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Murray's Cooperage Craigmillar, Edinburgh |
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to David Bain, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England Photographer not known
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Murray's Cooperage |
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Thank you to David Bain for sending me the photo at the top of this page. |
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Zoom-out Below, we zoom-out from the photo at the top of this page, and have a look at all the coopers: |
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David Bain wrote: Question "I don't know if it might be possible to date this photo from the number on the cask top. Are there are there any cask-spotters out there? I can only guess that it's early thirties going by my grandad's appearance" David Bain, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England: March 12, 2009 |
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Answers? If you can help David to date this photo, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to him. Thank you - Peter Stubbs: March 12, 2009 |
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Replies |
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1. |
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, |
Cask Number |
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2. |
East End, London, England |
Where was the Brewery? Trade Directories |
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3. |
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, |
Early History of William Murray Recent History of William Murray |
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4. |
Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
Where was the Brewery? Answer Peffermill Tin School, nearby |
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5. |
Edinburgh |
History of William Murray |
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6. |
Broughton, Edinburgh |
Murray's No.1 |
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Reply 1. George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
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Thank you to George Smith who replied: Cask Number "The number tells me only one thing; it was not a spirit cask. A spirit cask would have had the rotation number of the cask with the year of filling." George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: March 13, 2009 |
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Reply 2. Eric Gold East End, London, England |
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Thank you to Eric Gold who replied: Where was the Brewery? "The photo of the Murray’s Cooperage in Craigmillar is great. But were in Craigmillar is it? There was a brewery at the end of Harewood Road where I lived." Eric Gold, East End, London, England: March 13, 2009 |
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Trade Directories I've checked in some of the old Edinburgh & Leith trade directories and found the following entry: "William, Murray & Co Limited Craigmillar Brewery, Craigmillar, Midlothian" I found this entry in the directory for 1930-31, the oldest directory that I've checked. It continued to appear in the directories up to 1961-62 and possibly later, but did not appear in the directory for 1970-71. Peter Stubbs: March 13, 2009 |
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Reply 3. George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
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Thank you to George Smith for sending further details, after checking on Google. Here is an extract from the notes that George sent to me: Early History of William Murray "William Murray, brewer and farmer, established the business at Ednam, near Kelso, Scotland, in 1880. The brewery was destroyed by fire and William Murray moved to Craigmillar, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1886 and established the Craigmillar Brewery. It became William Murray & Co Ltd in 1897. The company took over: - John Somerville & Co Ltd, North British Brewery, Duddingston, Edinburgh (est. 1897), in 1922; - John & George Brown, Macduff Brewery, East Wemyss, Scotland, (est. 1850s) and 8 tied houses in 1926; - William Halley Brown, Craigie Brewery, Lyon Street, Dundee, Scotland, in 1943; - John Wallace & Co, Aberdeen, Grampian, whisky blenders and wine and spirit merchants, in about 1946. Brewing ceased at Craigmillar Brewery in 1950, continuing at the North British Brewery." Recent History of William Murray "The company was acquired in May 1960 by Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd, later United Breweries Ltd, York and London, England, which merged with Charrington and Co Ltd, London, in 1962. It continued to brew until May 1962 when brewing was transferred to Aitchison Jeffrey Ltd, Heriot Brewery, Roseburn Terrace, Edinburgh. Bottling and malting continued at the North British Brewery until 1964." Source: Richmond, Lesley and Turton, Alison (eds.): 'The Brewing Industry. A Guide to Historical Records' (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1990) |
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George added: "I remember breweries in Duddingston from my childhood but never worked in any during my days in the Excise. I was employed mainly at: - TJ Bernard, Slateford (now flats I understand) and - McEwan's Fountainbridge (now long closed too)." |
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George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: March 14, 2009 |
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Reply 4. David Bain Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
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Thank you to John Hadden who wrote: Location "Murrays brewery was a long series of buildings in the triangle between Peffermill Road and Duddingston Road on the South East side of the railway and parallel to it. One entrance was via Peffer Bank but there were others. I think the brewery Eric mentions would be MacLachlans. My father worked there in the late fifties and I remember it as a very tall square red-brick building." Go to www.streetmap.co.uk and enter 328713,671780 in the search field, to see a map of the area." Map "While we're there, on Peffermill Road stood the 'tin school' that my father went to as a boy in the 1930s. Near the tin school, there is/was a specially made hole in the wall above the burn where steam lorries could draw water. the school stood on the South side of Peffermill Road, North West of the railway and about a hundred yards from it." |
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David Bain, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England: March 14, 2009 |
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Reply 5. John Hadden Edinburgh |
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Thank you to John Hadden who wrote: History "I agree with you checking out 'William Murray', rather than 'David Murray'. Looking at the close-up of the name on the barrel, it looks to me as if we can see a small 'm' in front of Murray, as an abbreviated 'Wm'. So the barrel may therefore belong to Wm Murray & Co Ltd, which kind of makes sense. The National Archives of Scotland hold information as far back as at least1897 regarding a presence of Wm Murray & CO at Duddingston / Craigmillar." |
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John Hadden, Edinburgh: March 14, 2009 |
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Reply 6. David Thomson Broughton, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to John Hadden who wrote: Murray's No.1 "My Dad worked at Murray's Brewery in Peffer Bank/Peffermill Road, but I recall one day he took me down to the other Murray's Brewery. It was called Murray's No1. This brewery stood right next to Duddingston Station, next to Scottish Maltings. There still is a row of houses there which belonged to the brewery and a vennel went through to the brewery. It was not used for brewing when I visited it, as it was riddled with damp, but it stood there until the late 1970s." |
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David Thomson, Broughton, Edinburgh: March 1, 2012 |