Buildings - Jeannie Deans' Cottage

Recollections Jeanie Deans' Cottage © and the 'Slidey Stane' ©
1.	Ella Glen	- Jeanie Deans' Cottage - The 'Slidey Stane'
2.	Irene Beaver (née Brown) Kirkliston, Edinburgh, Scotland	- The 'Slidey Stane' - near the brewery
3.	George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada	- The 'Slidey Stane' - right of passage
4.	Peter Stubbs Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - not found
4.	George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada	- The 'Slidey Stane' - not found
5.	Bob Henderson Burdiehouse, Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one? ©
6.	George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada	- The 'Slidey Stane' - 5 is unlikely
7.	Peter Stubbs Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - NO, it's not 5
8.	Tam Croal Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - NO, it's not 5
	Peter Stubbs Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one? ©
	George T Smith Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada	- The 'Slidey Stane' - NO, it's not 8
9.	Park Rangers Holyrood Park	- The 'Slidey Stane' - Is it this one? ©
10.	Bryan Gourlay Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland	- The 'Slidey Stane' - YES, it's 9
11.	Irene Beaver Kirkliston, West Lothian, Scotland	- The 'Slidey Stane' - YES, it's 9 - Jeanie Deans' Cottage - Army Firing Range
12.	Phil Gorman	- Jeanie Deans' Cottage
13.	Tam Croal Edinburgh	- Brian and me on the 'Slidey Stane' ©
14.	Ian Miller Atlanta, Georgia, USA	- Jeanie Deans' Cottage
15.	Andy Duff Maryborough, Queensland, Australia	- Jeanie Deans' Cottage
16.	Gordon Wright Newington, Edinburgh	- Jeanie Deans' Cottage - Demolition
17.	Nicky Pettigrew Edinburgh	- The 'Slidey Stane' - Legend
18.	Andrew Harper	- The 'Slidey Stane'
More photos and recollections of Jeanie Deans' Cottage and the area around it can be founds by clicking on the thumbnail image below. Postcard ©

Answer

Ella Glen

From Ella Glen (née Dalgleish) in her 94^th year! Ella lived at 5 Beaumont Place from 1919 until approx 1936.

Ella is now in Cheshire and looking over the shoulder of her daughter, who is typing this reminiscence.

Ella says:

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

"I remember as a girl of about 12 years of age sitting on the wall next to the cottage reading a book whilst also trying to keep an eye on my younger brother and sister who were playing just inside the Park."

The 'Slidey Stane'

"Does anyone remember the ‘Slidey Stane’ just further down into the Park opposite the brewery."

"Happy memories!"

Ella Glen (née Dalgleish), September 22, 2007

If you remember the 'Slidey Stane' please e-mail me, then I'll send an e-mail to Ella to let her know.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs

Answer

Irene Beaver

Kirkliston, Edinburgh

Thank you to Irene Beaver (née Brown), now living in Kirkliston, Edinburgh, who e-mailed me wrote:

Slidey Stane

"Yes I remember the Slidey Stane, just across from the Brewery. It was huge and used to have bluebells growing all round it.

I was brought up in 18 St Leonard's Street and South Oxford Street and Ella Glen's daughter, Pat is one of my best friends from Boroughmuir.

The Slidey Stane is still there but it has shrunk over the years. Must be global warming. : )"

Irene Beaver (née Brown), Kirkliston, Edinburgh, September 29, 2007

Answer

George T Smith

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Thank you to George T Smith, British Columbia, Canada, who writes:

Slidey Stane

"I remember being 'taken a walk' in the King's Park and sliding down that stone.

My mother, brought up in Beaumont Place, probably had a childhood memory of it.

In my turn I took my eldest son to slide on it some time in the 60's. Perhaps it was some sort of 'rite of passage'.

I think I was about 4 when I 'graduated in sliding' and my son about the same age."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: November 12, 2007

Answer

Peter Stubbs

Edinburgh

and

George T Smith

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

I went to Holyrood Park earlier this week, hoping to photograph the 'Slidey Stane' but failed to find it despite having been given fairly precise directions (below) by George T Smith.

I'll look for it again, next time I visit Holyrood Park.

- Peter Stubbs: January 9, 2008

George T Smith wrote:

Slidey Stane

"To the best of my recollection the Slidey Stane is near the entrance to the park from what is now Scottish Widows (was Thomas Nelson's in my day).

Shortly after the park entry, turn left and it is up a gentle slope in the direction of Jeanie Deans' cottage.

It is not large except to the eyes of young children say about three to four feet high and with a shiny slope facing towards Arthur's Seat. I seem to recollect that it was something like a wedge of cheese with a smooth side at about 60 degrees."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: January 6+9, 2008

Answer

Bob Henderson

Burdiehouse, Edinburgh

I beleive that Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh has found the answer, after walking through Holyrood Park, looking for it.

Bob wrote:

Where is the Slidey Stane? - Answer?

"I followed the instructions to the letter and have found some candidates for the slidey stane show.

I turned left at the park gates and followed the path all the way to Jimmy Clark's school and found nothing. On the way back I took the high road and walked along the ridge that separates the brewery from the Queens Drive, and Eureka! - large stones.

Two of these about ten feet apart were likely candidates, then at the roadside, near the park keeper's lodge, a stone being used as a sign board which had all the right shapes but not the right location.

The Park in that area has really changed a lot and there has been a program of tree planting on the hillside on the west side of the Queen's Drive. It was not like that when I was a boy during the war. So it could be that stones have been moved and one has been re-used for a sign board, perhaps.

The sign board stone is the largest of the three.

