Seafield is a coastal strip situated on the Firth of Forth between

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

and

Portobello Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to: Places Brazil * Porto Belo Ireland * Portobello, Dublin * Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks'' New Zealand * Portobello, New Zealand, on Ot ...

in north-east

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The area is mainly commercial, and has little housing. The area is home to Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, which cares for around 150 of Edinburgh and the Lothians' lost and abandoned cats and dogs. The

Eastern General Hospital The Eastern General Hospital was a health facility in Seafield Street in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was managed by NHS Lothian at its time of closure and prior to that was managed by Lothian Health Board. History The hospital was designed by ...

was based here until being demolished in 2008. Its maternity unit served North East Edinburgh and the Borders until 1997.

Seafield Cemetery and Crematorium

The main gates and gatehouse, Seafield Cemetery, Edinburgh

Naval war grave section in Seafield Cemetery

Dating from 1889 the cemetery has an impressive entrance lodge and gates in the style of

Kinross House Kinross House is a late 17th-century country house overlooking Loch Leven, near Kinross in Kinross-shire, Scotland. History Construction of the house began in 1685, by the architect Sir William Bruce as his own home. It is regarded as one of h ...

. The crematorium dates from 1938 and was designed by the Leith architect W. N. Thomson. The cemetery has a columbarium and Italian style section to the south. There are few notable monuments or interments: *

Bernard Hunter Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

, businessman * Thomas Bernard Mouat surgeon and medical author * Robertson Fotheringham Ogilvie FRSE pathologist *Rev David Brown Spence, missionary *Raimondo Nicolo de Pinto and John James de Pinto, Greek consuls * Alex Young (1880-1959) footballer (the previously unmarked grave had a stone placed by Everton Heritage Society in January 2017. There are a high number of war graves, partly due to the cemetery's proximity to the Eastern General Hospital, which served as a military hospital during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. There are also a number of trawlermen buried in war graves, due to the government conscripting both boats and crews to serve in mine clearance duties during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The crews were officially part of the

Royal Navy Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

during this period. Here are buried 185 Commonwealth service personnel of the First World War, some buried in the Military Plot in Section B or the Admiralty Plot in Section M, otherwise scattered throughout the cemetery. Those whose graves could not be marked are listed on a Screen Wall memorial. There 104 service personnel from the Second war, including 5 unidentified sailors, many buried in a plot in Section P, facing which is a memorial to 22 service personnel of the latter war cremated at the crematorium. A group of Canadian war graves lie close to the main entrance including two members of the

Canadian Forestry Corps The Canadian Forestry Corps (''Corps forestier canadien'' in French) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army with its own cap badge, and other insignia and traditions. The Canadian Forestry Corps was created 14 Nov 1916. The badge of t ...

. Robert Pringle of the 7th

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regime ...

was killed in the Gretna Disaster. Several naval graves hide deeper sadness as each represents either someone dying from wounds or disease, often far from home, or bodies washed up on the shores of the Firth of Forth:- *Radio Operator Glyndwr B Brown (1920-1941) died if wounds sustained on SS Dalemoor when she was captured by German forces June 1941. *O/s W. H. Clarke (1921-1939) 18 year old who died of wounds received on HMS Cossack. *S/Lt C Dobson, C L Baldwin, Lt D B Johnstone (in command), all from HMT Firefly a trawler converted to

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

destroyed by a loose British mine in Firth of Forth on 3 February 1940 *A/s G. Gray killed in a torpedo attack by a U-boat on his ship SS Malvina of Flamborough Head on 2 August 1918 *Fireman J. Henderson died 9 January 1919 following an attack on his ship SS Northumbria *Hendrik V D Hoogh (1900-1944) Dutch seaman from

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

*Seaman Willem Adriaan Staalenburg (1924-1940) from

Pijnacker Pijnacker () is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is bordered Zoetermeer to the north, by Nootdorp to the northwest, by Delfgauw to the southwest, by Rotterdam (specifically Overschie) to the south and by Berkel en Rodenrijs to t ...

in the Netherlands, 16 year old, died of wounds received in North Sea, and Hermanus Natzijl (1890-1940) from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

and served on the same ship *Seven crew of , David Llewellyn Thomas, S J R Piper, C L M Harvey, D F Philips, mainly from Brixham, a Rescue tug and minesweeper blown up by a mine in Firth of Forth on 4 September 1940 *A/s C E J Ricketts of Barrage Vessel 42 and A/s E Murt of HMS Flint Castle killed by an accidental explosion in

Leith Docks Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

on 22 December 1943 *Five men killed in November 1939 due to the collision of HMS Cossack and SS Borthwick in the Firth of Forth

Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works

Located on the northern side of the A199 is the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW), the largest waste water treatment works in Scotland. Operated by

Scottish Water Scottish Water is a statutory corporation that provides water and sewerage services across Scotland. It is accountable to the public through the Scottish Government. Operations Scottish Water provides drinking water to 2.46 million household ...

, this facility processes 300 million litres of

waste water Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...

every day (enough to fill 121 Olympic-sized swimming pools), with sufficient future capacity for a population of 850,000 people. There is also a Combined Heat and Power plant and Thermal Hydrolysis to generate up to 2300 kilowatts of sustainable electricity from waste gases, enough to power up to 600 homes, as well as treating the residual waste for agricultural use. Also located on the site is Veolia Water Outsourcing Ltd. Although a multi-million pound Odour Improvement Plan was instigated in 2012, in 2021 a further £10 million investment in improved sludge storage commenced following numerous complaints from local residents regarding strong odours emanating from the facility.

References

{{Coord, 55, 58, 8.32, N, 3, 8, 37.06, W, display=title Areas of Edinburgh Leith