Another gem from our collections and the feature of our latest Capital Collections online exhibition is a small volume titled Scottish Loch Scenery. It contains a series of delightful coloured plates from drawings by A.F. Lydon and text by Edinburgh-born Thomas Allan Croal.
Published in 1882 it features 25 landscape views from across Scotland well before the time of mass tourism in remote areas of Scotland, with some views looking very serene.
Loch Katrine by A. F. Lydon Is this the loveliest loch in Scotland?
Although, the book is a sort of Victorian travel guide with descriptive notes on the most picturesque lochside scenes and must-see sights along with practical information for the intrepid traveller.
Loch Katrine, author Croal declares to be: “The most brilliant gem in the loch scenery of Scotland” and “the loveliest of them all”.
Loch Lomond, he names the “Queen of the Scottish Lochs”. “This magnificent sheet of water presents an almost infinite variety of scenery”. He recommends a steamer trip from the pier at Balloch, where readers could enjoy the charms of Highland scenery without the “fatigues” of travelling or the risk of sea-sickness!
But he also issues a stark warning to more adventurous travellers: “At Rowardennan Inn are guides and ponies, and although the stalwart man may dispense with the latter, it is not safe to attempt the ascent of Ben Lomond without a guide familiar with the road, for sudden mists may envelop the climber, and a mistake on the road may lead to death”.
Loch Lomond by A. F. Lydon
Explore the full set of beautiful views of Scottish Loch Scenery and be sure to click on the ‘About this image’ sections to read more of Croal’s accompanying text.
If you’re looking for a bit of history and geology together with beauty, then look no further than the Hermitage of Braid, the focus of our latest online exhibition on Capital Collections.
Hermitage of Braid by Kevin MacLean
Situated in the south of the city, here you will find Hermitage House, built in 1785 together with its Doocot which once contained nearly 2000 sandstone nest boxes. While further along beside the disused Blackford Quarry, you will come across Agassiz’s Rock, a site of Special Scientific Interest.
Hermitage House
Why not have a look at the exhibition on Capital Collections, it might make you want to visit this special greenspace for yourself!
Black History Month runs through October and this year takes the theme ‘Time for Change: Action Not Words’. A display responding to this theme has been installed in the Central Library staircase exhibition cabinets. We’re also running a short programme of author events on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October.
The summer of 2020 saw protests, demonstrations and marches across the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in response to police brutality being witnessed against Black people.
Cardboard placard painted white, yellow and black with red and blue flowers. It reads “I don’t want to get political but your ignorance kills real people”. City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries
Protests were also held in Edinburgh, including a static demonstration on Sunday 7 June, from which colleagues from Museums and Galleries Edinburgh acquired a large donation of placards, banners and signs. These placards and signs demonstrate the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement to Edinburgh residents and the wide-ranging impact of the movement on the city.
Taking the theme of Time for Change: Action Not Words, Central Library are displaying selected reproductions of some of these placards and banners collected by Museums and Galleries Edinburgh alongside books held in the collections of Central Library promoting the contribution of people of colour to society and recounting their experiences. The collections reflect our wish to offer a broad range of material including works related to or created by those from under-represented groups. All images are reproduced with permission of City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries.
Cardboard placard which reads ‘Racism isn’t born it’s taught. Please keep 2 metres, keep safe!” City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries
View more of the placards, signs and banners collected at the demonstration in Edinburgh in an online exhibition on Capital Collections.
Kate will talk about the powerful political elite in Scotland in the 1700s, who had investments in all aspects of the slave trade. How the anti-slavery campaign was pursued on the streets of Edinburgh, the devastating blow dealt by Henry Dundas, their member of Parliament, Home Secretary and leader of the Tory Party, in the spring of 1792. He proposed that ending the trade should be ‘gradual’ allowing his party colleagues to talk out the anti-slavery bill and the continuing capture and shipping of hundreds of thousands of African men, women and children into a life of enslavement and the propaganda campaign against black people which was then launched by vested interests here in Scotland to protect their business interests and how that white supremacist version of history became ours.
Tuesday 25 October, 6.30 – 7.30pm at Central Library Join author, broadcaster and journalist Stuart Cosgrove as he tells the epic story of Black music and the White House from his new book Hey America!
