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Granton Hotel was the original building
on the east side at Granton Square.
It is no longer a hotel, but its name can still be seen on the
building. When Queen Victoria
visited Edinburgh in 1837, she arrived at
Granton Harbour before the Edinburgh Officials had turned up to greet
her, so she stopped at Granton Hotel for a coffee. |
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Granton Tap was one of the bars
at Granton
Hotel. Its entrance was in Lower Granton Road.
'The Tap' was very convenient for anybody arriving at Granton Harbour. |
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Granton Ferry used to run to
Burntisland from Granton in the 19th century. Its demise began
with the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890. |
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Granton
Railway Station on Middle Pier closed in 1925, despite
the building of many new new streets of
houses in the area at that time.
In 1963, there was a rail tour that ran
past Trinity Station then along the North British Railway embankment
beside Lower Granton Road to the site of the old station on Middle Pier.
This was followed by another excursion to Middle Pier, a
few years later. |
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A
Coal Yard and Wood Yard
were
at the entrance to Middle Pier from Granton Square. Kenneth
used to work in the coal yard on Saturday mornings, breaking up coal then going around
Granton selling it to the houses. Some Saturdays all his coal
was sold by 9.30am and he could go home again; other Saturdays,
it took him until lunchtime to sell it all.
Anybody of the ladies who wanted coal delivered to their house just hung out of
their window as the coal man passed, and it would be delivered.
On one occasion Kenneth delivered coal to a house but the occupant
did not want it. She was just hanging out the window to have a
chat with her neighbour. Kenneth did not want to carry the
coal away again, and the lady was persuaded to pay for it. |
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Fish nets
were made by ladies in their huts near the timber yard at the
entrance to Granton Harbour. |
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Cobbler's shop, Hardy's sweet shop, Taxi
Office. were in a row beside the
station on Middle Pier. |
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Fish from the Trawlers.
Some of the fish would be dropped
deliberately by the men as it was being transferred from the boats
to lorries. The local people who had come down to the harbour
would scramble to pick it up and take it home. |
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Devlin's Yard.
Devlin had a fleet of trawlers. His yard was
near Granton Square, between Lower Granton Road and Granton Road. |
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Granton Square was a hub for trams.
They
went to many destinations across Edinburgh. Kenneth showed
some of his photos
of trams at the square, including one with the tram driver and
conductor dressed in their summer outfits - flat caps with white brims. |
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Esparto Grass arrived by
ship from North Africa and was then transported by lorries and trains
to Penicuik and Balerno for making paper. Tortoises and snakes
and other beasts could be found in the grass when it reached
Granton. Many locals found these tortoises in the grass, took
them home and built a little
run for thm in their gardens. |
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Steam trains
brought coal from the
Lothian coal fields to the harbour. Sometimes, the fire in the
steam engines set fire to the
esparto grass. When this happened, Kenneth and his friends
would amuse themselves by finding more material to add to the fire
and keep it alight.
The Duke of Buccleuch was paid 2d for every trainload of coal that
crossed his land.
The engine drivers allowed
Kenneth and friends to travel on the engine footplates, but
the boys had to duck down so that they would not be seen by those in
charge when the engines went into
the Caledonian Railway goods station. This station
is now part of Waugh's scrap yard, to the west of Granton Square. |
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Brechin's Boat Yard was beside Granton harbour
where Kenneth remembers once seeing a steam trawler with its sails
being broken up. The yard closed following a fire. |
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Playing with Bows and Arrows
was
a popular activity for Kenneth and his friends at the
harbour. The boys bought canes, for arrows, from the local drysalter.
On one occasion, they attached nails to the ends of their canes and
used them to go shooting
the rats that lived under the pier at the harbour! |
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A
Toll Road
was planned by the Duke of Buccleuch, on
his land to the west of Granton Harbour, but tolls were never
charged. |
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Ice Factories.
There was an ice factory half-way along Middle Pier
on the west side of the pier. It delivered ice direct to the
ships and also came up with the idea of providing ice cubes for
drinks. There was another ice factory nearby. It was along West Harbour Road. |
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Gun Powder Storage.
This was a building on Middle Pier that
trains could run through. It is still there now, but empty. It
is half-way along Middle Pier on the east
side of the pier. After being used for gun powder storage, the
building became an office of the General
Steam Navigation Company. |
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Eastern Breakwater.
This is where Kenneth and friends went fishing. They were not
allowed to fish from Middle Pier or from the Western Breakwater
which was very industrial. Most of the time the boys did what
they were told! |
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Wardie Bay.
This was the place to swim, but not wearing
today's fashions. The boys had knitted swimming trunks! |
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Lighthouse. The lighthouse
on West Harbour Road was used for training.
Occasionally the light was lit for trawlers, but it was a long way
from the sea! |
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Post Office.
The Post office was on the corner of Granton
Square and Granton Road. It later became Jaws takeaway.
Its name has since changed, but it is still a take-away snack bar. |
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Church.
The church at the foot of
Granton Road, near
Granton Square was, built by the Duke of Buccleuch. That's the
church that he used to attend. |
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Police Houses were in Granton
Road, a few yards above the church. They are still standing,
but are no longer used as Police Houses. |
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The Square Centre was near the foot of Granton Road, between
the church and the Police Houses. That's where guides, cubs
and other groups for youths who met there., |
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Onion Johnny sold
his onions from door to door around Granton |
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The
Rag & Bone Man offered toffee apples
and balloons to the children in return for old clothes. |
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A Seik
can be seen beside the station in Middle
Pier with his suitcase in one of Kenneth's photos. He used to
sell goods from his suitcase, from door to door around Granton. |
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Granton Gas Works had its own station
with trains for the workers running from Princes Street Station. The
service was discontinued after a bus service began to operate in the
area.
