Davidson's Mains Village, Edinburgh - Now and Then

[@campbelltroup2750]

Fascinating video. My mother moved to Davidsons Mains in around 1946. Went to the old school as a pupil and started her teaching career there in the new one (I think).

[@neil0131]

I am always amazed by the number of schools built by Edinburgh Council in the two decades after the Scottish Education Act of 1872 passed the responsibility for Education from the Church to the state. Now the Council does not have the money to maintain the schools, the roads and clean out the gulleys blaming Global Warming for our streets flooding. When I was a boy, following the syver lorry as it vacuumed out all the drains in our street was monthly entertainment. When last did you see a syver lorry clean your street drains?

[@aljames7345]

Round of applause required here. I film and produce videos daily and know the extensive work thats gone into making this video. The blending matchup of old to new is meticulous and you've laboured greatly on this. Standing ovation in fact. Very well done. Al (D Mains resident since March 2023).

[@neil0131]

Hi Al, Welcome to living in D'Mains! Thanks for your appreciation of my efforts. I still feel the magic of achieving the perfect transition. I now have a colour photo of the title page oil painting and have established that the artist had died before the credited 1882 date so I reckon that the date is close to 1862. I give local talks on the the history of Davidson's Mains and decided to use my transitions to make this video. The catchment are of Davidson's Mains Primary school has a population of 4,550 and the number of views is approaching that number. I was not really interested in History at school but researching the local history and sharing with others is virtually a hobby. I was recently given a photo of the BP petrol station that stood on Quality Street but I have not yet photographed a now photo. A sawmill originally stood on the site and became Lock's Garages who from c.1922 started to charge radio batteries and repair radios. One of his sons died in the WW2.

[@angusforrest3772]

I kept pausing and going back to see the befores and afters, so it took me 30 mins to watch a 10 min video! I grew up nearby in the 70s and 80s.. Thanks Neil it answered a lot of questions about what was there before.

[@neil0131]

The north side of Main Street at the Corbiehill Road junction was virtually demolished and the old photos would not mean much as none the old cottages survived. From maps I was able to work out exactly where they were and take the current photo. The Corbie and turkeys at The Green are two of the best transitions as the buildings have not changed. I had to take 200 photos of some scenes to get a perfect alignment. The earliest mention of Muttonhole I found was 1669 and on the 1682 map. I have spoken to several people in the village passing the well who did not know that the stone structure was the old village well.

[@sandracharles2727]

Thanks for a fascinating video. I grew up in Davidson’s Mains in the 50s and 60s and it brought back a lot of memories. I wonder who else remembers Muirhead’s the grocer on Main Street, Maltman’s the chemist, the wee shop about half way up on the right (towards Corbiehill) where I bought sweets and Margaret and Isobel in the Corner Cafe and sweet shop on the corner of Quality Street. I also remember that there were farm buildings behind Main Street (Quality Street end) where cows were kept and Jock Hay delivering our milk in an old blue lorry. I can vaguely remember cows and sheep being driven down Lauriston Farm Road, being moved from fields in Lauriston Castle to Lauriston Farm. All changed now! One small correction, if you don’t mind. It would have been a no. 41 bus heading for Cramond, not a no. 11. I used to get it to school! Thanks again. Brilliant work.

[@neil0131]

