Around Edinburgh

Greenbank Cottage

Greenbank Cottage

Nimmo Postcard

This is No 617 in a series of postcards by Nimmo of Edinburgh and Leith.

The title on the card is just visible as 'GREENBANK COTTAGE' in the lower left-hand corner.  (It is clearer on the reproduction above than on the original.)

The postcard is not dated and has not been posted.  It had a divided back and postage rates of 1/2D INLAND, 1D FOREIGN.

Question

Can anybody tell me where this cottage was situated, and if it still exists. [I would be surprised if it is still standing, because the Greenbank area is now fairly well covered by more recent housing, apart from the Braid Burn Valley Park beside Comiston Road

Answer 1

Thank you to Ian Taylor who provided the following answer:

"This is the last thatched cottage belonging to Greenbank farmhouse standing beside the little lane leading from Greenbank Crescent to the pathway that runs along the top of the western slope of Braidburn Valley Park.  Maybe?!"     [Ian Taylor:  28 October 2004]

Answer 2

Greenbank Farmhouse was also featured in the first of a series of illustrated lectures on the Districts of Edinburgh by the local author, Malcolm Cant, on 25 October 2004.

In his lecture on Greenbank, Malcolm showed some old photos of Greenbank Farm, taken probably around 1910 and in the 1920s.  The photos did appear to show the same building as in the photograph above.

Greenbank Farm with its thatched roof and field of small hay ricks seemed to be in an ideal rural setting, but Malcolm explained:

-  Conditions must have been very cramped.  The building in the picture was actually two houses.

-  The houses had earth floors, and no electricity or running water.

The farm was demolished in the early 1930s.