Portobello, Edinburgh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Portobello
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 Portobello
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| OS grid reference | NT304738 |
| Council area |
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| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | EDINBURGH |
| Postcode district | EH15 |
| Dialling code | 0131 |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament |
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| Scottish Parliament |
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Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it was a town in its own right, it is officially a residential suburb of Edinburgh. The promenade fronts onto a wide sandy beach.
Contents
History
The area was originally known as Figgate Muir, an expanse of moorland through which the Figgate Burn flowed from Duddingston Loch to the sea, with a broad sandy beach on the Firth of Forth. The name Figgate was thought to come from the Saxon term for "cow's ditch". However, the land was used as pasture for cattle by the monks of Holyrood Abbey and the name is more likely to mean "cow road" as in Cowgate in Edinburgh. In 1296, William Wallace mustered forces on the moor in a campaign that led to the Battle of Dunbar, and in 1650 it was the supposed scene of a secret meeting between Oliver Cromwell and Scottish leaders. A report from 1661 describes a race in which twelve browster-wives ran from the Burn (recorded as the Thicket Burn) to the top of Arthur's Seat.
By the 18th century, it had become a haunt of seamen and smugglers. A cottage was built in 1742 on what is now the High Street (close to the junction with what is now Brighton Place) by a seaman by the name of George Hamilton, who had served under Admiral Edward Vernon during the 1739 capture of Porto Bello, Panama, meaning literally "beautiful port or harbour", and who named the cottage Portobello Hut in honour of that victory. By 1753, there were other houses around it, and the cottage itself remained intact until 1851, becoming a hostelry for walkers and becoming known as the Shepherd's Ha'.
In 1763, the lands known as the Figgate Whins were sold by Lord Milton to Baron Mure for about £1,500, and afterwards feued out by the latter to a Mr William Jameson or Jamieson at the rate of £3 per acre. Jameson discovered a valuable bed of clay near the burn, and built a brick and tile works beside the stream. He later built an earthenware pottery factory, and the local population grew so that Portobello became a thriving village. Land values subsequently rose, and by the beginning of the 19th century some parts had been sold at a yearly feu-duty of £40 per annum per acre.
Portobello Sands were used at that time by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott was their quartermaster, and in 1802 while riding in a charge he was kicked by a horse and confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering, he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel. The Scots Magazine in 1806. He noted that the lands were "a perfect waste covered almost entirely with whins or furze". Portobello developed into a fashionable bathing resort, and in 1807 new salt-water baths were erected at a cost of £5,000. In 1822, the Visit of King George IV to Scotland, organised by Scott, included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the sand dunes.
During the 19th century, Portobello also became an industrial town, manufacturing bricks (the "Portobello brick"), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap, and mustard. Joppa to the east was important in the production of salt.
In 1833, the town was made a burgh, then in 1896 it was incorporated into Edinburgh by Act of Parliament. A formidable red-brick power station (designed by Ebenezer James MacRae) was built in 1934 at the west end of the beach and operated until 1977. It was demolished in the following 18 months.
Between 1846 and 1964, a railway station provided ready access for visitors to the resort, whose facilities came to include a large open-air heated swimming pool, where the actor Sean Connery once worked as a lifeguard. It made use of the power station's spare heat. The pool was closed in 1979. There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent funfair which closed in 2007. In 1901, Portobello Baths were opened on The Promenade overlooking the beach. The baths, now known as Portobello Swim Centre, are still open and are home to one of only three remaining operational Turkish baths in Scotland. (Other non-functioning baths survive.) They are open to the public.
Portobello Pier was a pleasure pier situated near the end of Bath Street. It operated from 23 May 1871 until the start of World War I. The pier was 1,250 feet long and had a restaurant and observatory at the end. It cost £7,000 to build and was designed by Sir Thomas Bouch, who was infamously linked to the Tay Bridge disaster. In a similar ending, the iron supports rusted away and the pier was demolished as uneconomic to repair in 1917. The Promenade/Esplanade was created between the town and the beach in 1876.
More short-lived, the Edinburgh Marine Gardens were built north of Kings Road in 1908–9. This included an open-air theatre, an industrial hall, a ballroom (later used as a skating rink), a scenic railway, a "rustic mill and water-wheel" and a speedway track. It fell out of use in World War I and never recovered, giving it a mere six years of full use. The speedway/motor cycle track remained in operation until 1939 and the outbreak of World War II. The entire site was cleared in 1966 and is now home to the Lothian Buses Marine bus depot and various car showrooms.
The building of Portobello Lido in 1933, and of a pool equipped with the first wave-making machine in Scotland three years later, helped to revive the area for a while.
Ethnicity
| Portobello compared | Portobello | Edinburgh |
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| White | 92.6% | 91.7% |
| Asian | 4.8% | 5.5% |
| Black | 1.4% | 1.2% |
| Mixed | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| Other | 0.5% | 0.8% |
Transport
Buses
Portobello is served by Lothian Buses which provide eleven services to the area, continuing towards Joppa and Eastfield to Musselburgh, Port Seton, Tranent or North Berwick, down Brighton Place to Fort Kinnaird or Royal Infirmary, and from Kings Road to Craigentinny. The former electric tramways operated by Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department were replaced by diesel buses in November 1956.
Railway
Portobello's first railway station was initially served by the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. The Portobello (E&DR) railway station operated from 1832 until 1846, when it was replaced by the Portobello (NBR) railway station operated by the North British Railway. The station closed in 1964 under the Beeching cuts.
Hovercraft
For two weeks in 2007 there was an experimental hovercraft service to Kirkcaldy in Fife. Stagecoach was interested in running a regular service, but the local authority refused planning permission for the infrastructure. Stagecoach planned to use a terminal to be built in Leith using public funds, which failed to materialise.