Hi Sandra, Fascinating to read your recollections. The wee shop half way up Main Street is now Battison Dental Care had been a grocery shop run by the Harley family since 1946. Previously run by George Bell, Miss Christina Brown 1915 - 1925, Mrs Euphemia Wallace 1884 - 1896. with the cottage on the left, and the shop on right. From Robert Brown's Book "Muttonhole - Life in North West Edinburgh 1900 - 2000", he said that the golf caddies would be served soup there. I remember going out with my mum to Ian Ferguson's butcher van aged 3 and 4 before I started school. I was amazed to find that here was a hospital in the Back Lane in 1891. It has never been mentioned in any of the publications about the village. I have given talks with even more photos, maps and stats tracing the village back to 1669. One of the photos is of a number 11 double decker bus on route to "Barnton" in 1952 taken a few days after the railway bridge was demolished which carried the railway line from Craigleith to Davidson's Mains and Barnton. You may well remember the coal merchants and the railway goods yard that closed in 1960. Where did you live in the 50s and 60s? I have a c.1925 photo of a single decker bus turning left from Cramond Road South onto Main Street but I cannot see a route number. Can you remember if the bus you took to school was a single or double decker. The 21 bus which travelled the length of Ferry Road, Main Street, Queensferry Road then Clermiston Road was a single decker when I went to school as it had to pass under the double bridges just before Crewe Toll. They were replaced with a girder bridge allowing the use of double decker buses. For the past 3 decades or more, the 41 bus leaves Queensferry Road to travel along Corbiehill Road, Main Street, Quality Street then turns right onto Queensferry Road, out to Barnton then to Cramond. About 6 months ago with 700 new homes being built on the green belt at Cammo, the 41 now turns right down Cramond Road South to Cramond, then Whitehouse Road to Barnton terminating at the new housed in Cammo being marketed as Cammo Meadows. Margaret died 2017 leaving £7.9m to charity. Hardly sweetie money! Thanks for taking time to write. I may hear from you again? Neil

[@sandracharles2727]

@@neil0131 Thanks for your reply. I lived in Barnton Park in the early 50s, in a house my parents had had built after the war, with some difficulty apparently as building materials were in short supply. We moved to a new house in Hillpark Avenue about 1954/5 and then to Lauriston Farm Road in the early 60s. My grandparents had lived in Lauriston Farm Road since I think the late 40s. They lived at what was more or less the bottom of the street, opposite the end of Lauriston Castle grounds, when there were just fields all around. My Grandpa used to regularly walk or take the bus up to the pub in Main St. for a pint with his cronies. I know it’s called Ye Olde Inn, but I’ve no recollection of it ever being actually called that! I used to get the 39 or 41 double decker bus to school from the top of Lauriston Farm Road or Barnton Gardens. I’d forgotten that the No 1, a single decker, was the 21. My Dad used to get it to work in Leith from Main Street. Yes, I clearly remember the coal yards where Safeway was built, and the Church Hall which was demolished for offices. I used to go to Brownies there. I don’t remember the station or railway bridge, but apparently my Mum used to push me in my pram on to the train which I think went into Caley Station at the West End. Yes, Mrs Harley’s shop in Main Street! It was very small and she seemed very old (probably my age now!) and seemed to live behind the shop. I don’t know anything about the hospital in Back Lane, just the farm and consequent smell! . There were also shops in Quality Street, a fish shop and Keenan’s the fruit and veg shop. More or less opposite the coal yard was Notman’s Nursery, which had a small building used as a shop for plants etc. Graeme Notman was a talented tennis player and played at junior Wimbledon. Thanks for bringing back memories!

[@neil0131]

