Portobello, Edinburgh

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Portobello Police Station, by Robert Paterson built as Portobello Town Hall in 1878 and later used as the Police Station
Butcher's shop in the High Street

Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it was a town in its own right, it is officially a residential suburb of Edinburgh. The promenade fronts onto a wide sandy beach.

History

Early years

The area was originally known as Figgate Muir, an expanse of moorland through which the Figgate Burn flowed, from Duddingston Loch fed by the Braid Burn to the west, to the sea, with a broad sandy beach on the Firth of Forth. The name "Figgate" has been thought to come from an Anglian term for "cow's ditch", but the land was used as pasture for cattle by the monks of Holyrood Abbey and the name is more likely to mean "cow road", as in Cowgate in Edinburgh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1650 it was the supposed scene of a secret meeting between Oliver Cromwell and Scottish leaders. A report from 1661 describes a race in which twelve browster-wives ran from the Burn (recorded as the Thicket Burn) to the top of Arthur's Seat.<ref name="oan">Template:Cite book</ref>

18th century

By the 18th century, the area was frequented by sailors and smugglers. A cottage was built in 1742 on what is now the High Street (close to the junction with Brighton Place) by a Scottish sailor named George Hamilton, who had served in the Royal Navy under Admiral Edward Vernon in the Battle of Porto Bello in 1739; Hamilton named the cottage Portobello Hut in honour of the British victory. By 1753 there were other houses around it. The cottage remained intact until 1851, when it became a hostelry for travellers known as the Shepherd's Ha.<ref name=oan/>

In 1763 the lands known as the Figgate Whins were sold by Lord Milton to Baron Mure for about £1,500. They were afterwards feued out by the latter to William Jameson or Jamieson at the rate of £3 per acre.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> 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 pottery factory, and the local population grew into a thriving village.<ref name=oan/> Land values subsequently rose, and by the beginning of the 19th century some parts had been sold at a yearly feu duty of £40 per annum per acre.<ref name=g45/>

An advertisement for bathing machines for hire on Portobello beach appeared in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 11 June 1795, according to a report in the Evening Dispatch. It says the bathing machines have steady horses and careful drivers, and the bathing sands are perfectly free from stones and "danders", the water clear and the beach very retired.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

19th century

Portobello Sands were used at that time by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott was their quartermaster. While riding in a charge in 1802 he was kicked by a horse and confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel.<ref name=oan/> The Scots Magazine in 1806 noted that the lands were "a perfect waste covered almost entirely with whins or furze". Portobello grew into a bathing resort, and in 1807 new salt-water baths at the foot of Bath Street and Regent Street were erected at a cost of £5,000.<ref name="g45">W. M. Gilbert, ed., Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901, p. 45.</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 1822, a visit of King George IV to Scotland organised by Scott included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the dunes.<ref name=oan/>

The population in 1841 was 3,479.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Three pillars in Coade stone from a local garden, re-erected on Portobello Promenade

Before Portobello had a promenade and public beach, there was only a belt of dry sand between the firmer sand of the beach and the private properties adjoining the shore. Access to the beach was restricted by these property holders, as Sir William Rae discovered in 1842 when he tried to gain access to his favourite section for bathing. The proprietor of a villa adjoining the shore had extended his garden to include the sand and had built a wall leading right down to the sea. Sir William, a former Lord Advocate, viewed this as interfering with his right of way, as a private citizen and as an officer of the Crown. After legal action over several years and an appeal right up to the House of Lords,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> the proprietor and his neighbours were forced in July 1849 to demolish the walls they had erected. Fifteen years later, Portobello Town Council began to build the Promenade, so securing public access to the beach along its Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Portobello became industrialized in the 19th century, manufacturing bricks ("Portobello brick"), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap and mustard. Joppa to the east was important as a salt producer.

In 1833 the town was made a burgh, and jointly with Leith and Musselburgh, it was represented by one member of Parliament. Then in 1896 Portobello was incorporated into Edinburgh by the Edinburgh Extension Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. cciii).<ref>W. M. Gilbert, ed., Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901, p. 176.</ref> The Scotsman in 1912 noted that "It was by the provisions of the Edinburgh Extension Act of 1896 under which Portobello was amalgamated with the city, that Edinburgh gave an undertaking to build and maintain the town hall in Portobello, and in February of this year the Corporation decided to implement the bargain". A formidable red-brick power station was built in 1923 at the west end of the beach. It was extended by Ebenezer James MacRae in 1938, and operated until 1977 when it was closed. It was demolished in the following 18 months.<ref>John Gifford, Colin McWilliam, David Walker and Christopher Wilson, eds, The Buildings of Scotland – Edinburgh, London, 1984, p. 650, Template:ISBN</ref>

Between 1846 and 1964 a railway station provided access for visitors to the resort, whose facilities came to include a large open-air swimming pool, heated by waste from the power station. The actor Sean Connery once worked there as a lifeguard. The pool was closed in 1979. There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent funfair, which closed in 2007 and was also eventually demolished to make way for new housing.