Hey America! is the story of how Black music came from the margins of American life in the early twentieth century through to the mainstream under Barack Obama’s presidency and then was mobilised as a force for radical opposition to Donald Trump’s administration.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh International and Fringe Festivals this year, we’re announcing a very exciting new exhibition on Capital Collections of archive festival film footage. The archive footage belongs to the BBC and is available to view on Capital Collections for a limited time only.
Image taken from archival film footage, reproduced by permission of BBC
The film clips show a 1960s Edinburgh in black and white, but alive with activity and excitement for festival shows and performers. View the hustle and bustle of festival preparations, residents and tourists, and famous faces including Marlene Dietrich arriving at Edinburgh Airport, Tom Courtenay performing Hamlet and Yehudi Menuhin receiving the freedom of Edinburgh.
Commentators reflect on the effects the festival’s first twenty years have had on the city and its citizens, its “cosmopolitanisation” and its new-found “creature comforts”, claiming a new status for Edinburgh as one of Europe’s cultural capitals.
This online exhibition of short film clips will be available to view until the end of August 2022 on Capital Collections. In true Festival spirit, catch it while you can!
This exhibition is part of a wider project in collaboration with the British Library and the Living Knowledge Network of libraries on the theme of Breaking the News. We’re grateful to the BBC for supporting the project and allowing us to host the film footage on Capital Collections.
Our latest online exhibition features photographs held in our Edinburgh and Scottish Collection by Edinburgh-born photographer, James Good Tunny (1820-1887).
Tunny started his early career following in his father’s footsteps (quite literally) as a shoemaker, but by 1852 he changed career and became a very successful photographer with several photographic studios throughout the Southside of Edinburgh. At the peak of his career he had a studio on Princes Street.
Our exhibition of fourteen photographs are all dated 1854, in the early days of photography, when Tunny had not long started his professional career and show many familiar sites of Edinburgh which are still recognisable today. Some are less so, photographs of Grange Loan are very different to what we can see now.
Why not explore these wonderful images by visiting the exhibition on Capital Collections?
Earlier this week we announced the unveiling of the Edinburgh Women’s Mural at Central Library which celebrates Edinburgh’s trailblazing women, past and present. The mural will be on display in Central Library until 2 July 2022.
But what if you’re unable to visit, or you simply want a sneak preview?
Stencilled portraits from the Edinburgh Women’s Mural
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Union Canal.
Our latest exhibition on Capital Collections features some wonderful images taken in the early 1920s by Francis M Crystal, who although not a professional photographer (he was a doctor) captured many images of the canal and surroundings. We know that he lived for many years in Gilmore Place, so this area would have been very familiar to him.
Union Canal looking west to Viewforth Bridge with North British Rubber Works c 1920
F. M. Chrystal has captured the atmosphere and every day activity of life around the Canal. By the time the photographs were taken, the Union Canal had ceased to be the working canal it once was, although many factories and breweries were still located in the nearby areas of Fountainbridge and Slateford. Buildings and houses surrounding the Canal had fallen into disrepair and were starting to be demolished to make way for new streets.
Some of the images show the leisure side to the canal, where pleasure boat companies were starting to offer boat trips and rowing boat hire.
Take a trip back 100 years and see how life along the Union Canal has changed in the F. M. Chrystal’s Union Canal exhibition.
One lost to time, and already a ruin in the 1700s, was St Roque’s Chapel which stood close to Blackford Hill. It was dedicated to a saint associated with the prevention and cure of plague. Many victims of the disease visited the chapel hoping for divine assistance.
Another church still stands but has moved from its original location. In the Elphinstone print, Trinity College Church is located in grounds close to where Waverley Station is now. It was dismantled to make way for the station and after a delay, rebuilt on Chalmers Close, and known today as Trinity Apse.
A perspective view of the Trinity College Church with the adjoining buildings, image from Capital Collections
Elphinstone’s authorship of some of these images is uncertain. Some of the images appear to be of a slightly different artistic style. One image in particular raises questions. “A view of the new-bridge of Edinburgh” depicts the original stone-arched North Bridge. However construction on this first North Bridge began in 1765, many years after the dating of this volume and also after the death of John Elphinstone. You can read more about the puzzling provenance of these images by going to the exhibition on Capital Collections.
Regardless of the doubt over who created all of these images, they remain an interesting and valuable record of Edinburgh’s architecture and cityscape during the 1700s.
What would make it onto a shortlist of the city’s “most remarkable buildings” today? Perhaps the Scottish Parliament building, or Dynamic Earth, or Fountainbridge Library?
