Freer Street, Edinburgh

[sonichaggisHHS]

Hi there,

I am not sure if this is the best place or not for this question, but here goes...

1881 census records show that my ancestors lived at 10 Freer Street, St Cuthbert's Edinburgh. I can't seem to find the location on a map. However, a google search shows that there are developments called Freer Street being built in Edinburgh. Does Freer Street (the actual street) no longer exist? Is this site in Edinburgh which is being developed (and being called Freer street) on the site of the actual former Freer Street?

Any details/info are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
LMK

[AndrewP]

Hi LMK (sonichaggisHHS),



Freer Street has long gone. It was off Fountainbridge, just west of where Fountainbridge used to go over the Union Canal. it is almost in the centre of the following map from the 1890s.

http://maps.nls.uk/townplans/view/?sid= ... &layers=BT

In my student days in the early 1980s I would occasionally get into the Tartan Club, a club meant for the employees of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries who owned much of the land around Fountainbridge. It stood pretty much where Freer Street was, so I can say that Freer Street was gone by then. I would suspect that it was probably demolished in the 1960s while the breweries were expanding in that area.

The last of the breweries have been out of the Fountainbridge area for about 10 years. Much of the site is being re-developed now into housing and offices. The redevelopment started most of 10 years back, but came to a standstill when the economy crashed in 2008. Building has started again now, but slowly. The Freer Street development plan that can be found online looks like it is proposed to be approximately on the site of the original Freer Street.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Hibee]

Hi LMK

As Andrew says, all the original buildings in Freer Street have gone, but there is still a trace of the road itself, in the attached pic.

Hibee

[sonichaggisHHS]

Hi AndrewP,

Thanks so much for the welcome and the for the link and info! When I could not find it, I suspected it no longer existed but I am so happy to be able to see where it used to be. Also, I wasn't aware of such maps on the NLS site so I am eager to check that out more too! I was not aware of the history of breweries in that area - interesting!

Hibee,

Thanks for the current photo of the street! Very interesting to see where it once was situated as my great grandmother lived there very early in her life

Thank you both again!
Lisa MK

[Currie]

It seems that No. 10 was a large tenement building, which was probably usually the case. The Scotsman on 28 January, 1889, reported the death of a small boy who fell from a landing in the stair of No. 10 Freer Street where he resided. He fell a distance of 50 feet from where parts of a railing had been missing for months.

Some pictures of old Freer Street.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedi ... 0492780496

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedi ... 0492780496

Alan

[vvgonelli]

Hello,
I just came across your couple of year old freer street enquiry.

You probably know much more now however, If I can find the time and photos of the area, I will try to let you know some of what I know and have access to.

I used to live nearby ( so did Sean Connery) I also had business on either side of Freer St in Fountainbridge for many years.
There was a book published on fountain ridge & its rich history also, the chap who wrote the Sean Connory book delves into its history.

I see that you already have a photo of Fountainbridge and in it, I can see the right hand end of a building I used in that street.

That was interesting for me as I have no photos of it.

Right,

Will be in touch.
Regards
Vincent

[Russell]

Welcome to Vincent

What a lovely way to join this happy band of family history addicts. Enter stage left bearing gifts There is almost as much interest in social history amongst the members as the genealogical stuff. As a youngster I worked in James Thins bookshop and my mental image is of the tenements and the steam from the breweries. Photographs are the only way for some of our overseas members to visualise Auld Reekie.
Russell