@@sandracharles2727 Hi Sandra, Your Grandpa may have called the inn Malone's like all the regulars. Watney-Mann bought the inn in 1967 and appointed Jimmy Malone as the manager. The manageress told me that the Inn was built around 1895 but I had always puzzled when it became known as Ye Olde Inn. In my research I established from a 1910 photo that it was called "The Old Inn". But I then concerned myself that if it was built in 1895, did it become old within 15 years! Mrs Mary Wishart had held the licence for an Ale House for many years at the end of the 1800s in “the Back Lane” behind The Corner Café and is recorded as age 59 in the 1891 census living there in the Public House with her daughters Mary and Agnes. The 1891 census recorded 5 families living in the Old Inn and the heads of household all did manual work locally. Possibly it had previously been an inn and became known as the Old Inn when the function changed more to rented rooms. One account is that Mary Wishart bought the two old houses on Main Street which would have been the “Old Inn”, then in front of them, built the building we see today in the style of an old English Coaching Inn. She then transferred the licence and opened The Old Inn as a public house around 1895. In 1938, the right hand house was converted into the lounge bar. This is quite feasible because the Davidsons of Muirhouse disapproved of "tipple houses" and could prevent a new licenced premis, but could not object to a licence being transferred from one premis to another. Yes, the train went to the Caley (Caledonian) Station at the west end of Princes Street. I could not find any photos of Mrs Harley's shop. Do you have one? Do you recall when St Cuthbert's closed and do you have a photo? You will have attended the earlier Davidson's Mains School which was demolished in 1967 after the new school opened in 1966. The shops in Quality Street were built and rented out by The Corner Cafe owners. The term farm has been used a lot but they were just small piggeries or kept hens, nothing on the scale of Silverknowes, Muirhouse, Lauriston, Pilton, Drylaw, Corbie Hill, House o' Hill and Marchfield Farms.

[@sandracharles2727]

@@neil0131 Yes, Malone’s! I’d forgotten that was what people called it. Re the ‘farm’ behind Main Street and Quality Street, I thought I could remember cows in an old byre or similar and a bit of a yard, but it’s a long time ago and I may be mistaken. I’m afraid that I don’t have any photos of the area. My parents may have had a camera but didn’t take many photos, probably only on holiday. Keep up the good work!

[@neil0131]

@@sandracharles2727 Hi Sandra, yes, there were cows! You are not mistaken. It was Hay's Dairy. I have a photo of cows on Quality Street returning to Hillpark after being milked at the dairy. There were 5 dairies in the village at one time but I am not aware of any photos. I think that some of the cows were kept in the large plots of land behind the buildings and on the rugby park. The 1794 "State of the Parish of Cramond" report said that the villagers seldom tasted meat, fish, milk or cheese and there was no mention of cattle or sheep being produced on the big farms, only crops. But by 1891 there were lots of small dairies employing 31 people! All replaced by a large dairy beside the parish church, Logan & Forrest Dairy, established after the war when milk production became more automated putting the small dairies out of business. The days of taking your own containers to the dairy to collect milk were over! Two road tankers delivered milk twice a week to the dairy from presumably West Lothian. The dairy produced cream, butter and delivered milk in glass bottles to over 3000 houses on the west side of Edinburgh. Semi-skimmed milk was not marketed until c.1980. Full skimmed milk only appeared on supermarket shelves in the 1990s. In the 1960s, skimmed milk was a by-product and a tanker load was taken away every week to feed pigs.

[@gillianashton]

This is fantastic Neil 👏 I moved to Silverknowes in 1970 and went to D Mains primary, then onto Royal High. I’m sure St Cuthberts was still on Corbiehill Road in the early 70’s. So many memories have popped up after looking at these photos.

[@neil0131]

Thanks for your interest and comments. Was there any evidence of the old school foundations when you started at the new DMPS? I have been unable to get a photo of St Cuthbert's store but the building is still owned by the Co-op. A photo with staff outside would be a brilliant find. I had emailed someone who's neighbour's husband had worked there but I did not get a response. Thanks for giving me the early 1970s as a closing date. Much better than 19XX. I have met lots of interesting people whilst taking photographs.

[@gillianashton]

@@neil0131 there was no evidence of the old school foundations/buildings when I was there. It’s a shame there weren’t any photos of the school in its previous incarnations on the walls either. Local history lessons tended to focus on Cramond rather than Davidson’s Mains too. Another reason why I’m pleased to see all your photos of yesteryear.

[@neil0131]

@@gillianashton I offered to the school a week ago to give my talk to staff and PTA, possibly as an end of term event. My grandchildren went to Cramond and yes, the local history was about the Romans. I have chatted to many locals standing at the well and many of them did not know that it was the old village well. You can tie in a lot of history on the way of life with just a few local links to make it real.