On a gorgeous sunny March day twenty four Strollers met at the Old Kirk in Corstorphine with our guides Helen and Karen.
They gave us some information on the history of Corstorphine from the
viewpoint of its location between two lochs, Corstorphine and Gogar. They also
told us about the important families like the Forresters whose names live on in
school names and streets, as well as the trials of witches.
We were then told about Chrystal Macmillan who came from Corstorphine.
She has a building at the University of Edinburgh named after her to
commemorate all her work as a lawyer, peace advocate, feminist and suffragette,
to name a few, as well as being the first female science graduate.
We then spent an interesting thirty minutes in the church with local
guides hearing the history of the church and the link with the university searching
for older buildings on the site and for crypts under the flagstones.
Back outside we stopped at what at one time was described as Irish
Corner due to the Irish labourers who stayed there while working on the canals
and railways and looking up at the impish figure on the roof. From here we went
to look at the doo’cot which supplied food for the castle which once stood
here.
From here we went into St Margaret's Park which was gifted to
Corstorphine in 1915 by an American, Christopher Brown, in honour of his wife
who came from there.
We finished at the Dower House which is now home to the Corstorphine
Trust and has a nice cafe.
Our thanks to our guides, Helen and Karen, as well as the guides at the
church and extra local knowledge supplied by Ian Kirkpatrick.
Fingers crossed for good weather for the rest of the year.
