Bill H. Jenkins

Greyfriars Kirkyard

 India (Old Town)  1 Response »
Apr 162018
 

Greyfriars KirkyardGreyfriars Kirkyard, Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh EH1 2QQ

Of 670 grave plots here, at least 60 have Indian connections. Henry Mackenzie wrote essays against men with Indian fortunes coming back to lord it over Scotland with rubies and fiery curries, but his gravestone mentions three of his own sons who themselves served in India. Famous Latin poet George Buchanan was the earliest Scot to criticise colonialism in India in his ‘Polyonymum’ (1552) and ‘De Sphaera’ (1555). Isabella Hope survived shipwreck off Madagascar in 1792. In 1825, John Adam, acting Governor General of India, died aboard ship in the same seas, according to his memorial in the family mausoleum.

Grave of Isabella Hope.

Grave of Isabella Hope.

Grave of George Buchanan

Grave of George Buchanan.


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Old College

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 162018
 

Old CollegeOld College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL

The India links of Edinburgh University staff and students started in the 1750s and strengthened in the 19th century. Principal William Robertson (1762-93, mausoleum in Greyfriars’ Kirkyard) wrote an early history of India; Principal William Muir (1885-1903, bust in the Playfair Library), supported Muslim and female education in Northern India. Edinburgh University, long the preferred British university for Indians, has awarded Honorary Degrees to Nehru’s sister and Shah Rukh Khan. In the Playfair Library stairwell are a marble bas-relief of Bombay philanthropist Cowasji Jehangir, friend of Principal Alexander Grant (1868-84), and a painting of wealthy Anglo-Indian and philanthropist Margaret Tyndall Bruce.

Statue of Cowasji Jhangir.

Statue of Cowasji Jhangir.

 

Portrait of Margaret Tyndall Bruce.

Portrait of Margaret Tyndall Bruce in the Playfair Staircase.

 

Pandit Nehru at his sister's honorary degree ceremony.

Pandit Nehru at his sister’s honorary degree ceremony.

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Castle Esplanade

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 162018
 

India Cross.Castle Esplanade, Edinburgh EH1 2NG

War memorials on the Esplanade include one to Colonel Mackenzie (92nd Highlanders) who quelled a mutiny of the 5th Bengal European Regiment in 1859. The events of 1857-58 are commemorated by the large ornate Celtic cross erected in 1862 by officers and soldiers of the 78th (Ross-shire) Highlanders in memory of their comrades. Another mutiny started right here. In 1778, 400 Seaforth Highlanders refused orders to embark for South India. Supplied by Edinburgh well-wishers they barricaded themselves on Arthur’s Seat for a week. Tricked into going to India afterwards, only 390 out of 1100 reached there able to fight.

Memorial to Colonel Mackenzie (92nd Highlanders)

Memorial to Colonel Mackenzie (92nd Highlanders).

 

'72' cipher of the Seaforth Highlanders' in honour of Kenneth Mackenzie, comander at the time of the Edinburgh mutiny.

’72’ cipher of the Seaforth Highlanders’ in honour of Kenneth Mackenzie, comander at the time of the Edinburgh mutiny.

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Harry Younger Hall

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of Harry Younger Hall

Harry Younger Hall

3 Lochend Close Edinburgh EH8 8BL

The Harry Younger Hall  belongs to the Canongate Kirk next door. It was originally built as a gymnasium for the young boys who lived in the area. During the Edinburgh International Festival it transforms into ‘Venue 13’. It was designed by the renowned architect Sir Basil Spence and its construction was completed in 1969. Spence was also responsible for Edinburgh University’s library, Coventry’s twentieth-century cathedral and parts of the New Zealand parliament. The hall is named in memory Harry Younger, of the notable Edinburgh brewing family, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Lothian and Borders Yeomanry during the Second World War and was killed in action at St Valery in 1940. His family and its brewing enterprise had been associated with the neighbourhood for generations. There are two remembrance plaques in the mearby Cannongate Kirk for the employees of William Younger brewery who fell in the Firet World War.

Black and white portrait of Sir Basil Spence

Sir Basil Spence (1907-76)

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Craigwell Brewery

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 

Nether Craigwell, Calton Road, Edinburgh EH8 8DR

One of many breweries in the area, Craigwell Brewery was founded in 1822 by John Blair. The original buildings do not survive, although some later nineteenth-century brewery buildings have now been converted into flats. These were built by Charles Blair, the son of John, who took over the firm in 1873.  John Blair’s son Charles built a maltings, where barley for use in the brewing process could be converted into malted barley. This building can still be seen standing opposite the brewery itself. Many breweries bought in the malt from an outside supplier rather than producing it themselves. The hoists which were used to pull the malted barley and other raw materials up to the brew house can still be seen. In 1898 Blair merged with the brewery of James Gordon in Glasgow to form Gordon and Blair. The brewery ceased production for a time the early 1900s when the well used to supply water for the brewing process became contaminated. However, a new well was dug and the brewery continued production until 1953.

Craigwell Brewery gates

The main gate of Craigwell Brewery.

Craigwell Brewery maltings

Maltings opposite main Ctraigwell Brewery buildings.

Label from Scotch Ale, brewed by Gordon & Blair.

Label from Scotch Ale, brewed by Gordon & Blair.

