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Edinburgh Where and When? ANSWER WHERE?: 85 St Mary's Street, 1911 to 1916 WHEN?: Photo taken between 1911 and 1916 (See Answer 4 below) |
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to John Stirling, Currie, Edinburgh: Oct 22, 2009 Photographer not known
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J Weinberg - Furniture Dealer |
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Old Photo Thank you to John Stirling for allowing me to reproduce this photo. The photo is taken from a collection of lantern slides that John rescued from being destroyed in 1974. The photographer is not known. Some of the other slides from this series are known to have been taken between about 1910 and 1920. |
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Zoom-in Please click on the thumbnail image below to zoom-in and have a closer look at the shop and the group standing at the doorway: |
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When and Where? If you can suggest when and where this photo might have been taken, please email me. I'll check the shop names in old editions of the Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories, unless somebody else provides the answer first. Peter Stubbs: October 25, 2009 |
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Recollections - Edinburgh Old Town St Mary's Street |
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1
John Stirling |
- St Mary's Street? |
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2
Liz
Miller |
- Lady Lawson Street? |
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3
Bryan Gourlay |
- Nicolson Street / Clerk Street area? - St Mary's Street |
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4
Peter
Stubbs |
- 85 St Mary's Street |
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5
Richard Torrance |
- 85 St Mary's Street |
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6
Bob Henderson |
- Corner of Cowgate + St Mary's Street |
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7
Danny Callaghan |
- 1960s to 1980s |
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8
Bryan Gourlay |
- St Mary's Street - Flodden Wall |
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9
Eric
Gold |
- 1951 - Stobo Tailors |
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10
Bob Henderson |
- Stobo Taylors |
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Answer 1. John Stirling Currie, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to John Stirling who who supplied the photograph above for commenting on where it might have been taken. John wrote: |
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St Mary's Street? "This very grand corner block could be St Mary's Street at the junction with The Pleasance." John Stirling, Currie, Edinburgh: October 23, 2009. |
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Answer 2. Liz Miller St Brelade, Jersey, Channel Islands |
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Thank you to Liz Miller who wrote: |
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Lady Lawson Street? "I wonder if that shop is on the corner of Lady Lawson Street and West Port. The building looks very familiar to me. I nursed at Chalmers Hospital, then worked from the Queen's Institute of District Nurses in Castle Terrace, so was up and down that road many times." Liz Miller, Jersey, Channel Islands: October 25, 2009 |
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Answer 3. Bryan Gourlay Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to Bryan Gourlay who wrote: |
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Nicolson Street / Clerk Street area? "I’m sure the Post Office Directories will confirm where this junction is. It looks vaguely familiar. It could just be the crossroads at the Lady Lawson Street as Liz Miller suggests, although I’m not sure about the very high buildings in the background. Here are a couple of guesses: - The lamp standard is similar to the one in the St Patrick Square photo, suggesting this one may have been taken by the photographer in the same area around the same time. How about looking from the corner of East Cross Causeway towards West Cross Causeway with Nicolson Street leading off to the right? - How about looking from the corner of West Cross Causeway towards East Cross Causeway with Clerk Street leading to St Patrick’s Square off to the right? The building is reminiscent of some around the Nicolson Street, Clerk Street area. There are no tram lines which might suggest it wasn’t a main route if it was in this period." Brian Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland: October 26, 2009. |
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Bryan Gourlay wrote again and added: |
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St Mary's Street? "It could just be the bottom of the Pleasance, with the Cowgate to the left and St Mary’s Street off to the right. The street light looks a bit posh for there but the road lay-out looks about right." |
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Answer 4. Peter Stubbs Edinburgh |
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85 St Mary's Street I've now checked old editions of the Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory, and can confirm that John Stirling and Bryan Gourlay are correct in suggesting that this might be the junction of St Mary Street and Cowgate. The roads in this photo are are in fact: - LEADING TOWARDS LEFT BORDER: Cowgate - LEADING TOWARDS RIGHT BORDER: St Mary Street - LEADING TOWARDS LOWER LEFT CORNER: Pleasance - LEADING TOWARDS LOWER RIGHT CORNER: Holyrood Road |
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1911-16 This photo would have been taken some time between 1911 and 1916. The Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories show that Joseph Weinberg was a Furniture and Tool Dealer. The addresses given in the directories for his shops are: - 1910: 276 Cowgate + 39 St Mary Street - 1911-16: 85 St Mary Street - 1917-19: [not listed] - 1920: 311 + 313 Cowgate Throughout this period, Joseph Weinberg's house was at 12 St Mary's Street. |
