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Street Lighting High Street Looking to the east from the junction with South Bridge |
© Any reproduction requires
prior permission of Edinburgh City Archives
Photo from Edinburgh Street Lighting Collection SL/90/8.
Photo Ref. Photo Illustrations X187/2
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High Street |
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South Pavement Thank you to Edinburgh City Archives for allowing me to reproduce this photo from their Edinburgh Street Lighting Collection. The street lamps in this photo are attached to the walls, so there are no lamp posts taking up space on what could be a very busy pavement. When might this photo have been taken? The vehicles in the photo and in the photo below, taken at the same time but looking at the opposite side of the street, suggest to me that these photos might have been taken around the 1960s The photo looks down the northern pavement of the High Street (part of Edinburgh's Royal Mile) from the junction with South Bridge, looking down the hill towards Holyrood. The nearest street, on the right in this photo is Blackfriars Street, leading down the hill to Cowgate. |
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North Pavement Here is another photo taken from about the same position, but looking down the southern pavement of the High Street. |
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Reply 1. Bryan Gourlay Biggar Lanarkshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to Bryan Gourlay wrote: |
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Date of the Photo "I’m sure you a right about the photo being taken in the 1960s. The second car down has the distinctive tail light of a Mark I Ford Cortina launched in 1962. This was replaced by the Mark II before the end of the decade. The photo also shows the fishmonger my mother frequented every Wednesday afternoon after her foray around Patrick Thomsons" Bryan Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland: January 6, 2010 |
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Reply 2. David Bain Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
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David Bain sent me a similar reply, at about the same time as Bryan Gourlay sent his reply above. David wrote: |
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Date of the Photo "There's a Mk 1 Cortina in this shot, so it's 1962 or later." Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England: January 6, 2010 |
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Reply 3. Steven Oliver Duns, Borders, Scotland |
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Thank you to Steven Oliver who wrote: |
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Fluorescent Street Lights "These wall mounted fluorescent street lights will be Phosco P141 'Princess' lanterns. Only a handful of Edinburgh streets were lit by fluorescent lanterns: - High Street (early- to mid-1960s) - Lothian Road (c1959 to 1975) - Earl Grey Street (c1959 to 1975) - George Street (c1958 to 1983). |
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Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland: January 6, 2010 |
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Reply 4. Steven Oliver Duns, Borders, Scotland |
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Steven added: |
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Fluorescent Street Lights "These wall mounted fluorescent lanterns lit the section of the street between North Bridge and John Knox's House. As far as I know, these were experimental and were installed around 1959. They had gone by the middle of the 1960s, so it seems safe to assume that the experiment was unsuccessful." |
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Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland: January 10, 2010 |
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Reply 5. Steven Oliver Duns, Borders, Scotland |
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Thank you to Steven Oliver for writing again and adding: |
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Fluorescent Street Lights "That's just reminded me. There were two other locations in Edinburgh where fluorescent street lights were used:
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The Foot of Leith Walk
- Outside the Usher Hall. Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland: January 13 + 19, 2010 |