On arriving at the station, the workers climbed up to the first
floor where they clocked in, then walked across the gantry to their
work.
The old station building has been restored by Centrica, and it is
hoped that a good use will soon be found for it.
It has large Coats of Arms for Edinburgh and Leith and a large clock
on its frontage. The clock is not electrical, but is needs to
be wound up with a big winding handle.
Inside the gas works, a 2ft gauge railway was used for moving the
coal around. One of Kenneth's photos showed the railway.
All the railway workers in his photo, are female, so the photo must
have been taken during the 1st World War, 1914-18.
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Trains on the Caledonian Railway
Line at Granton took bi products, coke and bitumen (used to make rubber products) away from
the Granton Gas Works.
As the railway line approached Granton Square, it crossed over West Harbour
Road. There were no gates or other means of separating the
train from the traffic - just a railway man who stepped down from
his cab to stop the cars as the train progressed. Kenneth said
he never heard of any accidents happening there. 'The train
was big, so you kept out of its way' |
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The Custom House was beside West
Harbour Road near Granton Square, close to where the railway from Granton Gas
works and the other industries in the area used to cross the road
reach Granton Harbour. It is now used by businesses, including
a picture framing business. |
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Granton Gas Works Pond was intended to
be used in
the event of fire at the gas works. The area was 'strictly out
of bounds' to the children, so Kenneth and his friends never went there. It
was believed that two children had once drowned there. |
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A
Diesel Shunter used to operate along
the piers at Granton Harbour. They shunted the coal waggons
and took them up to Granton Gas works.
There was also a diesel shunter that
shunted waggons at the
Texaco sidings, between Granton Harbour and Granton Gas Works.
This has now been restored and is stored at the Scottish Vintage Bus
Museum in Lathalmond, Fife. |
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Regent Oil works were between
Granton Harbour and Granton Gas Works. They later became
Texaco Oil. The company produced fuel for aircraft that was taken to
Prestwick by train. Goods trains continued to run from the
area and along the old NOrth British Railway embankment, over the
bridge with the 'tram pinch' at the foot of Trinity Road and past Trinity Station until
the 1980s.
The lines were lifted. Some of the lines and trucks were taken
to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society's line at Bo'ness, West
Lothian. |
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Football Matches
took place every week between
the boys from Granton and
boys from Wardieburn, often with over 20
boys on each side.
On one occasion, Kenneth and his friends went to Beattie's timber
yard and begged to be given sacks of sawdust. They used the
sawdust to 'line out' their football pitch, as they had seen done on
some of the larger football pitches. It looked good until the rain came. |
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International Football Matches
were played between the Granton boys and the
crews of German trawlers berthed at Granton. The Germans used
to give cigarettes. |
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Ruberoid and
Caroline Foundry were
two more of the industries to be found
to the west of Granton Harbour, near the gas works. |
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Flemings produced their
inks at Caroline Park, near the gas works. Sometimes the
company was responsible for colouring the waters in the Forth red or blue or
green!
Caroline Park, and its old walled
garden, is now in private ownership. |
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National Museum of Scotland storage rooms are
also nearby. They are between West Granton Road and Waterfront Avenue. |
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A Football Pitch
could be found in the open ground to the east
of Granton Gas Works. The changing room there was an old tram. |
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Crew Junction was on
the railway line from Princes Street to Granton Gas Works and Granton
Harbour. The area was later developed with housing and 'Crew' became
known as 'Crewe', as in Crewe Toll. |
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Northern General Hospital
was built at Ferry Road for treating TB sufferers. |
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Pilton Halt
was
beside the Northern General Hospital and
Bruce Peebles' factory. To discourage the enemy from attacking
the station and Bruce Peebles during World War II,, men with guns used to patrol the
Pilton Halt platforms, but their guns were imitations made from
wood! |
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A Tunnel ran from
Ainsley Park School to Granton Gas Works. That's where the Ainsley Park pupils
used to go, to smoke their
cigarettes. |
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An Electric Railway
ran inside Bruce Peebles' works.
It was very basic, built by the Bruce Peebles workers. The
workers later modified it, using parts from one of the paraffin
companies' railways. |
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Old prams with
large wheels, used to be
seen around the streets. They were used for transporting children, and also for carrying fish
that had 'fallen off lorries' and coal that had 'fallen off trains'.
Kenneth mentioned that, on one occasion,
he saw a pram on board the platform of a tram, tied on
to the tram with a rope. He does not know what or who was in the
pram. |
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Granton Western Harbour
was used both by ships bringing in esparto grass and by oil tankers.
The harbour was large enough for the tankers to turn around inside
it. |
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Granton Road Station
was
on the line from Princes Street to
Leith. This was the point of departure for children from Granton
School going to trips to the Trossachs and to 'Down the Water' from
Glasgow. |
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Medalvic Car Works lies derelict,
beside the building that housed today's 'Made in Granton'
exhibition.
This
was one of the earliest car factories in Britain. It was over
a century ahead of its time, in making electric cars around 1900! |
