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Archiver > SCT-EDINBURGH > 2005-08 > 1123021680


From: "Jean & John Johnston" <>
Subject: East Arthur Place, Edinburgh
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:28:00 +1200
References: <MGEDIHECPHFEMLFIBMEKGEKIDKAA.john@marspub.co.uk>


Hello Listers,
For those interested:
I could not find 9 East Arthur Place on any modern maps so I asked a friend
in Edinburgh to make enquiries. He sent me these notes:
"There is a New Arthur Place in the Dumbiedykes area near Salisbury Crags.
But there once was an Arthur Street, with West, Middle and East Arthur
Places running off it. This whole tenement area, in the Pleasance district,
built in the early decades of the nineteenth century (c.1810-30), had become
overcrowded and run-down by the Second World War. It was totally cleared in
the late 1950s to early 1960s, in keeping with the Planning/Housing policies
of the time, and since then the area has been filled with public authority
(Council and SSHA) housing of varying quality. The East-West roads, such as
Arthur Street, were fairly steep, the whole area having been sculpted by ice
during the last great glaciation, with over-deepening in the area below the
Salisbury Crags as the ice was diverted round the Arthur's Seat area, but
the shorter North/South streets, including the Arthur Places, would be more
level. Had the area survived for a further 20 years it would have been
affected by a new public policy. Instead of wholesale demolition there would
have been selective clearing to reduce the density and open up the "canyon
effect" of the tenements, with complete rehabilitation of the remaining
property, typically turning three or four-flats-per-floor into two- (or
sometimes one) -per-level. This happened in some other tenement areas of
Edinburgh eg. Gorgie/Dalry, and Lauriston near the Royal Infirmary, and more
notably in much of Glasgow eg. in Partick, Maryhill and Shettleston. The
Edinburgh Central Library holds a photographic survey carried out in
Dumbiedykes before demolition."

As for cemeteries:
My McIntosh family moved from the Dumbiedykes area to the Dalry/Merchiston
area and some are buried in the North Merchiston Cemetery.

John

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