45 Blackfriars Street

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 242020
 

45 Blackfriars St, EH1 1NB

45 Blackfriars Street
45 Blackfriars Street

Struck by the mid-19th-century potato famine, impoverished rural workers from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands moved to Edinburgh and into the dilapidated buildings left behind by the local nobility and middle class who, by then, had relocated to New Town. Larger homes previously occupied by the wealthy were subdivided into small lodgings, often shared by multiple families. Severe overcrowding and poor sanitation created a fertile ground for the spread of disease. In his 1850 survey on the living conditions in Blackfriars Wynd, Dr George Bell reported 10 Irish immigrants, including a child dying of consumption, sharing a single room. The situation raised much discussion among Victorian sanitary workers, who lamented the misery of the poor just as keenly as their moral failings. In 1867, the City Improvement Act made provisions to demolish all buildings on the east side, widen the roadway, and erect new tenements in Blackfriars Wynd (subsequently renamed Street). 45-51 Blackfriars Street, at the junction of New Skinner`s Close, displays a plaque to commemorate the Blackfriars Building Association of 84 working men, a co-operative effort to finance and erect two buildings on clearance sites under the Improvement Act.

Faint inscription on the façade of 45-51 Blackfriars Street: 'These were the first dwelling houses erected to provide accommodation for the industrial classes on the site of those demolished by the city authorities under the Improvement Act 1867'
: ‘This and the adjoining tenement were built by the Blackfriars Building Association, composed of 84 working men, in 1871. These were the first dwelling houses erected to provide accommodation for the industrial classes on the site of those demolished by the city authorities under the Improvement Act 1867’.
Cardinal Beaton's House before the demolitions, by Archibald Burns, 1868
Cardinal Beaton’s House at the junction of Cowgate and Blackfriars’ Wynd before the demolitions, photograph by Archibald Burns, 1868
(National Portrait Gallery)
Dereliction in Bulls Close, Cowgate, photograph by Archibald Burns, 1858 (National Portrait Gallery)
Dereliction in Bulls Close, Cowgate, photograph by Archibald Burns, 1858 (National Portrait Gallery)

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The Netherbrow Wellhead

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 242020
 

near John Knox House, High Street, EH1 1SR

The Netherbrow Wellhead
The Netherbrow Wellhead

In 1681, water was brought in by a ‘leaden pipe’ from the burns south of the town to a reservoir on Castle Hill. The reservoir supplied six wells in the High Street, including the one at Netherbrow Port. The rich, who lived on the upper floors of tall tenements, employed ‘water caddies’ to carry water upstairs.  However, by the late-18th century, the water coming to the city was not enough to provide for the rapidly growing population and supply to the wells was restricted to only three hours a day. In the early 19th century, water companies were established and new pipes introduced. Nonetheless, water supply remained inadequate both in quantity and quality. During droughts, impure surface water was pumped into the wells. The 1867 Improvement Act introduced by William Chambers, and the Improvement Scheme that followed, had considerable success in tackling these issues.

Plaque on the wellhead
Plaque on the wellhead

2 St Mary`s Street

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 242020
 

2 St Mary’s St, EH8 8AA

2 St Mary`s Street
2 St Mary`s Street

2 St Mary’s Street was the first building erected under the 1867 Edinburgh Improvement Act. The act was the achievement of William Chambers (1800-1883), Lord Provost of Edinburgh and Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn (1826-1914), the first Medical Officer of Health for the city. In 1765, Littlejohn published his Report on the Sanitary Condition of the City of Edinburgh, in which he demonstrated, using innovative statistical methods, the effects of population density, poverty, and sanitary conditions on the health and life expectancy of people. The Report helped persuade city officials to act. Legislation was passed to widen streets, clear congested housing sites, improve water supply, and monitor more closely the quality of food, among other things. However, in practice, the Improvement Act was used to legally demolish the poorest tenement dwellings in Old Town, which were replaced by housing for artisans, tradesmen, and the `superior` working classes. The large-scale slum clearance, although celebrated for its sanitation improvements, reduced the amount of available housing and displaced much of the city’s poor, ultimately shifting, rather than solving, the housing problem.

Upper College Wynd before demolitions, by Archibald Burns, 1871 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
Upper College Wynd before the demolitions associated with the City Improvement Scheme,
photograph by Archibald Burns, 1871
(Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
Crumbling houses on Cowgate by William Donaldson Clark, c.1860 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
Crumbling houses on Cowgate near the pillars of George IV Bridge, photograph by William Donaldson Clark, c.1860
(Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

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