Among our collections we have a vast number of images from the numerous Improvement Schemes that were carried out in Edinburgh.
By the late 1800s and early 1900s overcrowding and poor sanitation was proving to be the main problem for the Town Council who had gained powers to make substantial changes within the Old Town through the Edinburgh City Improvement Act 1867. Under this act tenements were improved, enhancing living conditions for residents.
Many of the places we are familiar with now, looked very different in the 20s and 30s. If you watched Outlander you will be familiar with Bakehouse Close which was used for the location of Jamie’s Print Shop. Take a look at the close in 1927, and it doesn’t look that dissimilar to what it would have been it the 1800s.
The latest Capital Collections exhibition features a volume of 59 images dated between 1875 and 1900, but compiled in 1909. The photographs depict a variety of properties, mostly residential, in the area around Lauriston Castle. The book has the armorial bookplate of Macknight Crawfurd of Cartsburn, one of Lauriston Castle’s former residents!
Muirhouse – c1887
As the title suggests these photographs were taken in a relatively small area and highlight different properties that were in the area at that time. There is a variety of dwellings depicted, ranging from grand stately homes to workers’ cottages.
Many of these buildings still exist although their purpose may have changed. Others have since disappeared. You may be familiar with some of the place names which are still in use but some locations, such as Muirhouse, Pennywell and Royston look quite different today.
Our latest exhibition on Capital Collections is quite unique. It is a family photo album loaned to us for digitisation by David Ritchie Watt a descendant of clockmaker, James Ritchie. The album is a great addition to our collections with a connection to a significant Edinburgh working family who put their mark on all areas of the city from swimming pools to parks and landmarks. Poring over the family photographs prompted us to delve deeper into the history of the well-known clockmaking family.
Everyone is familiar with the clock on the Balmoral Hotel and the floral clock in Princes Street Gardens. Some of you might be familiar with the clocks where you live, say in Morningside or Tollcross. All these clocks and many more across the city and further afield, have one thing in common, they were all made by clockmakers, James Ritchie & Son.
James Ritchie was born c1780 and although he was not born in Edinburgh, he started his career in watchmaking around 1799 when he was apprenticed to James Howden who had a successful business at 3 Hunter Square. He started his own business at 29 Leith Street in 1809 and in 1819 took over the business of Joseph Durnward at 2 Leith Street, who had qualified in his trade in 1775. And so began the start of the Ritchie firm.
James Ritchie was admitted as a Burgess of Edinburgh on 18 April 1814, as his wife Sarah who he had married in 1804 was a native of Edinburgh. By 1838, the business had moved to 25 Leith Street occupying the shop at ground level and three basement flats which were used as the workshops for over 100 years.
In 1839 at the age of 11, his son Frederick was admitted as a partner and all their clocks were inscribed James Ritchie & Son.
The mechanical side of clockmaking gave way to the increasing use of electricity and the Ritchies were leaders in this new field. Alex Bain who invented the first electric clock and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, were among the Ritchies’ friends. Before Bell went to America, he fitted a communication system up in the family home allowing Mrs Ritchie when entertaining her lady friends to tea in the drawing room, to summon the maid from the basement. She didn’t require anything, she just wanted to impress her friends!
The company flourished under Frederick’s leadership and the firm gained a worldwide reputation in 1861 for their construction of the One O’clock Gun time system. A master clock on Calton Hill was linked by an overhead electric cable to a clock at Edinburgh Castle. This enabled the One O’clock gun to be fired automatically at one o’clock. The electric cable linking the cable to Calton Hill was 1,225 metres long. It passed over the Waverley Valley without any support at a height of 73 metres. (Find out more about the history of Edinburgh’s impressive time service on Our Town Stories.)
Frederick died in 1906 and the business continued with William his eldest son managing a new branch shop at 131 Princes Street. Two other sons of Frederick, James and Leone continued working in the main shop in Leith Street. Leone continued to run the business until retiring in 1953. With the sale of the shop in Leith Street, his nephew, Bertie Mitchell continued the business from a shop in Little King Street. Later the firm moved to larger premises at 56 Broughton Street.
Bertie was the last family member to run the company. It continues, still bearing the name and in 2019 moved to new premises in the Drum Estate on the outskirts of the city.
If you haven’t done it before, why not explore Capital Collections, our online image library? With over 20,000 pictures to explore, you’re sure to discover something new.
