|
Lamp Post Accident |
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Edinburgh City Archives Photo SL90/8/2. Please note restrictions on use of this photo.
|
Question |
|
Lamp Post Accident This photo is reproduced with acknowledgement to Edinburgh City Archives. It is one of the photos in their 'Edinburgh Street Lighting Unit' collection (a role originally carried out by the Police Commissioner's Lighting Committee). What is known about this accident? |
|
Answer 1. Ian Scott |
|
Thank you to Ian Scott who wrote: |
|
ATS "Great photo. The lorry is a 1936-7 Leyland Cub. The lady is a member of the ATS and may have been the driver. There are no masks on the headlamps, so the photo may be post war." Ian Scott, Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire, England: April 15, 2010 |
|
Answer 2. Benzyl Edinburgh |
|
Thank you to Benzyl, Edinburgh who wrote: |
|
New Street and East Market Street "This looks like the corner of New Street and East Market Street. The turning on the left, and the wall on the right with the railings looks like a tidy match with this recent Google street view looking up New Street." Benzyl, Edinburgh: April 17, 2010 |
|
Answer 3. Peter Stubbs Edinburgh |
|
|
Here is another photo that I found recently in the 'Edinburgh Street Lighting Unit' collection, held by Edinburgh City Archive. This one answers the question about where the accident with the lorry and the lamp post occurred. |
|
|
Outside Queensberry House 64 Canongate It is not obvious, from the photo above, what caused the lamp post to fall. However, the location and the date are now clear. The accident happened at the gates to Queensberry House on the south side of Canongate, Edinburgh. The St Cuthbert's building, in the upper-right corner of this photo, has since been demolished. Queensberry House, in the upper left corner still exists. It has now been refurbished and has become part of The Scottish Parliament. New gates have been installed. This photo was published in the Edinburgh newspaper, 'Evening Dispatch'. The date written on the back of this photo is December 26, 1946. |
|
|
64 Canongate Today Here is how Queensberry House looks now, following its refurbishment. This photo was taken as riders in 'The Riding of the Marches' passed it, heading up the Royal Mile to the Mercat Cross in September 2009. |
|
|
Lamp Post On looking more closely at the lamp post in the two old photos, I was interested to see the sign on the lamp post, in the lower right corner of the first photo below. This sign seems to have been removed by the time that the second photo below was taken. The sign reads:
|
|
|
Questions 1. Was this a common sign on lamp posts in the centre of Edinburgh in the 1940s? 2. Were there also other signs carrying different messages? |
|
|
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 9, 2011 |
|
Answer 4. Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
|
Thank you to Bob Henderson who wrote: |
|
Sign on the Lamp Post The 'DO NOT SPIT' signs were quite common when I was a boy. I remember seeing them seeing them on the lamp posts outside the Pleasance Trust and outside the Surgeons Hall. Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: January 9, 2011 |
|
I grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the 1950s. I don't remember seeing any 'DO NOT SPIT' signs on lamp posts there, but I do remember seeing them above the windows on the top deck of all the buses in Bradford. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 11, 2011 |
|
Answer 5. Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
|
Bob Henderson added: |
|
Accident "It looks as if the base of the lamp post is under the cab of the lorry. That would seem to indicate that the lorry hit the base of the lamp post, snapped it off, and it fell back on the cab." Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: January 9, 2011 |
|
Answer 6. Steven Oliver Duns, Borders, Scotland |
|
Thank you to Steven Oliver who wrote: |
|
Accident "I've been looking at the photo of the felled lamp post in Canongate. It looks as if the lorry ran in to the lamp post, which then fell on top of the lorry. This was quite a common occurrence with the Mackenzie & Moncur and Falkirk Iron Co columns throughout Edinburgh, as their kerbside location left them vulnerable to being struck by passing traffic. This column would have been replaced by a slimline one (No. 42 column and No.34 bracket). Steven Oliver: January 10, 2011 |
|
Steven also sent told me about a similar accident on North Bridge in 1978. |
|
Steven wrote: Another Accident "This lamp post had been decommissioned, having recently been replaced. It was awaiting removal by the council when a passing vehicle did the deed for them. You can see in this photo that a small piece of the column has remained in the pavement." Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland: January 10, 2011
©
Scotsman Publications Ltd.
