Edinburgh's Royal Mile in Old Photos
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 гру 2022
- No. 4 in the series, 'Old Photos of Scotland', this time having a look at the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. It is often the people portrayed in old photos that make the images memorable, and I have included a couple of absolutely cracking old photos where the people in them are undoubtedly the stars.
Not a lot of folk know that Edinburgh's Royal Mile is approximately the length of a Scots mile, a measurement no longer in use and which was longer than an English mile. Starting at Edinburgh Castle, it leaves the castle's esplanade and heads downhill into Castlehill then Lawnmarket, before entering the High Street. At the old town wall the High Street becomes Canongate and heads further downhill by ancient mercat crosses, sixteenth century town houses and the old tolbooth, before ending at Abbey Strand by the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Along the way we will take a fascinating peep inside John Knox House around 1900, look at images from the early days of photography, and immerse ourselves in the cobbled streets of old Edinburgh.
Sit back and relax. This is Edinburgh's Royal Mile in the old days, as you've probably never seen it.
Thank you for this wonderful video. I was born in the Royal Mile 88 years ago and well remember lots of these places, before renovations. I am pleased that some of the buildings have been sympathetically modernised to maintain the sense of history. I no longer visit Edinburgh, too many tourists. It has no heart anymore, it is only a showpiece and money earner.
Get up very early on a sunday morning and walk down the mile for a more peaceful experience. At all other times , it is full of noise and tourists inevitably.
@matildamartin2811 I know it's not the same, but I just wanted you to know I moved to Edinburgh Old Town at the foot of the Castle,17 years ago, having led a rather nomadic life, it is the longest I lived anywhere in my whole life, and I'm well into middle age and a wee bit. My sons still live in Edinburgh, but family circumstances have had me having to move away. I would like you to know that I loved my time in Edinburgh as a place to live, even though we faced a lot of family sadness and challenges in these years, and it feels like home in many ways more than anywhere I have lived my whole life. It is a place of extraordinary beauty, and I have treasured its grace and splendour as well as the small and intimate streets and always will, there has been some heart and love in the place that you treasured, despite all the challenges of tourism and air b'n'b, and my boys will always have Edinburgh in their hearts as their home. We still tried to have a little community, the neighbours, local shops and cafes, who looked out for each other, fed the cat, pick up shopping, take a package, support the little local shops, barbers, look out for the kids...I'm sure it isnt the same as when you were growing up, but I hope you take a bit of comfort in knowing there are little enclaves of people trying to keep Edinburghs neighbourhood spirit alive.
Grew up in St Marys street in the 60s, know every inch of the closes and the Street. Fab place to grow up.
Remember one of the last GOOD, Sweet shops there, door plumes, boilings Ect 🍭💯😎
Thank you again for a wonderful video. I enjoyed it very much. Old photos are always wonderful reminders of things that went before us and how the people who were our ancestors lived. Thanks be to those who have enabled the preservation of so many wonderful structures. Cheers, Lynn in Naples FL
Thanks Lynn.
Staggeringly beautiful video of an area of Edinburgh that has always fascinated me, I was a cab driver for many years in Edinburgh and I spent my whole time looking and imagining the beautiful buildings of this fine city and the people who lived in them, I would suggest to visitors to take a minute and look closely all around them when walking the city and something will always catch their eye, few cities can compete with Edinburgh for the living history all around us especially in the old town.
Thanks Kevin.
I went on a bus tour and the bus emptied ..and the young tour guide started giving me and my cousin more information than she could have on her bus run …she was extremely brilliant in her knowledge… wish I could thank her …her house looked over the castle …wish I could thank her for giving me and my cousin a one to one tour ❤
The lady in the last photo looks like she's been caught in the middle of washing her windows.
She is dressed rather well, for doing manual work !
I love that she sat her little plant out on the other windowsill.
She is fairly well-dressed. I think we have to remember that at some point in the past someone captured these photos with a great big wooden camera. She is definitely looking at the camera and the photographer. Great photo.
@@EdExploresScotland Nearly everyone is looking at the photographer and it's fascinating to see the expressions on their faces, it's as if he's just arrived from Mars lol
Ed, this is a wonderful look into old Embra. It is totally engaging thanks to your thoughtful and quietly humorous commentary. Thank you.
Many thanks.
That is interesting and informative. Think I usually have walked too fast along the Royal Mile and will now take more care. Edinburgh is a wonderful place to spend a day. Thanks again for the research.
Cheers. So many tourists these days that it can be difficult stopping on the pavement for a glance upwards.
Excellent. Thank you.
Excellent and well narrated.
Thanks Ed for another wonderful production, your time is much appreciated. Absolutely loved this one and I'm going to share it with my friend in Edinburgh.
I've been off on hidden history map hunting myself and I would like to share a few maps with you.
Scotlands star forts and an antient city!
Amazing old photos. Very interesting to see the changes, or lack of them. 👍
Another great video ! Amazing work, great to see the good old and also very clear photos. Thanks
Cheers.👍
Hi Ed, great shots of auld Edinburgh, I like the comparison of the auld and new. It's amazing how many auld buildings have survived. Even though the houses are old and basic, the woman still have to have clean windows.
Thanks for the great video, and amazing old pictures. My great grandfather had a licensed grocer at 497 Lawnmarket in the 1880s, a few doors up from Gladstone's Land, I've searched for years through many old pictures of the Lawnmarket, but still to find one of his shop
Many thanks. You may already know the site, but I use 'Capital Collections', which is the image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries. You can search for 'Lawnmarket', and 23 pages of images are available.
