Stockbridge, Edinburgh
Encyclopedia
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, located towards the north of the city, bounded by the New Town and by Comely Bank
Comely Bank
Comely Bank is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, United Kingdom. It is south-west of Royal Botanic Garden. It is situated between Stockbridge and Craigleith.-External links:...
. The name is Scots stock brig from Anglic
Anglic languages
The English languages are a group of linguistic varieties including Old English and the languages descended from it...
stocc brycg, meaning a timber bridge. Originally a small outlying village, it was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th century. The current "Stock Bridge", a stone structure, was built in 1801 and spans the Water of Leith
Water of Leith
The Water of Leith is the main river flowing through Edinburgh, Scotland, to the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.It is long and rises in the Colzium Springs at Millstone Rig of the Pentland Hills...
. The painter Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
(1756–1823) owned two adjoining estates, Deanhaugh and St Bernard’s, which he developed with the assistance of the architect James Milne. Milne was also responsible for the fine St Bernard's Church (1823) in Saxe Coburg Street. Ann Street, designed by Raeburn and named after his wife, is a rare early example of a New Town street with private front gardens.
Notable Streets and Buildings
The eastern "gateway" into Stockbridge is marked by the local landmark, St Stephen's Church. This stands at the north end of St Vincent Street, its tower visible from the First New town. Originally designed to stand in the centre of Circus Place, it was squeezed into its current site on the top of a sharp slope above the SilvermillsSilvermills
Silvermills once an ancient village, has been part of the Edinburgh New Town since 1809.As the name suggests, the village was centred around a mill for Silver...
area. It was designed by the architect William Playfair
William Playfair
William Playfair was a Scottish engineer and political economist, the founder of graphical methods of statistics....
in 1827. it is unusual for its main church being raised by a storey, accessed by a tall but relatively narrow flight of steps at its frontage. Its clock pendulum is the longest in Europe.
The church marks the east end of St Stephen Street, a characterful curving Georgian street with active basements and ground floors, accommodating a series of antique shops, bars and small shops and offices. A small spur on its north side, St Stephen Place, lead to the old Stockbridge Market, whose entrance archway still remains.
Parallel to St Stephen Street, to the south, lies Circus Lane, a characterful mews lane, integrating both old and new buildings.
The "main road" of the area is Raeburn Place, a street of mixed character, with numerous small shops at ground floor level. The link from this street to the New town is via Deanhaugh Street and North West Circus Place.
Kerr Street, south of the bridge, is a scar in the otherwise original urban grain of the area. Built in 1974 as part of a "slum clearance" programme, it lacks the character of its surroundings. The clinic to its east is part of the same scheme.
Gloucester Lane marks the line of the medieval road from the village to St Cuthberts Church. One building close to the Stockbridge end, predates the New Town, and dates from the 17th century.
The late Victorian Leslie Place joins the village to the western sections of the New Town: St Bernards Crescent; Carlton Street; Danube Street, Ann Street and Dean Terrace. To the north of this there is a less formal area of narrower streets: Dean Street; Cheyne Street; Raeburn Street and Dean Park Street.
The north-eastern route out of the area, towards Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
, runs along Hamilton Place. Dean Bank spurs off this road, running alongside the Water of Leith. Hamilton Place holds both the local library (1898) and school (1874). A small Georgian cul-de-sac lies just to the north, Saxe Coburg Street, leading to the charming bow-ended small square of Saxe Coburg Place. This formal space was never completed due to ground level problems and Glenogle Baths (1897) were instead built on the corner of the square.
To the north, St Bernards Row leads out past another little Georgian cul-de-sac, Malta Terrace, to Inverleith
Inverleith
Inverleith is an inner suburb in the northern part of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. It is an affluent suburb. Its neighbours include Trinity to the north and the New Town to the south, with Canonmills at the south-east and Stockbridge at the south-west...
and the Botanic Gardens.
The Colonies
Between Glenogle Road and the Water of LeithWater of Leith
The Water of Leith is the main river flowing through Edinburgh, Scotland, to the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.It is long and rises in the Colzium Springs at Millstone Rig of the Pentland Hills...
there are eleven parallel streets, collectively known as the "Stockbridge Colonies". Built between 1861 and 1911 by the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company to provide low-cost housing for working people. The streets are named after those who founded the Company, including geologist and writer Hugh Miller
Hugh Miller
Hugh Miller was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian.- Life and work :Born in Cromarty, he was educated in a parish school where he reportedly showed a love of reading. At 17 he was apprenticed to a stonemason, and his work in quarries, together with...