A while ago, we were asked if we’d like to digitise a family album. The album contains many wonderful candid views of family life between 1919 and 1947, photos of a type and era not well represented in our collections. However, this wasn’t the only reason we were interested.
The family album belonged to David Ritchie Watt, a name perhaps not instantly recognisable, but one which has a connection with many areas and landmarks across the city.
David’s mother was Catherine Ritchie, a member of the well-known Edinburgh clockmaking family. David was born in 1927, and in this photo album are gathered hundreds of images spanning through the years from c1919 to c1947, including pictures with his grandfather Leo, who ran the James Ritchie & Son business until his retirement in 1953.
Throughout the album we see photos of family holidays in the days before staycations became the thing to do. We see children building sandcastles and playing on the rocks in North Berwick and Dunbar, and families posing for the camera.
Seaside group – c1930
David’s Aunt “Nannie” and Uncle George Scotland lived in India for a while where George was the manager of a coffee plantation. Their three daughters, David’s cousins, were born in India and there are several photos of the time the family spent there, including a visit from Santa!
Santa visit, India c1930
David’s childhood was spent in the family home in Willowbrae Road before moving to nearby Durham Road in Portobello where he started school at the fee-paying Royal High Preparatory School aged 5. In 1939 he was due to be transferred to the Senior Royal High School but the outbreak of war in September 1939 saw him being evacuated to Buckie in the north-east of Scotland.
David left school in July 1944 aged 17 and started to work at the wholesale printers and stationers, Blair & Davidson where his father was a director and where he had worked part-time from 1940 delivering parcels at a penny a time. Conscription for military service continued and in early July 1945 he reported to Dreghorn Military Camp to start training in the General Service Corps. After three years’ service he returned home and continued to work at Blair & Davidson. Attending classes while working full-time, David was accepted to study for a Bachelor of Commerce Degree at Edinburgh University, where he graduated in 1952.
David R Watt, West Africa 1947
David married Elaine in 1964. He continued his career at Blair & Davidson becoming a director and worked there until it ceased trading in 1997.
Explore all the lovely photographs from the album shared by David Ritchie Watt in our new Capital Collections exhibition for a glimpse into family life in Edinburgh in the first half of the 20th century.
Mary Stewart was born in Castle Stewart, Wigtownshire, Scotland in 1773. Mary was well educated and had ample leisure and talents to pursue her interests in landscape painting and sketching.
Two volumes of her panoramic sketches are featured in our latest Capital Collections exhibition, ‘Four panoramic views of Edinburgh and the surrounding country’ and ‘Panoramic views of Edinburgh’, both published in 1822. They are both highly detailed and give an almost 360 degree landscape panorama, divided into 4 sections looking north, east, south and west, one, a view from Calton Hill and the other from Blackford Hill. The sketch from Calton Hill has particular historical significance as it records a military encampment on top of Calton Hill and the Royal Squadron anchored at Leith during George IV’s visit to Scotland in August 1822.
Shortly after these sketches were published, in 1823 Mary married aged 50 and became the second wife to the fifth baronet, The Reverend Sir Abraham Elton. Mary and Sir Abraham moved to Clevedon in Somerset. There they developed Clevedon as a seaside resort. They laid out walks and provided shaded seats in the two copses that later became the Pier Copse and Alexandra Gardens.
The hillsides of Clevedon were planted with shrubs and trees, and vistas were created for foot and road travellers through the village. Mary sketched these and numerous churches and buildings of note in the area and had then engraved for lithographs. Many were included as prints in the Covedon guidebooks of the time.
Her philanthropy was evident in the village. She had the first Parish School built in 1834. In 1846 she had an Infant School built, and this remained a school for 150 years.
Sir Abraham died in 1842 aged 87. A house had been built in 1844 for the use of Mary, the dowager Lady Elton, and she lived there with her sister and niece until she died in 1849.
At that time and after a fair bit of research trying to find out more about the artist, we had come up with little. Mary Webster had became a mystery woman.
Jump forward to 2021, and out of the blue we received an email from Christine McCracken who had come upon our blog and who happened to be a relative of Mary’s.
Christine was emailing from Australia and had grown up hearing about Mary who was her Mother’s grandmother’s aunt. Mary was described as a woman who was talented, travelled widely, wrote and painted en plein air.
Thanks to Christine we have been able to learn a lot more about Mary. Firstly, that she was in fact born in Scotland and one of 11 children. Her father was minister of the Parish Church of Inverarity. When her father died in 1807 the family moved to Carmyllie in Angus to stay with her grandparents.