Click here
for web site details. Licensed by
Scran, |
|
Answer 7. Mike Melrose Greenbank, Edinburgh |
|
Thank you to Mike Melrose, who wrote: |
|
The Lorry Redpath Brown Ltd. "From the photograph it is just discernable that the Lorry belonged to Redpath Brown Ltd who had their structural steel business at the St Andrews Steelworks in Albion Road (of Easter Road) Edinburgh. Also on the driver’s side door panels you can see the Registered Office Address which was 2 St Andrew’s Square Edinburgh. You can see the name on the facia over the front windows of the cab and the logo, R and interlaced B, on the driver’s side door" Mike Melrose, Greenbank, Edinburgh: January 10, 2011 |
|
Answer 8. Ian Scott |
|
Ian Scott, who wrote answer 1 above, added: |
|
Queensberry House "I used to go past Queensberry House in the late-1940s and early 1950s. I always thought it was a scary part of town." Ian Scott: January 10, 2011 |
|
Answer 9. Steven Oliver Duns, Borders, Scotland |
|
Thank you to Steven Oliver who followed up his comments in 6 above. |
|
Steven wrote: North Bridge Accident "You'll have seen in the photo that the adjacent bus stop was also knocked over. The bus stop pole would probably have been brand new at the time, with the bus stop transferred from the old lamp post. The fixing collars for the bus stop are still fitted to the lamp post.) These old lamp posts were, and still are, fairly robust - as long as vehicles don't crash into them! As can be seen in the Canongate and North Bridge photos, if they are struck, they simply snap at the base and fall over." |
|
Steven added: Willowbrae Road "For interest, here is a photo of the remains of a concrete lamp post in Willowbrae Road, after a bus ran into it - an interesting contrast with the North Bridge photo." |
|
Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland: January 12, 2011: January 12, 2011 |
|
Answer 10. Danny Callaghan Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland |
|
Danny Callaghan wrote: |
|
North Bridge Accident "I was looking at the lamppost accident pictures and had a chuckle at the one on the North Bridge at Arnotts (PT's)." Health & Safety "Could you imagine if this was to happen today? With 'Health & Safety', there would be a 200 meter exclusion zone around the lamppost. No doubt the buses and traffic would be diverted up the Mound. Certainly would be no one standing there waiting for the bus, let alone even someone walking under it." Danny added: Question Arnotts "When did Patrick Thomson's change its name to Arnotts before it became a hotel?" Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland: January 14, 2011 |
|
Answer 11. Danny Callaghan Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland |
|
Thank you to Danny for answering his own question (asked in 10 above). Danny wrote: |
|
Arnotts "According to 'The History of Patrick Thomson', Patrick Thomson changed its name to Arnotts in 1976. Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland: January 14, 2011 |
|
I forgot that I had added 'The History of Patrick Thomson' page to the web site! That was in 2004. Peter Stubbs: January 14, 2011 |
|
Answer 12. Benzyl Edinburgh |
|
Benzyl wrote again: |
|
New Street and East Market Street "About the only recognisable thing left anywhere in the photograph is the stepped wall at the side and the low wall/railings along the front of Whitefoord House. |
|
Canning Street "There is an old Edinburgh lamp post that on this Flickr page that I've been seeing from afar and wondering where it was. It turned out to be in the back yard of the power transformers just off Canning Street. I suppose they claimed it years ago or salvaged it when the street was last worked on and kept it in good repair. It looks to be obviously cared for" |
|
Benzyl, Edinburgh: January 20, 2011 |