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Haddington Old |
Haddington New |
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OUR BRANCH LINE Looking East along Haddington’s branch line towards the town from the Ugston Bridge, which is the second one to cross the line on its way to Longniddry. The first, the Alderston Bridge, can be seen in the distance. The signal (which I once climbed) was much taller than normal so that it could be seen above the bridge by crews approaching from the West. Taken in August 1956 when the line was still being maintained, although passenger services ceased in 1949. |
RAILWAY WALK Looking East along part of the railway walk toward Traprain Law in May 1995. This view shows how Nature takes over as soon as regular maintenance is discontinued. But it is not only the undergrowth which thrives; of the 5 fields visible in the 1956 view only one, on the lower right, has not produced a crop of spec-built houses. |
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NARROW HARDGATE “Springbank” which for many years had been the Swansons’ house, seen from the North in June 1957, only a few years before it was demolished and the road widened. It stood on the site of the old North-East Port (gate) and had been the first house in Haddington on the left side of the old Post Road from Dunbar. |
BROAD HARDGATE This view of Hardgate from the North was taken as long ago as 1976. but in more recent slides the view is masked by a screen of young trees. All that remains of Springbank is its North garden wall and fence, on the far side of Spoutwell Brae. Hardgate was well widened but for what? Any recent view would be full of parked cars. |
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PRENTICE THE JEWELLER’S Looking North-East from an upper window, across to Prentice the Jeweller’s shop housed in nos 30, 31 & 32 Hardgate. This was April 1957, but as you can see, demolition has already started in advance of the rest of Hardgate. Just visible beyond Prentice’s is one corner of Bothwell Bank. The Guinness advertisement seemed to appear in a lot of my slides around now. |
WHAT WENT WRONG? A very similar view in November 2000, but this time taken from street level, shows the dominance of the over-high successor to Prentice’s. Notice how it towers over Bothwell Bank, one of the few survivors of old Hardgate. The best description of Hardgate Court which I have heard, obviously inspired by that tall archway at bottom right, is ‘The Tram Depot’! |
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VIEW FROM DOWER HOUSE Looking South-East from a top floor window in 3a Market Street in July 1955, one’s view was limited to the decrepit backs of these properties which faced onto Market Street (right) and Hardgate (left). Jean King’s chip shop was somewhere about the centre of the slide. The state of these tenements is not surprising, as they were due for demolition in very few years. |
VIEW FROM KINLOCH HOUSE The abrupt contrast between these two slides makes them one of my favourite pairs of ‘old & new’. Once again the growth of the foreground trees has screened most of more recent views, so we will have to be satisfied with this of May 1978. All that is missing are the traffic lights, but please note that the price of Duncan’s petrol is per gallon, not per litre! |