Craigleith Hill Estate
Aerial photo of Craigleith Hill area taken c.1996 (provided by resident Nick Timmins). Can you find your home?
Click on the photo above for a larger view
The colour aerial photograph above shows the Craigleith Hill Area squashed in between
the Retail Park on the left, Victoria Hospital and Comely Bank Cemetery at bottom right
and the Western General Hospital at top of photo.
This is taken from an article entitled A SHORT HISTORY OF GRANTON GASWORKS 1968 by John P. Scott. Station Engineer, Granton Gasworks:
'Granton Gas Works was well provided with water resources. In addition to a supply from the towns mains, a disused flooded quarry within the works of, some 10 million gallons capacity provided water for gas cooling, coke quenching and similar operations with used water being returned to the quarry. This was supplemented in 1905 by the acquisition of the flooded CRAIGLEITH QUARRY, 1 3/4 miles from Granton Gas Works, of 190 million gallons capacity. This water was pumped to Granton Gas Works, from which surplus water was returned, being cooled on its passage. Craigleith Quarry's value radically declined due to the reduction of natural drainage into it as housing developments have proceeded.'
That would be the Craigleith and Craigleith Hill housing developments which commenced in the early 1930s. Refuse disposal
Granton Gas Works discharged their works refuse and ashes onto the foreshore which continued up until 1950 by which time a substantial amount of reclamation had been achieved. After the above date, disposal of ashes was made into Craigleith Quarry.
In mid 1975 "Millers" moved their HQ from George Street in Edinburgh to the edge of the quarry site where they had their HQ until 2006.
The residential part of Craigleith started with the building of Barnton Terrace and West Barnton Terrace - now renamed to form the North side of Craigleith Road. The lane to the back of Barnton Terrace has the Barnton Terrace Lane name plate on it.
Millers then started to build the Craigleith Hill residential part in the early 1930s beginning with the Crescent and Loan off Craigleith Road and the Avenue and Gardens from the Crewe Road South end.
The major part of the area seemed to be finished around mid 1930s.
This timeline shows how the estate developed over time.
A house at the top of the Gardens was sold to a resident on 29th November 1932.
The last houses built in the area were as late as 1990s when the waste ground between the Crescent and Park was built on.
An interesting comment regarding the houses is given below from the book EDINBURGH by David Keir 1966,Greenbank and other areas, which are now the minor suburbs, heralded the main body of suburban little house:
'A typical design was the semi detached bungalow: hipped roofs; brick construction with pebble dash facing; two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom.
The rooms were smaller than those of the midde-class tenement flats of the pre-1914, the term kitchenette being used to give some countenance to the compartment in which the sink, cooker, larder and housewife were kept. The most important feature, however, which redeemed every defect of size, construction and design, was the plot of land which went with each house.'