View from Ferry Road

This picture is from an old postcard labelled ‘A Bird’s Eye View of Leith from Ferry Road’. The photograph appears to have been taken from a tall tenement building on Ferry Road. The absence of overhead tram wires on Junction Bridge indicates that the photograph must have been taken before 1905 and it is probably no earlier than 1899/1900.

At the bottom right-hand corner of the picture we can see the roof of a small rectangular building – this was the entrance to Junction Road Station. Moving up the picture slightly we can see Junction Bridge with a horse-drawn tramcar crossing it – there are lots of people on the open upper deck.

On the right-hand side of the Water of Leith we can see Hawthorns shipbuilding and engineering yard complete with a ship drawn up nearby. Nowadays it would not be possible to get even the smallest of ships up to this point.

On the opposite side of the Water of Leith it is just possible to see the railway line going off into the Coburg Street tunnel. Also visible are the coal sidings near the bridge. By the bend in the river, we can see North Leith Graveyard and in the background there are factory chimneys which must have contributed to the rather murky atmosphere. The steeple of St Thomas’s Church can be seen towards to top right-hand side of the picture.