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh Jan 11, 2008

The other two stones were pretty much the same size, and both had quite shiny shiny surfaces which would have facilitated sliding. It was hard to gauge the size of them as they were overgrown with couch grass, but did appear to have the necessary wedge shape and the desired slope to make them suitable for sliding down."

Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: January 11, 2008

Incidentally, this is the same stone that I photographed in the snow about a week earlier, on January 3, 2008.

Bob's picture (above) shows the wedge-shape of the stone far more clearly than my photo (below)

Answer

George T Smith

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

George T Smith, British Columbia, Canada replied:

The Slidey Stane

"Seeing the pictures of 'Slidey Stanes' I feel the notice board stone is the most likely candidate. Perhaps an enquiry of the 'parkey' will provide a definitive answer.

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: January 11, 2008

George thought again, and wrote two days later.

The Slidey Stane

"The Slidey Stane' is surely smaller than my childhood recollections.

However, I think it unlikely that it has been moved as suggested, because of the costs involved v. any obvious benefits."

George T Smith, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada: January 13 + 14, 2008

Answer

Peter Stubbs

Edinburgh

Where is the Slidey Stane? - Answer to be Confirmed

I visited the Park Rangers' office today to ask about this stone.

They told me that the stone with the notice on it, close to the park gates near the Royal Commonwealth Pool, had come from the 'Rock Trap'. This is an area of fallen rocks below Salisbury Crags. i.e. on the opposite side of Queen's Drive to the location described for the 'Slidey Stane'.

Peter Stubbs: January 21, 2008

Answer Confirmed

Thomas Croal

Edinburgh

and

Peter Stubbs

Edinburgh

Thomas Croal wrote:

It's not 'that stone'

"Me and my brother played on the slippery stone regularly but its not the stone you have pictured

The one we played on and the one me and my father still visit is on the hill behind the old Stewarts distillery. I wonder if there could have been two. I will try and get a picture for you soon."

Tam Croal, Edinburgh: January 21, 2008

Hi Tam. Thanks for your comments. I hope you find that the stone is still there, and that you are able to photograph it.

I had a look for it twice, a couple of weeks ago. All that I found in the area that you mention was a small group of stones. I wondered if this one of them was the 'Slidey Stane'.

However, it didn't match the description given to me by George T Smith, and when George saw the pictures above, he told me that it was not the 'Slidey Stane' stone.

Peter Stubbs: January 21, 2008.

Answer Confirmed

Holyrood Park Rangers

Edinburgh

Thanks to Lily Laing and others from the Historic Scotland Park Rangers' office in Holyrood Park for helping to locate this stone.

Lily wrote:

I hope this is the 'Slidey Stane'

To find it:

1. Start at the park entrance at the south end of St Leonard's Bank

2. Take the footpath on the right for 80yards.

3. Turn left up the hill for 15 yards and the stone is straight ahead.

Peter Stubbs: March 3 2008

Answer Confirmed

10.

Bryan Gourlay

Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Thank you to Bryan Gourlay

"I was trying to get round to having a look for the Slidey Stane.

I was going to start looking around where you’ve now described. I remembered it was not far from Jeanie Deans Cottage.

We used to run along the path on the left and down the hill to the stane. I think this is the right one at last.

Bryan Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland: March 4, 2008

Answer Confirmed

11.

Irene Beaver

Kirkliston West Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Irene Beaver (née Brown) who wrote:

Slidey Stane

"That's the very one, although it does seem to have shrunk. Maybe all the wee bottoms sliding down it. The surrounding area was always covered with bluebells."

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

"I'm sure that Jeanie Deans' Cottage was still lived in in the 1950s as I seem to remember hens in the garden, although maybe that's just a figment of my imagination."

Army Firing Range

"Around the same time, the army regularly used the area to the west of Hunters' Bog at the south end of the Crags as a firing range. You knew to stay away when the red flag was flying."

Happy Hunting Ground

"My dad, Bobby Brown, born in 1906, was brought up in various homes around the Southside, and he called the King's Park (Holyrood) his 'happy hunting ground'."

Irene Beaver (née Brown), Kirkliston, West Lothian, September 29, 2007

Answer

16.

Gordon Wright

Newington, Edinburgh

Thank you to Gordon Wright who wrote:

Jeanie Deans' Cottage

Demolition

"In 1987 when I was compiling my guidebook:

‘A Guide to Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat'

I became friendly with Sergeant James McQueen of the Royal Parks constabulary. He told me that when Jeannie Dean’s cottage was demolished, most of the stone was used to form an island for nesting birds in Duddingston Loch."

Gordon Wright, Newington, Edinburgh: November 7, 2014

'The Slidey Stane' Legend

Reply

17.

Nicky Pettigrew

Edinburgh

Holyrood Park

Last Sunday (14 Dec 2014), I enjoyed joining a small group for a walk through Holyrood Park led by Historic Scotland Ranger, Nicky Pettigrew who explained some of the features as we passed them.

A map of the park can be found in this Historic Scotland leaflet.

Our Our route took us past

- Hunter's Bog,

- Camstane Quarries

- Hutton's Section

- South Quarry

- Salisbury Crags

and back down the Radical Road to Holyrood Palace.

'The Slidey Stane'

Legend

The Slidey Stane (near the western edge of the park at St Leonard's) was not on our route, but I asked Nicola about it nevertheless.

She knew of the stone and told me of the legend for girls that went with it:

"If you slide down the stone 3 times, you'll give birth within 3 years"'

Acknowledgement: Nicky Pettigrew, Historic Scotland Ranger, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh: Dec 14, 2014