218 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Fountainbridge.
tional cemetery, a little to the south, beyond Ardmillan
Terrace, near the new Magdalene Asylum,
a lofty, spacious, and imposing edifice, recently
erected in lieu of the old one, established in 1797.
Adjoining it is the Girls? House of Refuge, or
Western Reformatory, another noble and humane
institution, the directors of which are the Lord
Provost and magistrates of the city.
These edifices stand near the ancient toll of
Tynecastle, and may be considered the termination
of the city as yet, in this direction.
On removing an old cottage close by this toll,
in April, 1843, the remains of a human skeleton
were found buried close to the wall. The skull
had been perforated by a bullet, and in the plas
tered wall of the edifice a bullet was found flattened
against the stone.
On the western side of the Dalry Road, about
500 yards from the ancient mansion house, is the
Caledonian Distillery, one of the most extensive
in Scotland, and one of those which produce
? grain whisky,? as some make malt whisky only.
It was built in 1855, covers five acres of ground,
and occupies a situation most convenient for
carrying on a great trade. In every part it has
been constructed with all the most recent improvements
by its proprietors, the Messrs. Menzies,
Bernard, and Co. All the principal buildings are
five storeys in height, and so designed that the
labour of carrying the materials through the various
stages of manufacture is reduced to the smallest
amount, while branch lines from the Caledonian
and North British Railways converge in the centre
of the works, thus affording the ready means of
bringing in raw material and sending out products.
The extent of the traffic here may be judged
from the facts that 2,ooo quarters of grain and ZOO
tons of coal are used every week, while the quantity
of spirits sent out in the same time is 40,000
gallons, the duty on which is ~zo,ooo, or at the
rate of ~1,040,000 a year. The machinery is
propelled by five steam-engines, varying from 5 to
150 horse-power, for the service of which, and
supplying the steam used in distillation, there are
nine large steam boilers.
The Caledonian distillery contains the greatest
still in Scotland. In order to meet a growing
demand for the variety of whisky known as ? Irish,?
the proprietors of the Caledonian distillery, about
1867 fitted up two large stills of an old pattern,
with which they manufacture whisky precisely
similar to that which is made in Dublin. In connection
with this branch of their business, stores
capable of containing as many as 5,000 puncheons
were added to their works at Dalry, and in
these various kinds of whisky have been permitted
to lie for some time before being sent
Fountainbridge, a long and straggling suburb,
once among fields and gardens, at the close of the
last century and the beginning of the present contained
several old-fashioned villas with pleasuregrounds,
and was bordered on its northern side by
a wooded residence, the Grove, which still gives a
name to the streets in the locality.
Some of the houses at its southern end, near the
present Brandfield Place, were old as the time of
William 111. In the garden of one of them an
antique iron helmet, now in the Antiquarian
Museum, was dug up in 1781. In one of them
lived and died, in 1767, Lady Margaret Leslie,
third daughter of John Earl of Rothes, Lord High
Admiral of Scotland on the accession of George I.
in 1714.
A narrow alley near its northern end still bears
the name of the Thorneybank, i.e., a ridge
covered with thorns, long unploughed and untouched.
In its vicinity is Earl Grey Street, a
name substituted for its old one of Wellington
after the passing of the great Reform Bill, by order
oi the Town Council.
This quarter abuts on Lochrin, ?the place where
the water from the meadows (i.e. the burgh loch)
discharges itself,? says Kincaid, but ?rhinn? means
a flat place in Celtic in some instances ; and near
it is another place with the Celtic name of Drumdryan.
George Joseph Bell, Professor of Scottish Law
in the University of Edinburgh, was born in
Fountainbridge on the 26th March, 1770. A distinguished
legal writer, he was author of ?? Commentaries
on the Law of Scotland,? ? Principles of
the Law,? for the use of his students, and other
works, and held the chair of law from 1822 to
1843, when he was succeeded by Mr. John Shankmore.
Among the leading features in this locality are
the extensive city slaughter-houses, which extend
from the street eastward to Lochrin, having a
plain yet handsome and massive entrance, in the
Egyptian style, adorned with great bulls? heads
carved in freestone in the coving of the entablature.
These were designed by Mr. David Cousin, who
brought to bear upon them the result of his
observations made in the most famous abattoirs of
Pans, such as du Roule, de Montmartre, and de
Popincourt.
In 1791 there died in Edinburgh John Strachan,
x flesh-caddie, in his 105th year. ?? He recollected,??
jays the Scots Magazim, ?the time when no
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