We passed the email on to our volunteer John who had previously spent a long and fruitless search trying to track down Mary. Christine’s information reignited his determination to piece the puzzle together. He was then able to trace Mary in the census from Scotland to London and back again, and draft the birth and death dates of her siblings.
In our original blog we wondered if the seventeen year break in the paintings we had in our collection from 1830-1847 had been due to perhaps bringing up a family or if there were more paintings out there somewhere. We now know that Mary never married and there are paintings that cover the ‘missing years’. When Christine visited relations here in Edinburgh, she was shown Mary’s desk which was covered in small paintings and her sketchbooks of 1839, 1841 and 1842 completed while Mary travelled through England.
After Christine initially contacted us, she emailed back to say that her brother and herself had been inspired to do more research and a family member in Edinburgh had had a rummage and had found a photograph of Mary. We do not know how old Mary was when this photo was taken, but we now even know what Mary looked like!
Studio portrait of Mary Webster
Mary died on 5 April 1883 at 9 Queen Street , St Andrews where she lived with her sister Elizabeth.
The earlier images are engravings and drawings with the first photographic image a salted paper print of the construction of the Scott Monument by pioneer photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson dated 1847.
Most of the places you will still recognise today, while others no longer exist. Some, like Whitehorse Close and Ramsay Gardens, look quite different to how they look now.
The Heart of Midlothian – 1883
As the decades move forward, we see Edinburgh recovering from two World Wars and beginning to emerge as the vibrant city it is now. Traditional tenement housing in disrepair at the end of the 50s was replaced by high rise flats and estates on the city outskirts.
Edinburgh was soon becoming the host to major events. As well as the internationally acclaimed festivals and Tattoo, sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games and Tall Ships Race have been hosted in our city.
Mental Health Awareness Week runs 10-16 May and this year’s theme is nature. During the Covid pandemic many of us have turned to nature as never before enjoying our local green spaces for exercise, for sustenance and to meet friends outside in a socially distanced way. Research on the mental health impacts of lockdown have shown that going for walks has been one of our top coping strategies.
Edinburgh has many greenspaces with a wide variety of both managed and natural heritage environments to enjoy. Connecting with nature is central to our emotional and psychological wellbeing and we want to inspire you with some of our favourite greenspaces managed by the City of Edinburgh Council to get out and open yourself up to connecting with nature.
Where can I go?
What’s your favourite park in Edinburgh? Are you looking for new ideas of where to go? Search the directory of parks and greenspaces to find a space or just trawl through the A to Z of records. It’s amazing the variety of size, shape and location of places to visit. Below are some of our favourites.
Don’t we all just love Princes Street Gardens? Nestling in a valley between the Old and the New Town this beautifully manicured garden with floral clock, welcome benches and gentle slopes for sitting out on, shaded with trees, provides welcome respite from the usual hustle and bustle of the city centre and plenty of space for friends and family to meet and walk. Admire the floral clock – did you know it was first planted in 1903 and each year the planting scheme commemorates a special anniversary? You can enjoy the gardens from home by looking at the Libraries’ collection of images on our online Capital Collections Princes Street Gardens exhibition.
Saughton Park and Gardens
Saughton Park and Gardens
Situated in Balgreen in the south west of Edinburgh, Saughton Park and Gardens is a hidden gem of a park. Saughton Park combines formal classical gardens featuring Edinburgh’s largest herbaceous border, flower and heather beds and a Scottish Physic garden with playing fields, an athletics track and the biggest skateboard park in Scotland. There really is something for everyone! If you want to get more involved in the park, join the Friends of Saughton Park and Gardens.
Situated in the north of the city, Leith Links provides a large open space with tree-lined avenues and walkways well used by families, joggers, dog walkers and the whole community besides! Leith Links is steeped in history as the site of the Siege of Leith in 1560 and during the 17th and 18th centuries was a premier place to play golf. Leith Links became formalised as a public park in 1888 and today is very much a central park for the local community with the Edinburgh Mela and Leith Festival sited there. Enjoy the community orchard, tennis courts, play area or just take a seat and watch the world go by. Search for images of Leith Links on the Libraries’ Capital Collections image gallery.
