The
Story of Leith
by John Russell This book kindly provided by Ranald McIntyre
Walking Tour of Leith & The Shore, Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh's Coolest & Exciting District
Leith
In the old days
In the Old Days. Leith, a major port since
early medieval times, and a town that somehow managed to retain its
unique identity after being swallowed up by Edinburgh in 1920.
Here, we look at the people and buildings of Leith through old
photographs that capture the ordinary lives of its citizens. From the
grandness of the Assembly Rooms and the Town Hall to the mundane task of
collecting water in the street; from barefoot children to trams and
ships and trains. This is an insight into the ordinary lives of people
who lived in an extraordinary place.
Along the way we will see buildings and whole streets that have vanished
to make way for the unrelenting march of progress, a progress that often
led to the creation of concrete jungles with no heart or soul. We will
see workmen laying tram lines in a construction upheaval that would be
repeated 100 years later. And with a backdrop of old ships in the Water
of Leith, the faces of the town's inhabitants peer out at us from areas
that would soon be swept away to make way for improvments to their
lives: houses with running water and other mod-cons.
This is an insight into the past, and into the lives of people long ago.
Welcome to Leith.
To Thomas Fraser
and to All the Leith Boys and Girls
whom he used to send on school excursions to visit the historical
buildings and monuments of their own district.
This comment system
requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account
or an account you already have with Google, X, Facebook or
Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of
these companies then you can create an account with Disqus.
All comments are moderated so they won't display until the
moderator has approved your comment.