20th century

Portobello Baths were constructed in 1898 and completed in 1901 on The Promenade overlooking the beach.<ref name="ScotsmanPool">Template:Cite web</ref> These, now known as Portobello Swim Centre, include one of only three remaining public Turkish baths in Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Portobello Pier was a pleasure pier near the end of Bath Street, open from 23 May 1871 until the start of the First World War. At 1,250 feet (381 m) long with a restaurant and observatory at the end, it cost £7,000 to build to a design by Sir Thomas Bouch, who was infamously linked to the Tay Bridge disaster. The iron supports rusted away and the pier was demolished as uneconomic to repair in 1917.

The Edinburgh Marine Gardens laid out north of Kings Road in 1908–1909 included an open-air theatre, an industrial hall, a ballroom (later a skating rink), a scenic railway, a "rustic mill and water-wheel" and a speedway track. It fell out of use in the First World War and never recovered, although the speedway/motor cycle track remained in use until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The site was cleared in 1966 for the Lothian Buses Marine bus depot.

In 1983 Portobello was at the centre of police and media attention with the abduction of five-year-old Caroline Hogg from the Promenade area and her murder by Robert Black.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Portobello's peak as a resort in the late 19th century gave way to slow decline through the 20th century. Whilst visitors were mainly from Edinburgh,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> it was also once popular with Glaswegians, particularly as the Glasgow Fair "trade holiday" signalled the start of a two-week holiday for the west of Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the 1960s, it had become an area of amusement arcades and permanent funfair attractions. From the 1980s these gradually disappeared, and by the end of the 20th century the Promenade had hardly any attractions specific to a seaside location, although the Tower Amusements arcade remains in business.

21st century

The 21st century has seen the emergence of community activities, some focused on the Promenade. The beach hosts regular beach volleyball, including Olympic beach-volleyball qualifiers,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the annual Big Beach Busk event.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other community activities focus more on the sea. They include the Portobello, Sailing, Kayaking and Rowing Club,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rowporty,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Eastern Amateur Coastal Rowing Club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Others concern community gardens,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a monthly local food market,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a youth theatre (now using a new web address),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and culture and music.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Artistic activity has become popular, including the annual Art Walk Porty.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2020 the Portobello Pencil Sharpening Project, thought to be an art installation, went viral on Twitter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2019 Portobello was voted the best neighbourhood in the UK at the 2020 Urbanism Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021 it was considered by a Sunday Times panel to be one of the top eight places to live in Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) classed the quality of the swimming water as "sufficient" in its 2019 survey, a small improvement on the previous year,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> when dolphins were sighted off the coast.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2020 there was a sighting of what was thought to be a swordfish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A wild swimmers' club has been braving the waves through the year since 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meanwhile, a warmer alternative is provided by the Turkish Baths in Portobello Swim Centre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2016 Portobello became the first urban community in Scotland to register a Community Right to Buy after the 2016 expansion of Land reform in Scotland to cover urban areas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Purchase of Bellfield Old Parish Church and Halls by Action Porty for £600,000 was confirmed by Scottish Government Ministers on 3 May 2017. The purchase was funded partly by the Scottish Land Fund and partly by community donations and borrowing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The buildings and grounds formally passed from the Church of Scotland to Action Porty on 6 September 2017 and opened as Bellfield (Community Centre), Portobello on 23 June 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Work in 2019 on re-laying the paving setts in Brighton Place caused controversy over the cost and duration: the main road was closed to traffic until the end of 2019 while the work was done.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ultimately, the new surface proved of high quality, including smooth sets for cycling and a refuge for safe turning into the Christian Path. The final cost of about £750,000 was less than predicted. Minor problems remaining with drainage were to be dealt with when the spring 2020 lockdown was lifted.

