Leith Walk

W R & S postcard

Poem

Thank you to Bill Cunningham for allowing me to reproduce his poem to accompany the view above.  Bill was born in 1928 at 78 Leith Walk, close to where this photo was taken.

Bill wrote:

Leith Walk, Saturday Night; Winter, 1930’s

Trams trundle past

destinations a world away;

a penny takes you to

Portobello, Liberton,

Corstorphine, Granton;

not many have a penny.

Entertainment is on the street;

a piper outside Dan Cowan’s;

inside men drinking their dole money,

remembering the ‘War to end all Wars’.

The Kirkgate thronged with Mothers

shopping for late night bargains;

pigs feet, salt herring, ham ribs,

pies three a penny.

Seamen, buying short-lived friendship

from women in garish make-up,

disappear up ill-lit closes

and return in fifteen minutes.

Jack Cormack preaches “No Popery”;

nearby a bronze Queen Victoria

pays little heed.

Shop windows start to dim,

drunks wend their way home;

tomorrow, God’s special day.

Overnight, street cleaners

will make it fit for His presence

William McMillan Cunningham:  October 23, 2008.

Copyright, 1st May, 2002

Foot of the Walk

This photograph at the top of this page is one of many early views of Edinburgh in W R & S's Reliable Series

©

The second image above shows detail from the centre of the postcard.  It enables the shop and hotel signs to be read, and shows detail in the shading and colouring of the card.

View looking to the Foot of the Walk with a different colour of tram.

Looking north

      ©

View from the Foot of the Walk, looking back towards Edinburgh.

Looking south

   ©

Full Index

Views of Edinburgh

Princes Street views:
 Looking E         Looking W         Looking N + NE        Looking S

from Calton Hill        Preparing for the Trams        Princes Street Gardens

Other street views:
 Grassmarket         George Street          High Street        High Street closes        Leith Street
Lothian Road       North Bridge       Saint James Sq        Waverley Bridge       More Streets