Haddington Old
Haddington New
THE OLD SCHOOL This is the West gable of the old Knox, seen from Meadow Park in 1954. The Old Burgh school in Church Street which had served the town for centuries was replaced in 1880s by this imposing, up-to-date secondary school. it rejoiced in the title of ’The Knox Memorial Institute’, but somewhere along the line the word ‘memorial’ was quietly dropped, which was a mistake in my opinion.
SHELTERED HOUSING The shortened name, with
its connotations of an Approved School, induced Rector
A B Anderson to
agitate to have ‘Academy’ substituted for ‘Institute’. It lay empty for
years until, with the addition of two large accommodation wings, it became
sheltered housing and the KMI was saved from demolition. Taken in 1995.
THE CUSTOM STANE So-called because it was at this spot that the Town Council levied all its local taxes by means of the Tacksman, who sat on the said stone. The substantial tenement on the left stood back-to-back with the George Hotel, and was demolished around 1947. This photograph was taken on a dull December day in 1922
THE GEORGE STABLES Instead of the modern view, I have chosen one of my early colour slides taken in September 1954. The site of that tenement is now a raised lawn with flower beds. The pantiled roof in the centre until recently covered the stables for the old coaching inn. When I surveyed these annexes in August 1990 I was surprised to discover that stalls for 9 horses were still intact
THE NEW BRIDGE I photographed this in May 1952, with the roofs of Gimmersmills beyond. Named after the late Queen, the bridge was built just 50 yards upstream from the Gimmersmill Bridge, which was dismantled as soon as the new one came into operation in 1902.
REILLY’S ISLAND This stood at the corner where Bridge Street in Nungate turns from East to South. The picture was taken just hours before we set off to spend two and a half years in the Far East. In those days my camera had a fixed focal-length lens, and I could not move any further back. Consequently, this slide failed to capture the whole ‘island’.
A NEW ISLAND In May 1980 Reilly’s was completely gutted and rebuilt to form 2 houses. In June 1981, and now with a wide-angle lens, I was able to record the transformation without lopping corners off the building. I was standing on the grass triangle which covers the site of a Model Lodging House, a dark mysterious edifice, which I used to walk past as quickly as possible.