Date: Tuesday 23rd January 2018
On a damp and at times breezy day 42 Strollers met
at Lyndoch Place for a historic stroll round the Learmonth Estate led by our
Blue Badge guides Helen and Karen. Beginning with tales of Ming the Merciless
and his push to restore Lyndoch Place to its original state, repairing fencing,
restoring lighting and gardens etc. – sorry, I meant Menzies Campbell. Then
hearing about Kirk Brae House, the oldest part of which dates back to the
1680s, when as Baxters' House of Coll it was an inn, serving the bakers
bringing flour from the Dean Mills. It was owned from 1860 by James 'Cabbie'
Stewart who ran his cab-hire business from there for the next 60 years. You can
still see the word Cab underneath the doorstep along with the sun-dial and
bakers’ motifs on the walls.
Crossing the Dean Bridge designed by Thomas Telford and built by John Gibb of Aberdeen, it is 447 feet (136 m) long and 39 feet (12 m) broad, on four arches rising 106 feet (32 m) above the Water of Leith. It was built by John Learmonth who wanted to build houses on the other side of the Water of Leith, like the Moray Estate where he lived. The bridge was completed in 1831 but the bottom had fallen out of the housing market and the estate didn’t get built until the 1850’s.
Passing Holy Trinity Church which changed from a church to a power station and back to a church again, we crossed into Eton Place and the Learmonth Estate, wondering at how big their heating bills are given the size of the rooms. You could see the amount of restoration work being carried out by the new sandstone in the buildings and how bright the whole area must have been when first built. Stopping off at the mews behind Lennox Street to view the little lanes and entrances to the gardens at the back of the houses and gasp at how much a garage sells for in this area. Looking down into the Dean Tennis and Squash Centre which dates from 1884 and where the courts at one time were flooded and used for curling.
Back round and across to Belgrave Crescent, designed by John Chesser, who designed a lot of other housing developments around the West End to Haymarket, for John Steel a builder as well as a Lord Provost of Edinburgh. With beautiful balustrades and a lovely view over the gardens that go with houses, this was a different feel to the tenements that Steel usually built. We paused at the mews behind the Crescent to hear a short ghost story.
We
finished up outside the Headquarters of the 603 Squadron on Learmonth Terrace which
had originally been built in 1891 by Leith Architect James Simpson for Arthur
Sanderson of VAT 69 fame. The interior was designed by W Scott Morton for Arthur
Sanderson to display his extensive collection of art treasures, with each room
being designed and decorated in the style appropriate to the artefacts it was
to contain. In 1925, following Arthur Sanderson’s death, it was bought as the
Town Headquarters for the newly formed 603 Squadron. They were the first RAF
squadron to shoot down a German Plane during World War II. Crossing the Dean Bridge designed by Thomas Telford and built by John Gibb of Aberdeen, it is 447 feet (136 m) long and 39 feet (12 m) broad, on four arches rising 106 feet (32 m) above the Water of Leith. It was built by John Learmonth who wanted to build houses on the other side of the Water of Leith, like the Moray Estate where he lived. The bridge was completed in 1831 but the bottom had fallen out of the housing market and the estate didn’t get built until the 1850’s.
Passing Holy Trinity Church which changed from a church to a power station and back to a church again, we crossed into Eton Place and the Learmonth Estate, wondering at how big their heating bills are given the size of the rooms. You could see the amount of restoration work being carried out by the new sandstone in the buildings and how bright the whole area must have been when first built. Stopping off at the mews behind Lennox Street to view the little lanes and entrances to the gardens at the back of the houses and gasp at how much a garage sells for in this area. Looking down into the Dean Tennis and Squash Centre which dates from 1884 and where the courts at one time were flooded and used for curling.
Back round and across to Belgrave Crescent, designed by John Chesser, who designed a lot of other housing developments around the West End to Haymarket, for John Steel a builder as well as a Lord Provost of Edinburgh. With beautiful balustrades and a lovely view over the gardens that go with houses, this was a different feel to the tenements that Steel usually built. We paused at the mews behind the Crescent to hear a short ghost story.
Our thanks again to our Guides Karen and Helen for well researched and informative walk. We’ll see them again in February.