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2009 This scene looks very different today. Please click below to see what has changed over a period of almost a hundred years: |
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Peter Stubbs: October 26, 2009 |
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Answer 5. Richard Torrance Edinburgh |
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St Mary's Street Thank you to Richard Torrance who found information from the 1910 and 1914 trade directories consistent with that given in Answer 4 above. Richard sent me this information before I had published Answer 4 above. Acknowledgement: Richard Torrance, Edinburgh: October 26, 2009 |
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Answer 6. Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Bob Henderson who wrote: Corner of Cowgate and St Mary's Street "Hi Peter. You just beat me to it. I had convinced myself that it was indeed the corner of the Cowgate and St Mary's Street. The shop on the left, in my time in the 1940s -50s, was Stobo Taylor's a drapery store at the cheaper end of the market where we bought most of our clothes and other household drapery." Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: October 27, 2009 |
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Answer 7. Danny Callaghan Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to Danny Callaghan who wrote: 1960s to 1980s "The building, now the Travelodge, was originally build as new head office for Ben Line Shipping I think late 1960s. Prior to moving to their new swish office, Ben Line were on the north side of Bernard Street, Leith. In the late 1980s, at least some floors were taken over by Heriot Watt University during the building of their new Campus at Riccarton. Ben Line are now back in Leith in the Bond Building on Bonnington Road on the corner of Anderson Place. I worked in office furniture all my days and have been into all three of the Ben Line offices, and also into the building in St Mary's Street Heriot Watt were there. Danny Callaghan, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland: October 28, 2009 |
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Answer 8. Bryan Gourlay Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to Bryan Gourlay who wrote: |
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St Mary's Street "My first instinct was that this photograph was the St Mary’s Street/ Cowgate/ Pleasance junction – to do with the road layout and particularly the very high buildings in the distant background, presumably in the High Street. Somehow I talked myself out of that in favour of East/West Cross Causeway." Flodden Wall "They must have had to knock down large sections of the Flodden Wall to build the St Mary’s Street buildings and maybe also at the corner at the foot of the Pleasance. The wall can be seen clearly on the west side of the Pleasance nowadays, but I can’t recall whether or not it finishes before it gets to the crossroads foot of the hill." Brian Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland: October 28, 2009. |
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Flodden Wall This photo, taken in December 2007, shows the Flodden Wall on the west side of the Pleasance, stretching most of the way down, perhaps all the way down, to the Cowgate crossroads at the foot of the hill. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: October 29, 2009. |
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Answer 9. Eric Gold East End, London |
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Thank you to Eric Gold who wrote: |
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1951 "It was a great photo of St Marys Street in the 1951 era. The cobbles came up well in the damp weather too." Stobo Taylor's "The shop opposite the Salvation Army hostel was later called Stobo Taylor's. That's were one would get second hand cloths, as we all did in the Dumbiedykes area. A lot of people nicknamed it Scabbie Taylors (ha, ha, ha, ha) but the stuff that we bought there was good. Bob Henderson mentioned Stobo Taylors (in Recollections 6 above)." Eric Gold, East End, London: October 29+30, 2009 |
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Answer 10. Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Bob Henderson for sending more details of the shop near the Salvation Army building at the foot of The Pleasance. Bob wrote: |
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Stobo Tailors "Eric Gold says his Stobo Tailors was on the corner opposite the Salvation army Hostel. The draper I knew as a boy was actually built against the Salvation Army Building. It was a single story, built against the pleasance wall where the entrance to the hostel now is. The entrance to the hostel used to be round the corner in the Cowgate elevation. The draper shop had a rounded corner where the pleasance met the Cowgate, It was the same length as the gable wall of the hostel. At the southern end i.e. up the Pleasance a little there was a large recess which went back to what I take was the Flodden Wall this wall was very high with railings on top and directly in line with the high school yard nursery. I would guess this recess was about 30 feet wide and there were 2 or 3 benches in it used by the local winos or jakeys as we called them who sat there and drunk methylated spirit. The other end of this recess, the southern end was bounded by the tenement buildings with shops on the ground floor level." Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: October 30, 2009 |
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Stobo, Tailors In the lower-left corner of this photo, taken between 1911 and 1916, there appears to be a shop in the position that Bob Henderson describes for Stobo, Tailors. Peter Stubbs: November 3, 2009 The Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory for 1950-51 lists: - Pleasance: 1 Salvation Army Men's Social Work - Pleasance: 1a Taylor, Robert Stobo |