Sport
The Promenade and beach host two annual four-mile (6.4-kilometre) running races: Portobello Beach Race every summer since 2013, and the Promathom most New Year's Days since 1987.
Town halls
As an independent burgh, Portobello had aspirations for a town hall, the town council having first met in rooms in Brighton Place and then in Rosefield House. The first purpose-built hall (now the Baptist Church in the High Street) was designed by David Bryce and erected in 1862. This proved inadequate for the purpose and was replaced in 1877 by a building designed by Robert Paterson, which is now the Police Station.
The Edinburgh Extension Act 1895, which amalgamated Portobello with Edinburgh, gave effect to a number of undertakings, including extension of the Promenade, building of the Baths, surfacing various streets, providing drainage, extending the trams, providing a public park and a new town hall for public meetings. The new Portobello Town Hall was intended to hold at least 800 people and was built on the site of Inverey House to a design by the City Architect, James A. Williamson, opening in 1914.
In June 2019, the town hall was closed by the city council after the masonry and plasterwork were found to be in poor condition. The city council put the building on the market for lease in February 2020, and, following a competitive process, it agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a local community organisation known as Portobello Central in May 2021. The city council confirmed, in June 2021, that it had allocated £350,000 of capital investment to the town hall project, money provided by the Scottish Government under its Place Based Investment Programme. Portobello Central indicated that it hoped the funding would enable it to re-open the building by April 2022. The Town Hall opened for business on 1 June 2023, under a 25-year, full repairing lease from the City of Edinburgh Council at £1 per year rent.
Notable people
In birth order:
- Alexander Laing (1752–1823), architect based in Portobello, where he died
- The Misses Corbett, Grace (c. 1765/1770–1843) and Walterina (died 1837), poets and authors from Portobello
- Dr David Laing LLD (1792–1878), librarian to the Signet Library and noted archaeologist, lived at 12 James Street
- Mackintosh MacKay (1793–1873), compiler of a Gaelic dictionary and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, died in Portobello
- Rear Admiral Thomas Fraser (1796–1870), hero of the First Anglo-Burmese War
- Hugh Miller (1802–1856), a founding father of geology, lived in the tower in Tower Street.
- Alan Stevenson (1806–1865), lighthouse engineer, lived his final years at 13 Pittville St, then called Pitt St
- Stevenson Macadam (1829–1901), scientist and author, lived much of his life in East Brighton Crescent, Portobello
- William Durham FRSE (1834–1893), chemist, papermaker and astronomer, lived and died at 16 Straiton Place
- Lucy Bethia Walford, née Colquhoun (1845–1915), novelist, was born in Portobello
- James Graham Fairley (1846–1934) architect, lived at 47 Abercorn Terrace.
- Marion Grieve (1848–1938), suffragette, lived at Coillesdene House, Joppa
- William Ivison Macadam (1856–1902), chemist and antiquarian, spent his childhood in Portobello.
- Helen Hopekirk (1856–1945), composer, pianist and teacher, lived at 148 High Street, Portobello from 1856 to 1868 and is commemorated by a blue plaque
- Alexander Philip (1858–1932), a lawyer born in Portobello, became a campaigner for calendar reform
- William Robertson (VC) (1865–1949), recipient of the Victoria Cross, lived at 21 Lee Crescent.
- Harry Lauder (1870–1950), music hall entertainer, was born at 3 Bridge Street. Although he and his family left the town within weeks of his birth, a Harry Lauder memorial garden was opened in 1970 in the grounds of the Town Hall built in 1912 and designed by architect James A Williamson.) Portobello's main bypass is named Sir Harry Lauder Road.
- William Russell Flint (1880–1969), painter, lived at 9 Rosefield Place.
- Alexander Heron (1884–1971), a member of 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition and Director of the Geological Survey of India (1936–39), lived in Hamilton Terrace in 1900–1911.
- Madge Elder (1893-1985), born in Portobello, is a noted gardener and writer.
- Ned Barnie (1896–1983), born in Portobello, became in 1950 the first Scot to swim the English Channel.
- Norrie Haywood (1910–1979), born in Portobello, became a professional footballer and football manager.
- James Rankin (1913–1975), born in Portobello, was a RAF fighter pilot in the Second World War.
- Johnny Cunningham (1957–2003), Celtic fiddle virtuoso, was born in Portobello.
- Gail Porter (born 1971), TV presenter, grew up here, attending Portobello High School.
- Ewen Bremner (born 1972), born in Portobello, is a noted film and TV actor.
- Iron Virgin (1970s), glam punk rock band
- The Valves (1977), punk band from Portobello
- Shauna Macdonald (born 1981), actress, grew up in Portobello.
- Emun Elliott (born 1983) Actor
Notable buildings
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Extant
- St John the Evangelist RC Church, Portobello
- Bellfield Community Centre (previously Bellfield Church)
- George Cinema
- Portobello Library
- Portobello Swim Centre
Demolished
- Portobello Open Air Pool
- Portobello Power Station
- Portobello Marine Gardens
- Portobello Railway Station
Portobello Parish Church
The building was designed by William Sibbald and the foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1808 with the church opening for worship in 1810. It originally had the status of Chapel of Ease for Duddingston Parish Church to the west. In May 1834 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland gave it the status of a quoad sacra church. It received full independent parish status in 1861.
The church hall, built in 1964, stands on the former graveyard, but several stones survive, for instance in the narrow gap behind the back of the hall and the boundary.
In 2017 the church was sold by the Church of Scotland to the local community and reopened in 2018 as Bellfield community centre.