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Calton Hill Brewery

 History of Brewing  2 Responses »
Jan 292018
 
The exterior of Calton Hill Brewery

Calton Hill Brewery

63 Calton Road, Edinburgh EH8 8FJ

This brewery, owned by John Muir, was the first in Britain to brew lager in 1835. Muir had enjoyed lager while on a visit to Germany and decided to try brewing it himself on his return to Scotland. This style of beer requires a different type of yeast from traditional Scottish beer, and he had this sent to him in Edinburgh by a German friend. The difference between lager and the traditional dark Scottish beer, combined with the challenges presented by the need to store the lager at a cool, even temperature in the days before refrigeration, meant that it did not become widely established at this time. However, lager brewing was revived towards the end of the nineteenth century, by which time the technology had moved on. The original brewery buildings are now flats.

Label for Muir & Son's Sparkling Edinburgh Ale.

Label for Muir & Son’s Sparkling Edinburgh Ale.

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Waverley Station – Louis Pasteur’s visit to Edinburgh

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
A view of Waverley Station from above, looking fowards Princes Street

Waverly Station

Edinburgh EH1 1BB

When the great French biologist Louis Pasteur visited Edinburgh in 1884 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the city’s University he arrived, as many visitors do today, at Waverley station. You can get a magnificent view of the station from this spot on west side of North Bridge. The brewing industry had benefited greatly from Pasteur’s research and discoveries on fermentation, and Henry Younger, the great-grandson of the founder of the Younger brewing dynasty, not only invited Pasteur to stay at his house, but also arranged for a special carriage for him to be attached to the London to Edinburgh train which pulled into Waverley Station. Pasteur was horrified by the public health situation in Edinburgh, and Alexander Low Bruce, a senior manager at Younger’s, decided that a new chair of public health should be created at the University of Edinburgh as a direct result of his conversations with Pasteur. Bruce himself made a bequest of £5000 for this purpose. This chair was jointly endowed, in a move that might seem somewhat ironic today, by the proprietors of William Younger’s brewery and Usher’s distillery. A total sum of £15,000 was donated by the family of  Bruce, Younger’s brewery and Sir John Usher. The Bruce and John Usher chair of Public Health was established in 1898 and still exists at the University of Edinburgh today.

Black and white portrait of Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur (1822-95)

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Summer house, Moray House

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of the Summer House inside the gates of Morray House

Summer House inside the gates of Morray House

Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8BA

If you look through the gates of Moray House on the north side of Holyrood Road from this spot you can see the summer house where a historic event took place in 1707. In that year the threat of a riotous mob, enraged by the decision of the Scottish Parliament to sign the Treaty of Union with England, prevented the representatives of the two countries from signing the Treaty in the Scottish Parliament. For their own safety they retreated to this summer house in a private garden off Hollyrood Road, where they could sign away Scotland’s independence in peace. However, it proved one step too far for the Scottish representatives that Article 13 of the treaty imposed a malt tax on Scotland which had originally been established in England to pay for war with France. This tax on the brewing industry was too much for the Scottish parliamentarians and it was finally agreed that Scotland would be exempted from it. However, after the Union the tax was eventually imposed on Scotland anyway in 1725, leading to riots in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, where nine people died.

Summer house from the street.

View of Moray House summer house from across Holyrood Road.

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Summerhall

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of Summerhall

Summerhall

Summerhall Place, Edinburgh EH9 1PL

The first beer was brewed at Summerhall in 1704. It was one of the earliest commercial breweries in Edinburgh and predates the draining of the South Loch, which occupied the site of the present Meadows park. The brewery was founded by Robert McClellan, the gardener who looked after the garden that was then on the site. A well and stone wall boundary wall are all that remain of the original brewery today. From 1916 to 2011 the building on this site was the Royal School of Veterinary Studies. Summerhall is now a vibrant cultural centre, but its connection with brewing continues through Barney’s micro-brewery, which can be found towards the rear of the site. This was established by Andrew Barnett in Falkirk in 2010 before moving to this site in 2012.

Boundary wall in the courtyard of Summerhall that is all that remains of the old brewery buidlings

Boundary wall in the courtyard of Summerhall that is all that remains of the old brewery buidlings.

Label for Barney's Good Ordinary Pale Ale, brewed at Summerhall.

Label for Barney’s Good Ordinary Pale Ale, brewed at Summerhall.

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Windmill Street

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 

Windmill StreetWindmill Street, Edinburgh EH8 9HN

This street was originally close to the South Loch, which was drained to make way for the Meadows park in 1722. The street was named after the windmill which stood near this spot and provided power to pump water from the Loch to the Society of Brewers’ brewery near what is now Chambers Street. Although Edinburgh was surrounded by boggy, badly drained land, finding a source of clean water was always a problem, and many breweries had their own wells so that they could be sure of the water quality. Breweries often had to drill down as far as 180 metres to find clean water. The South Loch was also sometimes known as the Boroughloch. The name of the Boroughloch Brewery, which closed in the early 1900s, can still be found on an archway at the entrance to the brewery on Boroughloch street, a short walk south of Windmill Street. The loch itself was drained long before the foundation  of this brewery in 1805.

 

Windmill Street street sign

Windmill Street street sign.

 

Gates of former Boroughloch Brewery.

Gates of former Boroughloch Brewery.

 

Boroughloch Brewery sign.

Boroughloch Brewery sign.

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