Portobello, Edinburgh
Encyclopedia
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
located three miles (5 km) to the east of the city centre of Edinburgh
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...
, along the coast of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It is now a suburb of Edinburgh
Areas of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is divided into areas that generally encompass a park , a main local street , a high street and residential buildings...
, with a promenade fronting on to the wide sand beach.
Its heyday as a resort was almost certainly in the late 19th century, and it was in slow decline throughout the 20th century. Its attraction was mainly limited to the inhabitants of Edinburgh, but some claim it was an attraction to Glaswegians
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, particularly when the Glasgow Fair
Glasgow Fair
The Glasgow Fair is a holiday during the last fortnight in July in the city of Glasgow Scotland. 'The Fair' is the oldest of a number of similar holidays, dating from the 12th century...
"trade holiday" signalled the start of a 2 week holiday for the west. By the 1960s it had evolved into an area of amusement arcades and some permanent funfair attractions. From the 1980s onwards these also gradually disappeared and by the end of the 20th century the Promenade had almost no attractions specific to its seaside location.
But the beginning of the 21st century has seen a rapid revival of Portobello's fortunes. Spurred on not by tourism or council initiatives, but by a wealth of bottom-up community action, Portobello beach can be as crowded on a summer's day now as it was in the photos from the 19th century. The community action spurring this regeneration is taking many forms: from the arts group 'Big Things on the Beach' with events that have attracted thousands to the Prom to the 'Portobello Open Door' Village fair, and from PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town's) Organic Market, Community Orchard and Car Free Day to the revived Portobello Sailing and Rowing Club bringing bright sails and kayaks to the beach, and the skiffs built by Porty Rowers that bring good natured sea shanties and competitions between rowers from towns across the country. Of course, all of this may have been helped by the Council's decision to stop dumping Edinburgh's sewage into the sea at the end of the 20th century, meaning that the sea is once again excellent to swim in.
History
The area was originally known as Figgate Muir, an expanse of moorland through which the Figgate Burn flowed from Duddingston Loch to the sea, with a broad sandy beach on the Firth of ForthFirth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
. The name Figgate was thought to come from the Saxon term for "cow's ditch". However, the land was used as pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
by the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s of Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...
and the name is more likely to mean "cow road" as in Cowgate in Edinburgh. In 1296 William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
mustered forces on the moor in a campaign that led to the Battle of Dunbar
Battle of Dunbar (1296)
The Battle of Dunbar was the only significant field action in the campaign of 1296. King Edward I of England had invaded Scotland in 1296 to punish King John Balliol for his refusal to support English military action in France.-Background:...
, and in 1650 the moor was the supposed scene of a secret meeting between Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
and Scottish leaders. A report from 1661 describes a race in which twelve browster
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
-wives ran from the Burn (recorded as the Thicket Burn) to the top of Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh
Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh
Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle...
.
By the 18th century it had become a haunt of seamen and smugglers. In 1742 a cottage was built on what is now the High Street (close to the junction with what is now Brighton Place) by a seaman who had served under Admiral Edward Vernon
Edward Vernon
Edward Vernon was an English naval officer. Vernon was born in Westminster, England and went to Westminster School. He joined the Navy in 1700 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1702 and served on several different ships for the next five years...
during the 1739 capture of Porto Bello, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, meaning literally "beautiful port or harbour", and who named the cottage Portobello Hut in honour of that victory. By 1753 there were other houses around it, and the cottage itself remained intact until 1851, becoming a hostelry for foot-travellers and becoming known as the Shepherd's Ha.
In 1763, the lands known as the Figgate Whins were sold by Lord Milton to Baron Mure for about £1500, and afterwards feued out by the latter to a Mr. William Jameson at the rate of £3 per acre. Jameson discovered a valuable bed of clay near the burn, and built a brick and tile works beside the stream. He later built an earthenware
Earthenware
Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects.-Types of earthenware:Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15%...
pottery factory, and the local population grew so that Portobello became a thriving village. Land values subsequently rose, and by the turn of the century some parts had been sold at a yearly 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...