Water of Leith
Water of Leith Walkway plaque, Coburg Street. Image from Capital Collections
If you’re looking for a walkway taking through different areas of Edinburgh explore the Water of Leith Walkway. Starting in Balerno at Bridge Road, the walkway winds its way to Leith passing through Balerno, Currie and Juniper Green before reaching Colinton and Craiglockhart Dell. The Dell is a wooded gorge and haven for wildlife. Beyond the Dell the river passes the Water of Leith Conservation Trust before hitting Gorgie, Saughton, the Dean Bridge, Stockbridge and onto Leith. There are plenty of access points to the Walkway along the path of the river. A place of history the river once powered 90 water mills providing paper, snuff, linen and flour and the remnants of these activities can be seen in the weirs and buildings along the river. Explore on foot and find images of the Walkway illustrating its history on the Libraries’ Capital Collections image gallery.
From Joppa to South Queensferry there are many places along the Firth of Forth to enjoy coastal walks and breathe in the sea air. Cramond Foreshore accessed from Cramond Glebe Road takes you down to the shoreline where you can look across to Fife and across to Berwick Law. There’s a café, toilets, an outdoor gym and seating but you can walk along the shoreline or out to Cramond Island at low tide. Cramond is one of Edinburgh’s oldest villages and longest known period of human settlement. Back from the shore you can also explore the more secluded Crammond Walled Garden where you’ll find seating and play equipment for both toddlers and teenagers. Enjoy the exhibition of some 100 photographs illustrating the history of Cramond during the 19th and 20th centuries on Edinburgh Libraries Capital Collections image library.
Cammo Estate Local Nature Reserve
Cammo Local Nature Reserve
Not far from Crammond is the natural heritage site Cammo Estate Local Nature Reserve on the western fringes of the city. Cammo is a large estate with woodlands, mature trees, open grassland, a walled garden and ruins of buildings that once formed part of the Estate. There’s a lot of interest in terms of both wildlife and fauna with plenty of space for people to spread out and for dogs to enjoy running about. Cammo House has an interesting history: bequeathed to the National Trust in in 1975 following the death Percival Maitland-Tennant, the last occupier of Cammo House. In 1977 the house was partly destroyed by two separate fires which left only the chimney stack and outside walls standing. The house was considered unsafe and partially demolished. The National Trust feud the estate to the City of Edinburgh Council. Read more about the history of Cammo House and its owners on Edinburgh Libraries Tales of One City blog.
There is much to do at Cammo with a permanent orienteering course, a QR trail, seating to stop and admire the views and designated walks.
Edinburgh is full of parks and greenspaces including those managed by other organisations which are also free to access including Holyrood Park and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
One tip for enjoying a deeper connection with nature, try taking your shoes and socks off and feel the grass or the sand underneath your feet. Walk about barefoot. This practice of earthing connects us to the Earth’s surface electrons transferring energy from the ground to a body. How good does sand feel beneath your feet and to walk barefoot along the sea shore?
Portobello Open Air Swimming Pool famous for its Art Deco design, large diving boards, artificial waves and chilly water was one of Portobello’s main attractions for over 40 years. Opening in 1936, it was the largest outdoor pool of its kind in Europe.
The pool was enormous, 330 ft long by 150 ft wide. The one and a half million gallons of water required to fill the pool was filtered from the sea and heated by steam from the adjacent power station.
One of the main attractions was the wave making machine which was the first to be installed in an outdoor pool in the UK and could generate waves up to 3ft high.
Completed open air pool -1936
The pool closed for six years during the Second World War and had to be camouflaged to stop it being used as a landmark for enemy planes.
Portobello Open Air Swimming Pool – 1936
By the end of the 60s Portobello’s popularity waned as cheap package holidays became readily available. The pool fell into decline and with the closure of the power station in 1978, removing what little heat there was for the water. The 1979 season was to be its last and the pool was finally demolished in 1988.
We have just published images on Capital Collections recording the pool’s construction. See these fascinating images in our new exhibition on Portobello Open Air Swimming Pool.
Our new Capital Collections exhibition features two photograph volumes, copies of which are held both in the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection and the Art and Design Library within Central Library, titled ‘Castles and Mansions of the Lothians‘.
There are over a hundred photographs and judging by the style of the images, we think they were all taken by the same photographer.
The Grange House which was demolished in 1936.
The mansions are situated throughout the Lothians from Linlithgow in the west to many in East Lothian. Some will be easily recognisable by their names. Most people who live in Penicuik will recognise the name Beeslack, and many might remember when the name Dalhousie Castle meant one thing, Medieval Banquet!