(1802-56). The colony houses
Colony houses
The colony houses of Edinburgh were built between 1850 and 1910 as homes for artisans and skilled working-class families by philanthropic model dwellings companies. The first development was the Pilrig Model Buildings, near Leith Walk. Later developments across the city were built by the Edinburgh...
now have a kudos above their original status, due partly to their location near the Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh,...
and Inverleith Park, and ease of access to the city centre. The colonies are often considered to be almost a village in their own right.
St Bernard's Well
Mineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...
well is on the south bank of the Water of Leith, in an estate once known as St Bernard's. Just below a footpath is St Bernard's Well (55°57′19.1"N 3°12′41.4"W); the well-house was originally built in 1760. The waters of the well were held in high repute for their medicinal virtues, and the nobility and gentry took summer quarters in the valley to drink deep draughts of the water and take the country air. In 1788 Lord Gardenstone, a wealthy Court of Session
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
judge who thought he had benefitted from the mineral spring, commissioned Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander Nasmyth was a Scottish portrait and landscape painter, often called the "father of Scottish landscape painting".-Biography:...
to design a new pump room. The builder John Wilson began work in 1789. It is in the shape of a circular temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
supported by ten tall Doric order
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns, with a statue made in 1791 from Coade stone of Hygieia
Hygieia
In Greek and Roman mythology, Hygieia , was a daughter of the god of medicine, Asclepius. She was the goddess/personification of health , cleanliness and sanitation. She also played an important part in her father's cult...
, the Greek goddess of health, in the centre. St Bernard's F.C.
St Bernard's F.C.
St Bernard's F.C. were a Senior Scottish football club based in Edinburgh from 1878 to 1943....
, a once successful Scottish team but now defunct were named after the famous well and played in Stockbridge.
The superiority of much of the St Bernard's estate was purchased in the 1790s by Sir Henry Raeburn, who almost immediately began selling it off by feu
Feu
Feu was previously the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. Act 2000...
charters, although he remained living at St. Bernard's House until his death in 1823. (The house was demolished in 1826 to make way for the east side of Carlton Street).
In the opening years of the 19th century George Lauder of Inverleith Mains also acquired parts of these lands as evidenced by a charter whereby "Henry Raeburn, as retoured heir to Sir Henry Raeburn, Knight, Portrait Painter, Edinburgh, his father, was seised on the 19 March 1824 in a piece of ground for the purpose of making a communication by a stone bridge across the Water of Leith from the New Street called Atholl Street, now India Place, to the grounds of St Bernards, parish of St Cuthberts, which piece of ground had previously been sold by George Lauder residing at Inverleith Mains, to the said (deceased) Sir Henry Raeburn on 28 June 1823". Doubtless this new bridge (built the following year by James Milne, and today known as St. Bernard's Bridge) was thought would assist in making those so far undeveloped parts of Stockbridge, and the Raeburn lands, attractive to developers. George Lauder, the great-grandfather of Sir Harry Lauder
Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
, had also purchased St. Bernard's Well and surrounding land in April 1812 from Francis Garden Campbell of Troup & Glenlyon. His eldest surviving son is described in the Edinburgh Annual Post Office Directories as "William Lauder of St.Bernards Well, farmer" until his death in nearby Saunders Street in 1858. He was buried in Dean Cemetery
Dean Cemetery
The Dean Cemetery is a prominent cemetery in the Dean Village, in Edinburgh, Scotland.-Dean House:It stands on the site of Dean House , part of Dean Estate which had been purchased in 1609 by Sir William Nisbet, who became in 1616 Lord Provost of Edinburgh. The Nisbets of Dean held the office of...
.
In 1884 St. Bernard's Well was purchased and presented to his fellow Edinburgh townsmen by Mr William Nelson, after it had been restored and redecorated by Thomas Bonnar, with a new statue of Hygieia, carved by D. W. Stevenson. Dean Terrace and Ann Street today overlook the valley and Well.
The well is now maintained by the City of Edinburgh Council and the well is open to the public on Sundays throughout the year.
