Canonmills Loch, Ainslie 1804
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Canonmills is a district of
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, the capital of
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. It lies to the south east of the Royal Botanic Garden at
Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity, Edinburgh, Trinity to the north a ...
, east of Stockbridge and west of
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...
, in a low hollow north of Edinburgh's New Town. The area was formerly a loch which was drained in three phases in the 18th and 19th centuries, disappearing finally in 1865.


History


Holyrood Abbey

Formerly a small village, Canonmills owes its origins and name, in the same way as
The Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...
, to the Augustinian canons of
Holyrood Abbey Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a List of British royal residences, royal r ...
who operated a mill here from the 12th century. It is shown pictorially as a cluster of buildings, three of which have waterwheels, on the 1560
Siege of Leith The siege of Leith ended a twelve-year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. French troops arrived in Scotland by invitation in 1548. In 1560 the French soldiers opposed Scottish supporter ...
map. At a later period a mill lade from the
Water of Leith The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing through central Edinburgh, Scotland, that starts in the Pentlands Hills and flows into the port of Leith and then into the sea via the Firth of Forth. Name The ...
reached the area via the village of Silvermills to the east. The Incorporation of Baxters (bakers) in the Canongate were compelled by law to have their corn ground at the Canonmills, and during demolition work carried out in 1964 to enlarge a local filling station a stone was unearthed bearing the inscription, "The Baxters Land 1686". It is now incorporated into a wall of the Canonmills Service Station. The only surviving building of the original village is a pantile-roofed former mill building on the corner of Eyre Place and Canon Street. Until c.1995 further remnants existed on Eyre Terrace.


Canonmills Loch

In winter this small man-made loch was used for curling. Canonmills Curling Society were painted by David Allan c.1796 (which is also one of the earliest paintings of this area). The loch survived until the late 19th century, at which point it was infilled and built over.


George V Park

The
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
Park, occupying the old Canon Mill Haugh to the south east, used to be a popular sporting arena. With the final draining of the loch in 1865 it became the site of the Royal Patent Gymnasium, described by James Grant as "...one of the most remarkable and attractive places of its kind in Edinburgh", created "at considerable expense for the purpose of affording healthful and exhilarating recreation in the open air". The principal feature was the circular ''Great Sea Serpent'' which could seat 600 rowers embarking and disembarking at four separate piers. Other attractions were the ''Self-Adjusting
Trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...
'' enabling up to 100 patrons at a time to swing by the hands "over a distance of 130 feet from one trapeze to the other", the ''Giant's Sea-Saw'', 100 feet long by 7 wide, which could elevate 200 people to a height of 50 feet, and the ''Patent
Velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation ...
Paddle Merry-go-Round'' propelled by the feet of 600 passengers.


Scotland Street Tunnel

At the southern edge of the Park, in the cliff-like drop from the streets of the New Town, lies the northern end of the Scotland Street Tunnel which once provided an underground rail link to Canal Street Station on the site of present-day
Waverley Station Edinburgh Waverley (also known simply as Edinburgh; ) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. The station serves as the northern terminus of the East C ...
. The tunnel, built under Scotland Street in 1847 by the
Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway The Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway was a railway company formed in 1836 to connect the city of Edinburgh with the harbours on the Firth of Forth. When the line connected to Granton, the company name was changed to the Edinburgh, Leith and ...
, is three quarters of a mile long and descends a 1 in 27 gradient. Trains descended the tunnel under gravity, controlled by two men operating handbrakes in two front wagons.
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
described the appearance in his ' Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes' (1879): "The Scotland Street Station, the sight of the train shooting out of its dark maw with the two guards upon the brake, the thought of its length and the many ponderous edifices and thoroughfares above, were certainly things of paramount impressiveness to a young mind." For the return journey, 150mm steel cables were attached to the trains which were pulled up the slope by a stationary winding-engine at the Waverley end.


Buildings

The bridge (generally called Canonmills Bridge) linking Canonmills to Inverleith Row was built in 1767, its single arch replaced by three arches in 1840. It was widened in 1896. The deep elliptical crescent of Eyre Crescent was built around Canonmills (or Eyre) House which was replaced in 1880-1 by a United Presbyterian Church which in turn has been replaced by a modern medical centre. A little lodge-type building on Rodney Street is the old school, where
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
's father was educated. Bellevue Chapel is a
Victorian gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
church located in Rodney Street. The church is an independent
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
congregation. The building was constructed from 1878-1881, and was originally a
Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
place of worship for German residents of Edinburgh and those that were building the Forth Bridge. During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the German congregants vacated the building and, in 1919, the
Christian Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelical Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They originated in Ireland before spread ...
in Edinburgh moved into the building renamed it Bellevue Chapel.


Famous Residents

The sculptor Stewart McGlashan had his granite yard at Canonmills Bridge and lived opposite, at 5 Brandon Street.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1900-1901


References


External links


Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)



Google Map


{{coord, 55, 57, 45.09, N, 3, 11, 59.33, W, display=title Areas of Edinburgh