We think that the photographs were taken between 1875-1883. The photographs feature grand houses built in an age that allowed owners to display how well they were doing for themselves alongside older ancestral homes that had been passed down from generation to generation.
Bonaly Tower is now self contained flats.
Sadly, not all these buildings still exist. The ones that do are mostly now events venues, hotels or B&Bs or have been converted into residential apartments. There are one or two that remain private residences and continue, to show off their original splendour to this day.
The featured exhibition on Capital Collections presents an example of illustration work by the artist Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) taken from a series of sketches collated into the publication `A sketch-book of R. Caldecott’s’.
April from ‘A sketch-book of R. Caldecott’s’.
This volume of sketches captures everyday life in the countryside through the passing seasons. Each sketch has a narrative quality with scenes of people – young and old – partaking in different activities, enjoying the natural scenery around them, as well as scenes of various animals interacting with humans. This sketchbook contains a mixture of vibrantly coloured and monochrome sketches with each image exemplifying Caldecott’s dedication to depicting detail and his clear fondness for depicting his subjects as they were, in their natural environment.
As the collection progresses through the seasons Caldecott reminds us all through these playful images of the circle of life and how the seasons will return one after the other.
The spectators from ‘A sketch-book of R. Caldecott’s’.
Caldecott is best known for his illustrations of nursery rhymes which brought him international acclaim. Despite his relatively short lifetime, Caldecott’s work is considered to have transformed children’s books during the Victorian era, a period which is considered the ‘Golden age’ of illustration with the influence of artists like Caldecott still resonating today. Caldecott is considered part of the influential ‘nursery triumvirate’, along with Walter Crane and Kate Greenway. Following the popularity of these authors it became the norm for children’s books to be dominated by image over text.
Quite a small party from ‘A sketch-book of R. Caldecott’s’.
Capital Collections provides a window into Edinburgh Libraries’ Special Collections and makes our photographs, illustrations and books much more accessible to a wider audience.
There are two other exhibitions displaying Caldecott’s illustrated story books to enjoy on Capital Collections:
Many thanks to our Art & Design Library volunteer Emilie Brown for curating this and other Caldecott exhibitions. For more information on our collections of illustrated books by Randolph Caldecott email the Art & Design Library.
Join Edinburgh Libraries in celebrating Scotland’s national poet, Rabbie Burns this week. Born in 1759 in Ayrshire, he was the son of a tenant farmer who went on to become one of Scotland’s greatest heroes. To celebrate his literary legacy and lasting impact we have a range of resources for you to discover and enjoy.
Robert Burns – Poet, by Alexander Nasmyth, 1839
Burns Night Quiz Each year on the 25 January, Burns night is celebrated across Scotland and the world. Despite the lockdown, this year should be no different! Please join Carol from Stockbridge Library as she presents to you a Braw Burns Quiz. Test your knowledge of Scotland’s Bard and the Scots language on Monday 25January at 7.30pm on the Stockbridge Library Facebook page.
Scots language collectionof ebooks and audiobooks ‘The Mither Tongue’ collection is a new selection of titles we have chosen for our ebooks and eaudio service, OverDrive/Libby app. The collection goes beyond Burns to also celebrate the best of modern writing in Scots, including newly crowned Booker Prize winning title ‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart.
Further fantastic resources from Edinburgh Libraries The Robert Burns in Edinburgh story on Our Town Stories describes Burns’ time in Edinburgh and his connections to the city.
Also on Our Town Stories, is the story of William Creech and his publishing legacy. Creech was a significant member of Edinburgh’s society during the Enlightenment and is best remembered today for publishing Robert Burns’ poems.
Robert Burns on Capital Collections – this exhibition represents some of the Burns related artworks available in Edinburgh Libraries.
Burns’ Objects and Images on Capital Collections – an exhibition of portraits, documents and personal objects including Burns’ own writing desk and a plaster cast of his skull from the collections of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries housed at the Writer’s Museum on Lady Stair’s Close.
The Cotter’s Saturday Night by Robert Burns – in another Capital Collections exhibition browse John Faed’s illustrations which vividly depict the story of Robert Burns’ poem, ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’. The poem was written over the winter of 1785 – 86 when Burns was 26 years old.
The Cottar’s Saturday Night, illustration for verse 2 by John Faed, 1853
Ode to a Mouse – Sean Kane reads one of Robert Burn’s most famous and best-loved poems in Edinburgh Central’s Reference Library.
Tales of One City 