Culture and sport
Raeburn PlaceRaeburn Place
Raeburn Place is the main street of Stockbridge, Edinburgh, and the name of the playing fields there.-Rugby:The first international rugby football game was played on the playing fields at Raeburn Place on 27 March 1871 between England and Scotland. It was won by Scotland, though England got revenge...
is the main retail thoroughfare, and was the location of the first international rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
match when the Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
sports ground hosted the game between England and Scotland on 27 March 1871.
Stockbridge contains a number of specialty shops including a cheese shop as well as multiple charity shop
Charity shop
A charity shop, thrift shop, thrift store, hospice shop , resale shop or op shop is a retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise money.Charity shops are a type of social enterprise...
s (some of which are among the highest grossing in the UK). The Bailie Bar pub is mentioned in various pub and tourist guides.
The Academy's Sport's grounds are also host to The Grange
The Grange, Edinburgh (cricket and sports club)
The Grange Club is a cricket and sports club in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh, Scotland. The cricket ground, commonly known as The Grange, is the regular home of the Scotland national cricket team.-Cricket:...
, which is home turf of the Scottish cricket team
Scottish cricket team
The Scotland national cricket team represents Scotland in the game of cricket. They compete in the Clydesdale Bank 40 as the Scottish Saltires...
. The venue hosted two fixtures of the 1999 Cricket World Cup
1999 Cricket World Cup
-England:-Outside England:-Group A:-Results:-------------------------------------------------------------Group B:-Results:------------------------------------------------------------...
. St Bernard's F.C.
St Bernard's F.C.
St Bernard's F.C. were a Senior Scottish football club based in Edinburgh from 1878 to 1943....
were a successful side but suffered declining support in the face of Hearts
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
and Hibs
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
.
The neighbourhood is also home to the Stockbridge Pipe Band. Founded in 1994, the Band are current British, European, World and Cowal Champions in G4b of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association
Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association was founded in 1930 as a governing body to oversee pipe band competition and to promote and encourage the development of pipe band culture throughout the world....
.
Besides in 1960s-1980s here there was known club Tiffany's.
Each year Stockbridge hosts a community festival, normally lasting 9 days at the end of June. Since 1988, the festival has held the Stockbridge Duck Race to raise money for local charities. 1000 rubber duck
Rubber duck
A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a stylised Yellow-billed Duck , and is generally yellow with a flat base. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic...
s are released into the Water of Leith. Each has a number written on its head and the first ducks past the winning line win prizes for their sponsors. "Duck Wardens" follow the ducks to keep them out of the reeds and to stop watching children falling into the river. Hundreds of people turn out every year to cheer for their duck.
The community council which covers Stockbridge is Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council (also covering Comely Bank
Comely Bank
Comely Bank is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, United Kingdom. It is south-west of Royal Botanic Garden. It is situated between Stockbridge and Craigleith.-External links:...
).
Famous citizens
Notable Stockbridge residents have included:-- Sir Henry RaeburnHenry RaeburnSir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
(1756-1823), portrait artist - James HoggJames HoggJames Hogg was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English.-Early life:James Hogg was born in a small farm near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770 and was baptized there on 9 December, his actual date of birth having never been recorded...
(1770-1835), poet and novelist - Sir James Young SimpsonJames Young SimpsonSir James Young Simpson was a Scottish doctor and an important figure in the history of medicine. Simpson discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and successfully introduced it for general medical use....
(1811-70), surgeon - Thomas de QuinceyThomas de QuinceyThomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...
(1785-1859), intellectual - Horatio McCullochHoratio McCullochHoratio McCulloch , sometimes written M'Culloch, was a Scottish landscape painter.-Life:...
(1805-67), landscape artist - NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, (1938-1988), musician, Warhol SuperstarWarhol superstarWarhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life... - David RobertsDavid Roberts (painter)David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...
(1796-1864), artist - Peter HiggsPeter HiggsPeter Ware Higgs, FRS, FRSE, FKC , is an English theoretical physicist and an emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh....
, physicist - Graham CrowdenGraham CrowdenClement Graham Crowden was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric 'offbeat' scientist, teacher and doctor characters.-Early life:...