@@EdExploresScotland Thanks, yes I've tried capital collections, but it's difficult as he only had the shop for 10 years, even then there are loads of photos of Gladstone's Land, but usually 497 is just off camera, many years later it became the shop of a famous bagpipe maker, and there are a few good pics of it, nowadays it's just one of the many tourist shops in the Lawnmarket & High Street
Superb again Ed. My mother was born off a close in St Marys Street and had family all over that part of the Cannongate where they owned a lot of property that they rented out
Thanks again.
Wow Beautiful pics of the past and Beautiful Narration….❤I have printed pics of older buildings somewhere lol but so love the history of these old buildings
Thanks Liz. If only we had a time machine to go back and enter these old buildings.
Really enjoyed this. Lot of effort gone into its production and the narrater puts u right at ease
Thank you.
Well done Ed,
All your vlogs are very well put together, you do a good job. Your vlogs must take lots of planning, we only see the end result which is good but all the work you do in making them is much appreciated. We are always pleased to see your latest production appear on UA-cam, knowing that we’ll enjoy it. Have a nice Christmas and A Happy New Year, we look forward to your next one, which we know will be good. Thank you for all your hard work.
Ian and Angie.
Cheers guys.
Thanks for this beautiful video! I visited Edinburgh in October and iI love it❤
Edinburgh's a beautiful place.
Great video. This is a street filled with ghosts . Many of my ancestors lived on this street from at least the late 1700's , as well as the closes and wynds attached to it. The long connection was finally broken when my grandpa and his parents left Jeffrey Street for pastures new in 1930 . A lot has been lost over the years but enough remains that you still get the feeling of walking along an ancient thoroughfare , and imagine what life was like for the people who lived and worked there centuries ago.
I'd have liked to have seen more then and now comparisons, but it was still an interesting video.
Great job Eddy! The transition for the old photos to your video is a brilliant touch. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your future videos.
Many thanks Colin. 👍
Thankyou so much for sharing. My mother was born here in the 40s. I have been trying to trace my ancestors as she was adopted. I only have limited information. My mother is gone now but I am always drawn to this place
Sometimes places draw us in, and we often don't fully understand why.
Loved this thank you. I am from livingstone but have lived and worked in Edinburgh for the last 15 years, it is now home. I used to work in a pub at the bottom of the canongate and this was highly interesting to see how times have changed but also how not. ❤
Many thanks. Edinburgh has certainly managed to hang on to many more old buildings.
Wonderful glimpse into the past of a famous city. Thank you.
Cheers Leven.
Another excellent video. Have you ever considered doing a virtual walk through video, perhaps inside museums. Then with your wealthy of knowledge putting a voice over on it. I think it would make great watching. Anyway keep up the good work 👍
Many thanks for your comment. I am considering a Go-Pro camera which would allow such a thing. Still unsure, but thanks all the same.
I'm late to the party with this one Ed. Brilliant as usual. I loved the way you faded one photo into the next, particularly the photos of the old building at the end of the video. I've been lucky enough to have walked the golden mile twice in my travels OS, and visited a few of these buildings in the process.
Thanks. If there's one thing Edinburgh's not short of it's great old photos.
My great aunt esta Henry had an antique shop next door to John Knox house
Really enjoyed this video. Wondering if you’ve ever come across a photo of Duncan’s Close? My great grandmother was born there in 1898. Last time I visited from Canada I went to the museum but they had no information on it.
Hi Debbie. Duncan's Close was located near the foot of Canongate, immediately west of Whitehorse Close on the Royal Mile. You can see it in the following National Library of Scotland's side-by-side map. On the left is an 1890s town plan, and Duncan's Close is near the middle, and named. You can see from the modern right-hand-side map that the close no longer exists.
maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=19.6&lat=55.95263&lon=-3.17568&layers=117746214&right=osm
I haven't been able to locate any photos of the close. The following crude drawing seemingly shows the close perhaps around the 1930s.
collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/objects/6269/sketch-drawings-for-duncans-close-edinburgh
If you use Google street view, you can see exactly where it used to be. In the following street view it used to be almost exactly where that door is to the right of the bus stop.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9524126,-3.1755981,3a,64.6y,346h,96.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5U61YP1DvH3lB9stjkFVug!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
You can find many images of the Canongate in Edinburgh's Capital Collections website and, you never know, maybe Duncan's Close is hiding in there somewhere.
www.capitalcollections.org.uk/search-results?key=SHsiUCI6eyJzdWJqZWN0X2lkIjo2MjEsImpvaW5fb3AiOjJ9fQ&WINID=1704365503954
Sorry I can't be more help.
that was excellent
Thank you.
Excellent Ed. I read that Edinburgh got it's name from an ancient King Edwin's Burgh, later corrupted to Edin-Burgh
Thanks Douglas.
excellent presentation again :)
Nice one Ed.
Very interesting.
Interesting
What a lovely video!
If I'm honest, among all the comments, it is your comment that I will treasure. Thank you.
9.04 Coconut Tams pitch .
Hi Ed, brilliant video and great series. Do you happen to know the name of the music in this particular video?
Thanks Raymond. It's just some music I made at home for the video.
@@EdExploresScotland ah okay. Well it really went well with this video. Could listen to that tune all day. Look forward to seeing more videos.
Photo 16, interesting pole mounted thing to the left, on the skyline. Looks like some for of signalling apparatus, or something that could be climbed by the brave hearted.
Another curiosity, why would a pole come straight out of the roof of Brandies?
Goodness, I hadn't noticed that. It's just a straight pole with no obvious function. Anyone else any thoughts?
Scotland is really a part of England, governed from Westminster, London, England and ruled by the king of England Charles 111.
English coinage, English newspaper, English television and lots of the population voted against their own independence in 2014, the only country in the world to have done so.They are happy to be ruled by England.