A commemorative Red Wheel was officially unveiled today at the western gable end of Powderhall Stables on Broughton Road.
On a sparkling February afternoon, local notables, enthusiasts and press gathered to mark the spot as a place of special importance in transport history.
Designed by the City Engineer John Cooper in 1893, for many years this Scots baronial, multi-pepperpotted building housed the horses which pulled Edinburgh’s rubbish carts. It also included a weighing office, smithy, saddlery, cartwright, hayloft and offices. Nearby were the dung pit and waste incinerator.
‘Only in Edinburgh would premises fulfilling such a humble but essential function have been designed to resemble a public school!’ remarked John Cameron CBE, vice president of the National Transport Trust.
Looking to the future, he noted the area's potential as an active-travel corridor extending north Edinburgh sections of the National Cycle Network to Lochend.
[L–R: John Sutherland (Scottish Industrial Heritage Society); John Cameron CBE (National Transport Trust); John Lawson (City of Edinburgh Archaeologist).]
Remembering the past
Until 1917, the area was served by a passenger railway station, the remains of whose ticket office survive on the north-west side of the adjacent bridge. From 1970 to 2016, the line was used to transport compacted waste from here to a landfill site in Dunbar.
The property was still used for stabling in the 1950s, when cavalry performers at the Edinburgh Tattoo were based here. For reminiscences, see EdinPhoto.
This Powderhall Stables addition is one of 10 Red Wheels across north Edinburgh. Others (see map below) are located at the Annandale Street Bus Depot, Scotland Street Tunnel, Shrubhill Workshops, Leith Tramways Depot, Claverhouse Training Centre (the former Granton Hotel), Granton Lighthouse, Granton Gas Works Station, Madelvic Motor Factory and the Victoria Swing Bridge.
‘There are now so many in these parts,’ says Cameron, ‘that I hope we can look forward to a future trail encouraging active travellers to explore them all and appreciate the diverse range of Edinburgh’s rich transport heritage’.
Wheelly interesting
The National Transport Trust’s Heritage Programme commemorates Britain’s rich and globally important legacy in the development of transport.
Its website states, ‘Our aim is to present a comprehensive overview for each site, in a way that will attract a new and wider audience.’
The most significant of these locations are marked by erecting a Red Wheel.
For more on the NTT, visit here. For more on future use of the Powderhall Stables, visit here.