, actor - Norman LovettNorman LovettNorman Lovett is an English stand-up comedian and actor, best known for the role of Holly in Red Dwarf during the first, second, seventh and eighth series. His comedy has a quiet, dead-pan surrealism, and in 2000 he made a successful stand up tour, co-headlining with Chris Barrie, who played...
, actor - Rose FrainRose FrainRose Frain is an artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, exhibiting nationally and internationally, whose works range from painting and sculpture to installation....
, artist - Stephane AdamStéphane AdamStéphane Lucien Adam is a retired French footballer. Adam was a talented forward who played for hometown Lille OSC, US Orléans, Créteil, Amiens SC and Metz in the French league and Hearts in the Scottish Premier Division where notably he scored the second goal in the Jambos 2-1 victory over...
, Footballer, Heart of Midlothian F.C.Heart of Midlothian F.C.Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
Scottish Cup winning legend, 1998 - Madame DoubtfireMadame DoubtfireMadame Doubtfire, known as Alias Madame Doubtfire in the United States, is a 1987 novel for young adults, about a family with divorced parents. It was adapted into the film Mrs...
, A.k.a. Mrs Annabell Coutts, Pawnbroker & Money Lender to Edinburgh High Society during the 1920s DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. - Shirley MansonShirley MansonShirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and...
, musician - Aly BainAly BainAly Bain MBE is a Shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. Bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the Scottish tradition. In the early days of his career he formed part of the band The Humblebums with two other ‘unknowns’ Gerry Rafferty and...
, Shetland fiddle player - Dylan MoranDylan MoranDylan Moran is an Irish stand-up comedian, writer, actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his sardonic observational comedy, the UK television sitcom Black Books , and his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run...
, comedian, actor, writer
Film location
Because of its picturesque qualities, Stockbridge has often been used as a location in film and television dramas.For example: - Mary Reilly
Mary Reilly (film)
Mary Reilly is a 1996 film directed by Stephen Frears. The movie was written by Christopher Hampton based on the novel Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin...
; North and South; Women Talking Dirty
Women Talking Dirty
Women Talking Dirty is a 1999 Scottish comedy film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Gina McKee. It is an adaptation of the novel, Women Talking Dirty, written by Isla Dewar who wrote the screenplay as well.- Premise :...
(directed by David Furnish
David Furnish
David James Furnish is a Canadian/British filmmaker, former advertising executive, and now a film director and producer most known for his documentary Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras...
); Rebus
Rebus (TV series)
Rebus is the title of the detective drama based on the Inspector Rebus novels by the Scottish author Ian Rankin set in and around Edinburgh produced by STV Productions for the ITV Network....
; Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Notable buildings
Madame Doubtfire lived and ran a shop in Stockbridge. It was a run-down bric-abrac shop which occupied for many years a basement area in South-East Circus Place, now Frame Creative, a design agency. The name "Madame Doubtfire" remained in large, bold, faded-gold letters on the ageing shop fasciaFascia
A fascia is a layer of fibrous tissue that permeates the human body. A fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding those structures together in much the same manner as plastic wrap can be used to hold the contents of sandwiches...
for many years after the lady's death (in 1979 aged 92). The novelist Anne Fine
Anne Fine
Anne Fine, OBE FRSL is a British author best known for her children's books, of which she has written more than 50. She also writes for adults...
lived in the area at the time and was, apparently, fascinated by the name. She used it for her novel Madame Doubtfire
Madame Doubtfire
Madame Doubtfire, known as Alias Madame Doubtfire in the United States, is a 1987 novel for young adults, about a family with divorced parents. It was adapted into the film Mrs...
which was turned into the film, though the Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
character Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 American comedy film starring Robin Williams and Sally Field and based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. It was directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup...
bears no resemblance to the Stockbridge original. Madame Doubtfire's favourite saying was "walls have ears".
One of Scotland's most famous brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s used to be located in Danube Street, Stockbridge. Dora Noyce
Dora Noyce
Dora Noyce was a Scottish brothel keeper based in Edinburgh.Born in Ross Street, the youngest of five, her parents were Alexander Rae, a cutler, and his wife Mary. Noyce had a daughter Violet , and took the surname of her child's official father to use as a pseudonym...
(1900-77), the proprietor for about thirty years after the second world war, was fined 47 times for living off immoral earnings. She is remembered fondly by some of her former clients and a local legend, and was also a good friend of Madame Doubtfire.