-duty of £40 per annum for every acre.
Portobello Sands were used at that time by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
was their quartermaster
Quartermaster
Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...
, and in 1802 while riding in a charge he was kicked by a horse, and was confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering, he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
"The Lay of the Last Minstrel" is a long narrative poem by Walter Scott. -Overview:...
. The Scots Magazine
The Scots Magazine
The Scots Magazine is a magazine containing articles on subjects of Scottish interest. It is the oldest magazine in the world still in publication although there have been several gaps in its publication history...
in 1806 said the lands were "a perfect waste covered almost entirely with whins or furze
Gorse
Gorse, furze, furse or whin is a genus of about 20 plant species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green...
." Portobello developed into a fashionable bathing resort, and in 1807 new salt-water baths were erected at a cost of £5000. In 1822, the Visit of King George IV to Scotland
Visit of King George IV to Scotland
The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Scotland since 1650. Government ministers had pressed the King to bring forward a proposed visit to Scotland, to divert him from diplomatic intrigue at the Congress of Verona.The visit increased his popularity...
, organised by Scott, included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the sand dunes.
During the 19th century Portobello also became an industrial town, manufacturing bricks (the distinctive "Portobello brick" being locally famed), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap, and mustard. Joppa to the south was important in the production of salt.
In 1833 the town was made a burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
, then in 1896 it was incorporated into Edinburgh by Act of Parliament. A formidable red-brick power station was built in 1934 at the west end of the beach and operated until 1977. It was demolished in the following 18 months.
Between 1846 and 1964 a railway station provided ready access for visitors to the resort, whose facilities came to include a large open air heated swimming pool (where the actor Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
had once worked as a life guard) which made use of the power station's spare heat. It was closed in 1984. There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent fun-fair which closed in 2007. Two small amusement arcades remain (Fun City - Amusement Emporium) and (Tower Amusements). In 1901 Portobello baths were opened on The Promenade overlooking the beach. The baths, now known as Portobello Swim Centre, are still open today and are home to one of only 3 remaining turkish baths in Scotland. The turkish baths are open to the public.
Portobello used to have traffic lights at the King's Road junction up until 1986, when they were replaced with a roundabout. The junction was converted back to a traffic light controlled junction in 2009.
Portobello gave its name to the town of Portobello
Portobello, New Zealand
Portobello is a village beside the Otago Harbour halfway along the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin City, New Zealand. It lies at the foot of a small peninsula between Portobello Bay and Latham Bay....
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, which lies close to the city of Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
(itself named for Edinburgh).
Portobello is situated next to Joppa, Edinburgh
Joppa, Edinburgh
Joppa is the easternmost suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is bounded on the north by the coast of the Firth of Forth, on the west by Portobello, to the south by the open area south of Milton Road and to the east by Musselburgh in East Lothian. The name "Joppa" appears in the late...
, another suburb of Edinburgh.
Notable people
Bridge Street, Portobello, was the birthplace of music hallMusic hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
entertainer 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:...
and his small cottage still stands there, and the memorial garden beside the 'new' Town Hall (built in 1912 by architect James A Williamson) is named after him. The Celtic fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
virtuoso Johnny Cunningham
Johnny Cunningham
Johnny Cunningham was a Scottish folk musician. He was a founding member of Silly Wizard, as well as a member of Relativity, The Raindogs, and Nightnoise. Throughout his career, Cunningham was also a fiddler, composer and producer. His younger brother, Phil Cunningham, is a multi-instrumentalist...
was also born in Portobello. TV presenter Gail Porter
Gail Porter
Gail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...
grew up in Portobello, attending Portobello High School
Portobello High School
Portobello High School is a large secondary school in Portobello in the east of Edinburgh. With 1450 pupils it is one of the largest state schools in Edinburgh and Scotland. At one time it was the largest school in Europe mentioned in The Guinness Book of Records as having 2,500 pupils...
.