments in the area, built on what used to be a rocky outcrop on a slope, with fine views across the Forth. The castle was already in existence in 1479 and sacked in 1544 when the Earl of Hertford landed nearby with an English Army on their way to burn Edinburgh and Leith. Rebuilt by 1619, the owner was Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, an eminent lawyer and politician. In 1740 John Campbell, the 2nd Duke of Argyll, bought Granton Castle from the Hopes of Craighall, and renamed it Royston Castle. He had previously bought the neighbouring estate of Easter Granton in 1739, which he renamed Caroline Park, after his daughter. With Argyll concentrating his efforts on Caroline Park, by 1749 Granton Castle was a ruin. Alas, it stayed that way throughout the 19th and early 20th century when lots of industrial activity developed in the area, contributing to the demise and ultimate destruction of this fine historic building.

Black and white engraving of the old entrance to Caroline Park, with a woman walking past the front gate

The old entrance to Caroline Park. This image is of the gate facing the Forth, visited earlier, but the current gates were modelled on the original entrance

Vintage postcard of Granton Castle along the Firth of Forth shoreline

Granton Castle along the Firth of Forth shoreline, taken from a postcard available at the time

Black and white photograph of Granton Gas Works showing the old Caledonian line passing through the gates of Caroline Park to the West Pier at Granton

Granton Gas Works showing the old Caledonian line passing through the gates of Caroline Park to the West Pier at Granton

Northern Lighthouse Board

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Jan 152019

Photograph of the building that once held the Northern Lighthouse Board — This was the original shoreline, with the building ahead the facilities of the Northern Lighthouse Board

West Harbour Road, EH5 1PN

The Northern Lighthouse Board was created by an Act of Parliament in 1786. From 1802 until 1852, the Board’s main store was in Leith but in 1852 it took a 5-year lease on this site in Granton from the Duke of Buccleuch for £110. The Board relocated its stores and from 1874, the ship Pharos, the lighthouse supply tender, was docked in Granton Harbour. Between 1868-1869, The Board built the red-brick store. The experimental tower was added in 1874. Though the tower was built as a lighthouse, it never served as one. Instead, lighting and optical equipment was tested on this site before it was taken out on the ship to the main lighthouses around Britain. Granton was an ideal site for the stores and in 1907 they were improved and extended, with a railway siding and a travelling crane added. The engineering storage and test facility remained until November 2001, when it moved to a modern site at Oban and ended the Northern Lighthouse Board presence in Granton.

Photograph of Pharoes 1995 on the Forth during the parade of sail — Pharoes 1995 on the Forth during the parade of sail. Photo from the John Dickson collection.

Colorful, abstract artwork titled "Northern Lighthouse Board" by Victor Nobis — Northern Lighthouse Board by Victor Nobis

Pencil illustration titled "Northern Lighthouse Board" by Stephen Paterson — Northern Lighthouse Board by Stephen Paterson

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