The birthday of Robert Burns is most often celebrated with a Burns Supper on the 25 January each year. Although he was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, in Edinburgh we have our share of memorials and tributes Read more
One day when I was searching the internet for photographs of Clarinda’s Tea Rooms in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh to prepare a recommendation of a good place to eat while staying at Craigwell Cottage I found a website called ‘The Girl in the Cafe‘.
On the site I was offered the opportunity to participate in a project of circulating a DVD, watching it and preparing comments. The DVD is of a film which was shown on BBC some time ago, and as soon as I started to watch it, I realised that I had indeed seen it before. I did enjoy viewing it a second time, but share the frustration which was so eloquently expressed by the protagonist Gina (played by Kelly Macdonald) that the G8 summit is held, there is a lot of noise about it in the press at the time, then we don’t hear anything until the next one.
We witnessed the protests at the Edinburgh G8 summit first-hand, indeed one of our friends was wounded in the course of his employment that week. My husband was shut in his office in George Street one evening, with he and his staff afraid to emerge because of hand-to-hand combat going on in Rose Street. We feared for our children’s safety that week as convoys of police cars and other vehicles moved around the city and reports reached us of fighting in the streets and destruction in normally quiet rural areas.
We were all moved when the concerts and marches pledging to ‘Make Poverty History’ pricked our consciences, but then the terrorist acts of 7 July in London grabbed the headlines and we all moved to the next horror on the world stage.
So it’s a good thing that movies like ‘The Girl in the Cafe’ are around to remind us that we are failing to eradicate poverty, but it’s too simplistic to state that it’s only the Third World where people are living in deprived conditions.
As for the love story which is the other theme of the movie, it’s one of Bill Nighy’s better performances – you do actually feel that he’s a sad lonely man with nothing to occupy him except his job. Kelly Macdonald has just the right pitch of mystery and misery to keep you guessing as to why she’s sitting lonely in a cafe too when Bill asks if he might join her. And of course in the end you don’t know if they will ever meet again.
Susan McNaughton
www.sandcastleholidays.co.uk
I’ve found a link to a photograph of a representation of Edinburgh in 1460, in which you can clearly see the river running through the Waverley Valley – which later becomes Calton Road.
The link to Edinburgh Photography website is: http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_MAP/1_map_edinburgh_1460.htm#map
10 October 2007 – visited the Edinburgh Room at Edinburgh’s Central Library on George IV Bridge. Found a great collection of old maps of Edinburgh there, and searched through them for evidence of buildings on the site where Nether Craigwell now stands – EH8 8DR.
Notes made when consulting “An Atlas of Old Edinburgh” in the Edinburgh Room
(subsequent research 1544 Gordon of Rothiemay’s Map)
1647 – Map of Reverend James Gordon
1742 Map of Edinburgh
1763 – John Laurie’s Map of Edinburgh
1780 – John Ainslie’s Map
(25) Reid’s Yard
(26) Campbell’s Close
(27) Sommerville’s Close
(28) Malloch’s Close
(29) Callendar’s Close
(30) Forsyth’s Close
(31) Galloway’s Close
(32) Ramsay’s Close
(33) Duncan’s Close
(34) White Horse Close
1778 Map which incorporates the design forEdinburgh’s New Town shows three built structures in the region of Nether Craigwell’s site – with the site for the New Calton Burial Ground being marked on the plan
(1816 Map in NLS shows proposal for the Edinburgh – Glasgow Canal running at right angles to the foot of the Canongate and North Back of Canongate – given the steepness of this area it’s no wonder the canal scheme was never realised! See this link to view the map.)
1817 Map shows “Queensbury House Barracks” – this is now part of the Scottish Parliament
1820 Map has the Calton New Burying Ground clearly marked and you can see the ‘North Back of Canongate’ with the Craigwell Buildings on it – the Burns Monument also now appears on this map
1829 – The Murderer William Hare escapes from Calton Jail
(Researching the subject subsequently on the internet brought up the Post Office Map of 1830/31, which has a good image where the buildings are visible, which can be found on the Edinburgh Photo Website)
1823 – Brown’s Map shows the brewery buildings under construction
1833 – Letter from Condemned Cell in Calton Jail
1840 – Post Office Map – need to take a further look at this as the copy in the book I was consulting had the Brewery site on a join in the pages
1842 – Queen Victoria Visits Scotland
(Subsequent research found an 1844 Map on the Edinburgh Photo Website: Link)
(Subsequent research found an 1870 Map on the Edinburgh Photo Website: Link – of interest here is that it looks like a Gas Tank is visible diagonally opposite the Brewery – this is the first sight of the Gas Works which was said to have polluted the face of the Burns Monuments, causing the artifacts stored therein to be removed to the National Gallery)
1894 – 1896 Ordnance Survey Maps first produced – points to note around Calton Hill:
Further research in the Edinburgh Room showed some sketches of 1818 by James Skene depicting areas around Calton Road
Also found a couple of books which might prove fruitful for further research:-
In (1) there is a quote on p134 “On 5 March 1870 The Scottish Standard reported that “the south back of the Canongate of Edinburgh is more famous for breweries than any street in the United Kingdom”
I also found a photograph in one of these books (?) of Rock House, Calton Hill which was the Home of Archibald Burns Photographer – photographed by Alexander Burns in 1874 – maybe it would be worth checking to see if any of his photographs feature the Brewery?
Susan McNaughton
11 October 2007
At Sandcastle Holidays we are committed to providing good quality self-catering accommodation whilst minimising the impact of our business activities on the environment.
Some ways which we are currently achieving this are:-
1. Using Eco Friendly cleaning materials in our cottages and supplying eco-friendly washing up liquid.
2. Providing newspaper recycling facilities at Sandcastle Cottage, and we will recycle newspapers at Craigwell Cottage if guests separate them from their other waste and store them for our collection.
3. Composting garden waste at Sandcastle Cottage and Craigwell Cottage.
4. Providing information for guests to enable them to use public transport facilities to reach our properties.
5. Replacing light bulbs with low energy bulbs when they need to be renewed.
6. Encouraging guests to switch off electrical appliances and not leave on standby.
7. Purchasing energy efficient white goods.
8. Using e-mail as much as possible for company correspondence to cut down on paper.
9. We minimise our use of print advertising, and no longer produce brochures about the cottages.
10. Providing on-line booking facilities for guests to cut down on paper.
11. Supporting local tradesmen for all our repairs and maintenance.
12. Providing showers for guests which use less water than baths.