During the 2020 Coronavirus Lockdown, police praised the public for curbing the spread of the virus by avoiding Portobello over Easter weekend,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although as the weather improved in May the visitor numbers increased, causing concern to politicians.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Portobello continued busy over the summer of 2020, with some disturbances reported.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In August a Ferris wheel appeared on the old Fun City site, but its licence was suspended before it opened, as it broke government rules on the reopening of funfairs; despite this, some smaller attractions in the area have come and gone since.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Concerns about overcrowding on Portobello promenade continued into 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In September 2021, it was announced that the Swim Centre would shortly close for a £2.5 million refurbishment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Demographics

Ethnicity Portobello/Craigmillar Ward Edinburgh<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
White 85.0% 84.9%
Asian 7.5% 8.6%
Black 3.0% 2.1%
Mixed 2.2% 2.5%
Other 2.2% 1.9%

Transport

Buses

Portobello is served by Lothian Buses which provide eleven services to the area, continuing towards Joppa and Eastfield to Musselburgh, Port Seton, Tranent or North Berwick, down Brighton Place to Fort Kinnaird or Royal Infirmary, and from Kings Road to Craigentinny.<ref>Bus map Retrieved 11 February 2018. Template:Webarchive</ref> The former electric tramways operated by Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department were replaced by diesel buses in November 1956.

Railway

Portobello's first railway station was initially served by the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. The Portobello (E&DR) railway station operated from 1832 until 1846, when it was replaced by the Portobello (NBR) railway station operated by the North British Railway. The station closed in 1964 under the Beeching cuts.

Hovercraft

For two weeks in 2007 there was an experimental hovercraft service to Kirkcaldy in Fife. Stagecoach was interested in running a regular service, but the local authority refused planning permission for the infrastructure.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Stagecoach planned to use a terminal to be built in Leith using public funds, which failed to materialise.<ref>Insider site Retrieved 2 May 2018. Template:Webarchive</ref>

Sport

The Promenade and beach host two annual Template:Convert running races: Portobello Beach Race every summer since 2013,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Promathom most New Year's Days since 1987.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A weekly Template:Convert Park Run every Saturday in Figgate Park provoked press-reported controversy and exhibitionism in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Town halls

Portobello Town Hall, September 2020

As an independent burgh, Portobello had aspirations for a town hall, the town council having first met in rooms in Brighton Place and then in Rosefield House. The first purpose-built hall (now the Baptist Church in the High Street) was designed by David Bryce and erected in 1862. This proved inadequate for the purpose and was replaced in 1877 by a building designed by Robert Paterson, which is now Portobello Police Station.<ref>W. Baird, Annals of Duddingston and Portobello.</ref>

The Edinburgh Extension Act 1895, which amalgamated Portobello with Edinburgh, gave effect to a number of undertakings, including extension of the Promenade, building of the Baths, surfacing various streets, providing drainage, extending the trams, providing a public park and a new town hall for public meetings. The new Portobello Town Hall was intended to hold at least 800 people and was built on the site of Inverey House to a design by the City Architect, James A. Williamson, opening in 1914.<ref>The Scotsman, 23 October 1912.</ref><ref>Historic Environment Scotland.</ref>

In June 2019, the town hall was closed by the city council after the masonry and plasterwork were found to be in poor condition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city council put the building on the market for lease in February 2020,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and, following a competitive process, it agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a local community organisation known as Portobello Central in May 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The city council confirmed, in June 2021, that it had allocated £350,000 of capital investment to the town hall project, money provided by the Scottish Government under its Place Based Investment Programme.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Portobello Central indicated that it hoped the funding would enable it to re-open the building by April 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Town Hall opened for business on 1 June 2023, under a 25-year, full repairing lease from the City of Edinburgh Council at £1 per year rent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

In birth order:

Notable buildings

St John the Evangelist RC Church, Portobello

Extant

Demolished

Portobello Parish Church

Portobello Parish Kirk, Bellfield Street

The building was designed by William Sibbald<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1808 with the church opening for worship in 1810. It originally had the status of Chapel of Ease for Duddingston Parish Church to the west. In May 1834 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland gave it the status of a quoad sacra church. It received full independent parish status in 1861.<ref>Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; by Hew Scott</ref>

The church hall, built in 1964, stands on the former graveyard, but several stones survive, for instance in the narrow gap behind the back of the hall and the boundary.

In 2017 the church was sold by the Church of Scotland to the local community and reopened in 2018 as Bellfield community centre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

References

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