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.

Find out more

The Canongate

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
A view of Canongate

Canongate

Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BN

The Canongate originally linked the Old Town of Edinburgh to Holyrood Abbey, established in 1128 by king David I, who reigned from 1124 to 1153. It takes its name from the Augustinian canons who lived in the Abbey. The word ‘gate’, originally spelt ‘gait’, is not derived from the English word but comes instead from the Norse word for ‘street’, so Canongate can be translated ‘Walk of the Monks’. The monks were the first known brewers of beer for sale in Edinburgh. In the sixteenth century beer was generally been made by women at home for the needs of the household. In 1520 228 homes in Edinburgh brewed beer, representing one brewery for every 40 inhabitants. The monks, by contrast, produced more beer than they could drink themselves, so on market days they used to bring it up the Canongate to the city’s market to trade with the people of the town. Canongate retained its connection with brewing in later centuries and at one time 20 breweries were to be found on this street or nearby. The popularity of this neighbourhood for brewing was a consequence of the good underground water supply in the area known to the brewers as the ‘Charmed Circle’.

Find out more

William Younger’s Holyrood Brewery

 History of Brewing  7 Responses »
Jan 292018
 

112 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BW

This brewery was bought over by William Younger in 1858, who turned it into what was at one time the largest brewery in Edinburgh, with the capacity to produce 60 brews a week, generating 600 barrels of beer a week, or 432 million pints of beer every year. In the twentieth century malt was brought in in huge quantities by lorry and off-loaded near Coopers Close. The brewery finally closed in 1986. You can see more of the old brewery buildings by walking down Crichton’s Close.  William Younger’s also owned the Abbey Brewery on the site of what is now the Scottish Parliament. It was named after Holyrood Abbey where monks first brewed beer in in the twelfth century. Abbey Brewery was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for the new parliament building which opened in 2004.  Before its demolition it had been the head office of Scottish and Newcastle breweries, which grew to become the largest brewing company in the UK.

View of old brewery buildings in Crichton's Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking up Crichton’s Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking down Crichton's Close.

View of old brewery buildings looking down Crichton’s Close.

Old brewery buildings in Cooper's Close.

Old brewery buildings in Cooper’s Close.

Label for William Youngers Export Pale Ale, with an illustration of a man with a long beard on a yellow background.

Label for William Youngers Export Pale Ale.

Find out more

Bell’s Brewery, the Pleasance

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of the University of Edinburgh's sports facility at Pleasance, which once housed Bell's Brewery

Bell’s Brewery

48 Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ

The building that now houses the University of Edinburgh’s sports facilities was once Bell’s Brewery. This brewery united with three others in the 1920s to create Edinburgh United Breweries, but this new conglomerate rapidly ran into financial difficulties. As a result, one of the directors and the head brewer decided that the only way for the brewery to survive was to avoid paying the full amount of duty on the beer they produced. From 1926 until the fraud was discovered in 1933 it was the practice at the brewery to keep two sets of books for the brewery’s business records. Only one of these books, representing only a part of the production of the brewery, was shown to the inspectors from Customs and Excise. A sacked employee finally told Customs and Excise what was going on, leading to the exposure of the scheme. The brewery could not afford to pay what they owed leading to the business going under. A book based on this case by John Pink was used for many years in the training of new officers.

Orange, black, and white label for 90 Shillling Pale Ale, brewed by Edinburgh United Breweries.

90 Shilling Pale Ale, brewed by Edinburgh United Breweries.

Society of Brewers, Chambers Street

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of the extension of the National Museum of Scotland, once the site of Society of Brewers

Original location of the Society of Brewers

Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

In 1596 the Society of Brewers, or, to give it its full name, the Fellowship and Society of Ale and Beer Brewers of the City of Edinburgh, was established on the site where the modern extension to the National Museum of Scotland new stands. Their brewing operation here was supplied with water pumped from the South Loch, later called the Boroughloch, which was later drained to create the Meadows.  A number of other breweries were established here in later centuries. Archibald Campbell started brewing near here in Campbell’s Close in 1710 before moving a short distance to the site of the Argyle Brewery, the buildings of which still survive between Chambers Street and the Cowgate. In the eighteenth century it specialised in brewing porter, much of which was transported by cart to be sold in Glasgow. There were three other brewers in this area at different times in the nineteenth century: Aikman, J. & T. Usher and William J. Raeburn.

McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh

 History of Brewing  No Responses »
Jan 292018
 
Exterior of McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh

McEwan Hall

Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG

The McEwan Hall of the University of Edinburgh is named after the Edinburgh brewing magnate William McEwan (1827–1913), who had learnt the art of brewing from his uncle, who ran a brewery in the Grassmarket. The Hall and a new medical school were opened in in 1897, built with £115,000 donated by McEwan, a princely sum at the time. It is used by the University principally for graduation ceremonies. McEwan was not only a brewer, but a local politician, philanthropist and, strange as it may seem, an ardent member of the Temperance Society. How he squared his moral stance on the evils of alcohol with his extremely lucrative business interests is hard to imagine. On the other side of Bristo Square you will see the McEwan lantern pillar, bearing the family coat of arms, erected at the same time as the Hall.

McEwan lantern pillar on Bristo Square

The McEwan lantern pillar, Bristo Square.

Black and white portrait of William McEwan

William McEwan (1827-1913)

Red, white, and black label for McEwan's Export.

Label for McEwan’s Export India Pale Ale.

Find out more

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.

Find out more

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.

Find out more

The Meadows: The ‘Yiddish Parliament’

 Jewish History  No Responses »
Dec 182017
 

North Meadow Walk, The Meadown, Edinburgh EH3 9GEThe Meadows

Prior to the opening of the Salisbury Road Synagogue in 1932, which brought together the Russisher/Griner and Englisher Shuls on the Southside, all who had moved south were required to re-track their route across the Meadows to reach the synagogues in the St Leonard’s area and in Graham Street. After Salisbury Road Synagogue was opened, the Meadows still had its uses as a place for the young to meet on a shabbat afternoon, and for the elders of the community to sit and kibitz. Indeed, the bench you are sitting on was the seat of the ‘Yiddish Parliament’, where immigrant gentlemen discussed religion, community politics, and generally gossiped on Saturday afternoons.

Find out more

Salisbury Road Synagogue / Community Centre

 Jewish History  No Responses »
Dec 182017
 

4 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh EH16 5ABSalisbury Road Synagogue

Here we are in Salisbury Road synagogue, a building designed to reflect the significance of the Scottish capital’s Jewish community. In 1932 the synagogue building was complemented by a community centre on the opposite side of the road. This was sold off in the 1980s and the proceeds invested in dividing the synagogue building to create a community centre underneath the sanctuary. What you see today upstairs is used from 1 July until the end of the High Holidays, for Shabbat mornings and festivals. The smaller sanctuary at the back of the shul is used in the winter months and for Shabbat evening services, the community now struggling to gather a regular minyan and to maintain the large building.

Find out more

 Older Entries  Newer Entries