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
DUL
2 1 9 Fountainbridge.] INDIA-RUBBER COMPANY.
flesher would venture to kill any beast till all the
different parts were bespoke, butcher meat being
then a very unsaleable article.?
At the southern extremity of Fountainbridge
stood, till within the last few years, an antique villa,
a little way back from the road, named Bainfield,
for years the residence of an old and well-known
citizen, Bain Whyt, a W.S. of I 789, who was senior
lieutenant and afterwards adjutant of the First
Edinburgh Volunteers formed in 1794, and who
is still remembered in Edinburgh as the founder
of the Wagering Club in 1775. Yearly, on the
night of the 30th January, the members of this
club meet and solemnly drink to the memory
of ?? Old Bain Whyt,? in whose honour songs are
occasionally sung, the character of which may be
gathered from the following two verses of one sung
at the ninetieth anniversary :-
?? Come all ye jolly wagerers, and listen unto me,
And I will sing a little song, composed in memorie
Of the fine old Scottish gentleman, who in 1775,
Did plant the tree that still we see, right hearty and
alive.
Chorus-Right hearty and alive,
In this its ninetieth year !
With mirth and hearty cheer !
?Ihen drink to-night, to old Bain Whyt,
6? When haughty Gaul did fiercely crow and threaten swcird
Bain Whyt among the foremost rose to guard our native
A soldier good, full armed he stood, for home and
The pattern of a Ioyal man, a British volunteer !
in hand,
land ;
country dear,
Chorus-A British volunteer,
And an adjutant was he !
To him with three times three ! ?
Then fill the cup, and quaff it up,
The wagers, for small sums, a bottle of wine, a
dinner, perhaps, are made on the probable course
of current public events. They are then noted and
sealed up, to be opened and read from the chair
that night twelvemonth-the club holding no meetings
in the interim ; and the actual results are often
so far wide of all human speculation as to excite
both amusement and interest.
North of Bainfield, in what is still called Gilmore
Park, are two of the largest and finest manufactories
of India-rubber in the world, and the operations
conducted therein illustrate most ably the
nature and capabilities of caoutchouc. They stand
near each other on the western bank of the Union
Canal, and belong respectively to the North British
Rubber Company, and the Scottish Vulcanite
Company.
In 1855 an enterprising American brought to
Edinburgh the necessary capital and machinery
for an India-rubber manufactory, and acquired
possession of a great quadrangular block of fine
buildings, known as the Castle Silk Mills, which
had long been vacant, the projectors having failed
in their expectations. This edifice consists of two
large blocks of five floors each, with a number of
adjacent buildings.
Here the India-rubber arrives in different forms,
according to the fashion of the countries that produce
it, some shaped like quaint bottles, and some
in balls, of five inches diameter, and it is carefully
examined with a view to the detection of foreign
substances before it is subjected to the processes of
manufacture. After being softened in hot water,
the balls are crushed into thin pieces between
cylinders, the rubber being sent through and
through again and again, until it is thoroughly
crushed and assumes the form of a web. If further
reduction is necessary, it is sent through a third
set of rollers, and to rid it completely of foreign
matter, leaves or bark, &c., washing and cleansing
machines are employed. So adhesive is its nature,
that cleansing would prove abortive in a dry state,
and consequently jets of water flow constantly on
the rubber and cylinders when the machines referred
to are in operation. After being thus
cleansed, the webs are hung in the warm atmosphere
of the drying-room for several weeks.
From thence they are taken to ?? the mill,? which
occupies two entire floors of the main building.
The grinding machines; to the operation af which
the rubber is subjected, consist of two cylinders,
one of which is moderately heated by steam, and
the webs formed by the washing-machines are kept
revolving round and round the cylinders, until the
material becomes quite plastic. At this stage, sulphur,
or other chemical substances, are incorporated
with it, to determinate its ultimate character, and it
is then made up into seven or eight pound rolls,
while all further treatment depends upon the purpose
to which it is to be applied.
Great is the variety of goods produced here.
One of the upper floors is occupied by shoemakers
alone. There boots and shoes of all sizes are
made, but more especially the goloshes for wearing
over them; another floor is occupied by the makers
of coats, leggings, cushions, bags, and so forth. The ?
light-coloured coats foi India are the finest articles
made here.
The North British Rubber Company have paid
much attention to that department which includes
the manufacture of mbes, springs, washers, drivingbelts,
tires for wheels, &c They made the latter
for the wheels of the road steamer invented by
Rfr. R W. Thomson, of Edinburgh-huge rings of
