Old Maps

I love old maps.  

Especially those covering places I have lived in.  This map appears to date to 1896, though this cannot be guaranteed.  The railways were added in 1902.  I love it because at the top is the area in which I spent my first two years of life, and returned to for school and church.  As my late brother said, 'This is our home.'  He said that even though he had not lived there since 1953, but home area it was and remains.      

Granton Road was our area.  This is because dad moved there in 1911 and was based in the middle of the wee dot we see to the right of the road, just north of Granton Road Station.  That was our tenament, and it remains in use today, but without us.   That makes me wonder about the people who have lived there both before and after us.  What happened to them?  Do the present occupiers see the area as we saw it?  

Certainly things have changed a lot.  One half of the harbour has been filled in and new blocks of flats tower over the other half.  The railways we all knew have gone, including the high embankment that once took goods into town.  That embankment blocked the view of the local houses for well over a hundred years, so much light can now fill those dwellings.   

While we occupied the tenaments to the right we see dotted around the big houses, now either divided into flats, or selling for over a million at a time.  Our small two room tenament sold recently for just over £100,000.  Before I was born my dad laughed at a neighbour who paid £100 for his!  

The area marked as 'Trinity,' became a large playing field.  Our school was created in 1932 to replace the one dad went to down near the harbour.  That building still stands with the doors marked 'Boys,' and 'Girls.'  What it is used for now is unknown.  

The playing field was filled with Royal Navy equipment, in a variety of quickly erected huts, during the war.  With the housing shortage afterwards these were commandered by many seeking a new home.  Today it is a sports field of various sorts.  

The chip shop is now a Chinese, or is it Indian, the phone box has gone, the Co-op shop might be still there but is modernised, and the police box (think 'Tardis') remains but for what use?  The shops have been amalgamated into one large succesful shop.  

Time passes, memories remain.  An old map can waste hours of work time if you manage it properly. 

I'm glad I found this one.