ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
A solo bus trip to Edinburgh from a while ago. It was a trip to the Union Canal termination where it stops at Tollcross in an attractive basin. Just up the canal from its end point you come to Fountainbridge, a district of Edinburgh that's undergone massive redevelopment.
When Sir Sean Connery grew up here in the 1940s and 1950s I'd imagine it all used to look like this. Part of the traditional street layout still untouched in 2019. Back in the 1950s it would have been busy streets of chimney soot stained tenements, some factories, a large brewery with teams of heavy horses pulling beer wagons to various pubs and clubs and the usual sights associated with heavy industry, including a still working canal with supply barges. The barges are still here but converted into house boats or used for tourist trips.
I was puzzled as to what this old building was used for until I worked it out from the golden panels.
The local lending library, still in use today.
This period detail made me laugh. The Square 'Bunnet' of Education. "After five years of study you have earned the right to wear the square bunnet of education my boy. Carry it on yer nut with pride. Dinnae ever disgrace the square bunnet!"
Tribute to the old Fountainbridge Brewery and its workers. (wearing the traditional round bunnet or flat cap of the 1950s working class.)
What caught my attention however in this district, travelling through it on a local internal bus, was the sudden burst of vibrant colours on both sides of the main road - like going from black and white into Disneyland on a previous Edinburgh trip with Anne. On that occasion, after a full walking day already, we didn't stop, so I had to come back to explore it properly. On one side of the road is the new school.
And right across from it a play complex.
Colourful mural on the nearby canal. I wouldn't swim in it myself but there you go. I prefer cycling along it which is very enjoyable... or you can hire a barge or kayak up it, heading out past leafy suburbia. As the mural shows there used to be a big American owned rubber factory in Fountainbridge making hot water bottles, wellie boots, car tyres, and rubber gloves alongside dozens of other products, sold across the world, employing thousands of workers. See info link at the end of this post.
The new architecture here is interesting and colourful. New school just visible on far left.
I'll call this complex beside the Union Canal 'Five Shades of Tasteful Grey.'
Another view of it from the Fountain Park Entertainment Complex. Never spotted a fountain though, only the usual fast food outlets, cinema multiplex, wallet draining gaming/gambling amusements etc...
Mural wall leading down to the Telfer Underpass ( a tunnel running under a main road connecting a district of housing cul de sacs- the tunnel was fun....
finding my way back out of the maze of dead end streets in what turned out to be an unexciting area... not so much. Only went that way as I was still looking for the illusive fountain.
but it gave me another chance to see the large mural...
It's not a large district but it has some interest. Tollcross Fire Brigade building.
Back in Princes Street I noticed this ornate cross beside a church.
It was the panel detail that caught my eye.
For a religious theme the female figure here is a tad racy to my mind. More bare breasted Lara Croft than demure angel. And right beside a church as well. Tisk tisk. No wonder she has a loyal following of male admirers. No square bunnet necessary for her.
Ross Fountain detail. As Anne noticed and remarked on a previous visit to Edinburgh. " How come all the women depicted here always have their bits hanging out while the males are fully dressed? "
And I'd replied. ( patting her on the head sympathetically...- not!) " That's classical art my dear... I could explain it all to you but you just wouldn't understand. :o)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountainbridge There was a well in the 1700s- hence the name- now long gone. That clears that up. Doh!
9 comments:
I have never heard the expression 'The Square 'Bunnet' of Education before - I suspect that you are using a bit Glaswegian dialect.
All sorts of interesting art and artefacts there! Of course, I love the golden relief on the Library best.
Hi Rosemary,
I made that up. My own inspiration as I presumed the square headgear depicted was some early version of a university mortarboard on graduation day. Even the traditional flat cap for ordinary workers goes back many centuries( I wore one at work years ago for wet weather outside or up the hills- so did Alex) yet has faded out in the last 20 years after hundreds of years of continuous use- like loads of other old traditions- post internet. A mass extinction of habits and customs. We got ours free as we walked the hills with a flat cap maker in the 1980s but they were practical, lightweight, and hard wearing. If you put your hood up on the waterproof jacket it was hard to hear general conversations or keep track of others around you but the cap protected the head during rain or heavy drizzle but kept ears free for listening to instructions- probably why it lasted so long since the 1500s. Far fewer people work outdoors now.
Hi Anabel,
Yes, it looked a fine big library. I'm off to Google the fountain I couldn't find. Did see online photos of 1940s beer and milk wagons both pulled by horses- as that was one of Sean Connery's early jobs in that area- delivering milk around the doors.
I always enjoy your urban explorations.
Didn't know about the square bunnet thing - was that just to cock a snook at the round-capped workers?
My Dad always wore a flat cap, especially on the hills - but I assumed that was just 'cos he's bald! Don't you find they blow off in a gale?
Cheers Linda.
Hi Carol.
As explained it's a University square Mortarboard thing (I Think) A tradition at universities that dates right back to Medieval Italian religious orders- passing on supposedly secret knowledge to get ahead in life in the top echelons of society etc...
and still very relevant today when you look at the current political system.
Flat cap did not blow off in gales as it would only be in roughest winter storms that would happen when I always switched to full thermal balaclava and jacket hood up to avoid hypothermia and frost bitten nose and ears on the mountains.
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