Puddockie

1956/57

Thank you to Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, for allowing me to reproduce this photo.

Commenting on the first photo above, Danny wrote:

Water of Leith at Warriston Road

"I was looking through my dad's old transparencies and found this picture which he took, probably in 1956/57.

The picture is of me and my pal and his sister building dams in the Water of Leith at Puddockie at Warriston Road.   It is opposite the B&Q warehouse.

You can clearly see the gravestones in Warriston Cemetery above us.   I remember that at the point where we were, on the  north side of the river, there was a cobbled way, out of the water and along the river bank for a bit.  If memory serves, there was something similar on the south side of river.

It looks as if there could have been a ford or similar before the old bridge was built over the river.  I remember them building the current concrete bridge, probably in the mid-1950s."

Building Dams and Catching Minnows

"Catching minnows, sticklebacks  and building dams at that spot was the order of the day.

Magnus Flucker and his sister Margaret are in this photo with me.  I'm facing the camera.    We used to disappear there all day in the summer holidays and our mums and dads knew exactly where to hunt for us."

Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland:  May 17, 2010

Puddockie

2011

Thank you to Danny Callaghan for writing again to tell me that he had returned to Puddockie to take this photo from close to the spot where his dad took the first photo above, about fifty five years earlier.

©

Both photos were taken, looking to the NE across the Water of Leith towards Warriston Cemetery from a point in Warriston Road, almost opposite B&Q, previously Dodge City, and before that, I don't know what was there.

Commenting on the photo taken in 2011, Danny wrote:

Water of Leith at Warriston Road

"This photo was taken from slightly higher than the 1956/57 photo because there is now a flood defence barrier on the south bank of the Water of Leith, where the photo was taken from."

Warriston Cemetery

"The most notable thing is the destruction of Warriston Cemetery.  Only one headstone can now be seen standing in this part of the cemetery."

Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland:  May 17, 2010

Powderhall Stadium and Puddockie