Views around Dumbiedykes

Photography by Wullie Croal

Holyrood Road

Cheap Removal

Holyrood Road

Cheap Removal

This photograph comes from Willie Croal's collection and has been provided by his son, Tam.

This view looks to the west as the road leads up the hill from Holyrood towards the Cowgate and the Grassmarket.

Most photos in this collection were taken by Wullie, but this one actually features Wullie and his brother, Andrew, doing a cheap removal in Holyrood Road, some time between 1953 and 1957.

Recollections

1

Eric Gold

East End, London, England

Eric Gold of East London, formerly Dumbiedykes, adds:

"The photo of Holyrood Road with Wullie and his brother was is great.

Nathan's Rag Store

In the distance, you can see the tunnel in the Cowgate where Nathan's, the rag store, was.

The tunnel that Eric refers to is just visible to the left of the head of the distant figure in this picture.  This is where the Cowgate passes under North Bridge. This was the scene of the Edinburgh Old Town Fire in December 2002.   -  Peter Stubbs

Salvation Army Hostel

"At the junction in the middle of this picture where the Pleasance, St Mary's Street, Holyrood Road and Cowgate meet, you can see the Salvation Army Hostel were all the hobos (drunks and 'down and out's) would stay.

They would sit in the Cowgate and in the stairwell from the High School Yards and drink mentholated spirits or anything they could get there hands on.

My mother would say to me: 'Keep well clear of them as they are the Bogyman's cousins', and I stayed well clear of them. Mind you, they never mugged you and only asked you for a few pennies."

Stobbie Taylors

"Next to the Salvation Army Hostel there was a tailors called "Stobbie Tailors" and they sold second-hand suits and clothes in the 1950's.

I remember my mother taking me down there for a school uniform in 1953 when I started school. Stobbie was well known to all and sundry in the Dumbiedykes area."

Eric Gold, East London:  July 3 + 21, 2006

Recollections

2

Mike Melrose

Edinburgh

Thank you to Michael Melrose who wrote:

Maltings

"I am sure that Wullie and Robert Croal, in the photo, are  next to the building that was a maltings for the breweries:

-   William Youngers at Abbey

-  Holyrood Breweries in Holyrood Road

-  Campbell Hope and King in the Cowgate."

They are opposite the street that led up to St John's Hill, where St Patricks Primary School was located.

The smell of malted barley in Holyrood Road, when you walked past the maltings, was very distinctive.  You were able to look in through the windows on the pavement level where the brothers are standing and see the maltsters with their paddle shovels turning the malt over.  These were in the old days of traditional floor maltings.   

The maltings were demolished in the 1960s and Moray House College for Teachers was built on the site.

I hope this photo triggers similar recollections to mine."

Mike Melrose, Edinburgh:  April 8, 2009

Dumbiedykes:   Streets  A-G     Streets  H-R    Streets  S-Z    More Pages

Edinburgh Recollections