Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

EDINBURGH
the city ; tlience through an aqv.educt nearly 5 miles
long to Torphin Hill, and afterwards by an iron pipe of
16 inches internal diameter to the city. The reservoirs
then at Crawley, Loganlea, Clubbiedean, Bonally, and
Torduff had collectively a storage capacity of 112,962,267
cubic feet, and were capable of affording a supply of 3500
cubic feet of water per minute for a period of four months
without rain. The Company, in 1863, though they ex-
pended altogether on their works £485,937, and were
able to give, or professed themselves able to give, a daily
supply of water to the amount of 31 - 12 gallons for each
inhabitant, obtained powers to raise £46,000 for the pur-
chase of new gathering grounds and the construction of
new works ; and expected to be able, after the completion
of the new works, to furnish a daily supply amounting
to 39 gallons for each inhabitant. Dissatisfaction, how-
ever, arose among a large section of the community ;
doubts were entertained as to the sufficiency of the
works ; complaints were made regarding great and fre-
quent scarcity in some districts of the city ; and this
eventually led to measures which terminated in the
transference of the works, by compulsory sale, to the
town council in 1869. The water trustees appointed by
the town council speedily concocted a gigantic scheme
for bringing a new supply from St Mary's Loch in Sel-
kirkshire, variously estimated to cost about £500,000
and upwards ; spent considerable sums in preparatory
measures for that scheme, and in seeking authority for
it from parliament ; came eventually into collision with
the opinions of a large proportion of the ratepayers ;
and, in 1871, though they carried their scheme through
the House of Commous, were defeated on it in the House
of Lords, mainly on the ground that the evidence adduced
by their opponents tended to prove that a sufficient
supply was obtainable from the gathering-grounds in the
Pentlands. The gentlemen who succeeded to the trustee-
ship in November 1871 mostly held views antagonistic
to the St Mary's Loch scheme, and they directed their
attention to the improvement of the existing works and
to further survey of the Pentland gathering-grounds,
but held themselves open to consider any scheme for
new works which might be desired or approved by the
general body of the ratepayers. An act was obtained in
1874 to construct works for bringing an additional sup-
ply from parts of the Moorfoot Hills within the basin of
the South Esk ; and another act was applied for, in the
winter of 1875, to grant power for the construction of
additional works within the basin of the North Esk,
and making of arrangements for furnishing supplies to
Lasswade, Dalkeith, and Musselburgh. The water is of
excellent quality ; and, with exception of some densely
peopled and poor districts where defective distribution
has been more or less due to the bad fittings in the
houses, it has generally been supplied so regularly and
plentifully as to contribute greatly to the comfort and
health of the population. The average supply is
12,897,000 gallons per day, equal to 41 '54 gallons per
head to a population of 310,400. The total quantity of
water stored in the reservoirs is nearly 2,061,726,000
gallons. Of the 12,897,000 gallons supplied, 4,473,000
are from Listonshiels and Bavelaw, 7,080,000 from Aln-
wickhill, 810,000 from Torduff, and 534,000 from Swans-
ton and Comiston. The 7,080,000 gallons from Aln-
\vickhill were made up as follow : — 2,/00,000 were from
Glencorse, 3,048,000 from Gladhouse, 800,000 from
Portmore, and 532,000 from Tweeddale Burn.
The reservoir on Castle Hill stands at the head of the
W corner of Ramsay Lane, near the NE verge of the
Castle esplanade, and was originally constructed about
the year 1674. It was a remarkably plain structure,
5 feet deep, 30 wide, and 40 long, with a capacity for
about 6000 cubic feet of water ; but, being too small
for the increasing wants of the city, it was demolished
in the autumn of 1849, to give place to a much larger
one. The present reservoir stands on the same site,
and is constructed with great strength, and has an orna-
mental appearance, rising exteriorly to the height of one
story. It measures interiorly 30 feet in depth, 90 in
width, and 110 in length : has capacity for about
526
EDINBURGH
297,000 cubic feet of water; is fed by a pipe which
delivers 253 cubic feet per minute ; and sends off from
its bottom a series of pipes for distributing the water to
+he higher parts of the city. A large cistern, tbr
furnishing an ample ready supply to the troops in
garrison, and affording ordinary supply to such houses
in Castle Hill, Lawnmarket, and the upper part of High
Street a sare situated at a greater altitude than the re-
servoir on Castle Hill, is in the shot-yard of the Castle,
and was constructed in 1850.
There are drinking fountains in various parts of the
city and the suburbs, which originated chiefiyabout 1859,
and are largely due to the beneficence of the late Miss
Catherine Sinclair. They are nearly all of simple action,
sending a flow of water into a metal cup by pressure of
a valve -stud, some being of iron, some of polished
granite, and several fitted in a species of well-case, with
self-acting tap fixed to a wall front. A prominent one
is a neat triangular structure, erected in 1859 at the
expense of Miss Sinclair, on the thoroughfare at tha
meeting-point of Princes Street, Lothian Road, Mait-
land Street, and Hope Street. Another prominent one
is a neat structure, erected in 1869 at the expense of
Mrs Nicol of Huntly Lodge, at the NE of Borouglimuir-
head entrance to Morningside ; and both of these, in
addition to drinking-cups for pedestrians, have water-
troughs for cattle, and surmounting ornamental lamps.
A large ornate public fountain, designed by Durenne of
Paris, stands on the middle walk of West Princes Street
Gardens, was presented to the city by Mr Ross of
Rockville, and cost him upwards of £2000. It arrived
at Edinburgh, in 122 pieces, in the autumn of 1869,
and cost about £450 from private donations or other
sources before it could be erected. It forms an interest-
ing feature in the landscape seen from the Mound ; and,
being visible from Princes Street, is an ornament also
to that great thoroughfare. Another highly ornate
public fountain is in Holyrood Palace-yard, already
noticed in the section on Holyrood.
Gas Works. — The Edinburgh Gas-Light Company
was formed in 1817, and incorporated in 1818, with a
capital of £100,000 in shares of £25. Their chief
premises stand between Canongate, New Street, North
Back of Canongate, and Canongate cemetery ; are very
extensive ; and have a principal chimney, erected in
1847, and rising to the height of 342 feet. The chimney
is a cylindrical brick column, springing from a square
stone pedestal measuring 30 feet each way ; it tapers
in diameter from 26 feet to 16 feet, is finished at the
top with belts and coping, and has an endless chain
inside, affording the means of ascent at any time to the
top. It stands so near the bottom of the hollow at the
southern base of Calton Hill as not to figure largely in
most of the architectural groupings of the city ; but, as
seen from some vantage-grounds of the southern environs,
particularly about Liberton, it soars well aloft. A gaso-
meter adjacent to the principal works has a diameter of
101J feet; seven other gasometers are in different situa-
tions; and about 100 miles of supply-pipes, from 1J
inch to 15 inches in diameter, are ramified through the
streets. — The Edinburgh and Leith Gas-Light Company
was formed in 1839 ; purchased gas-works in Leith, be-
longing to a previous company ; and laid pipes through
the streets to supply both Leith and Edinburgh from
the Leith works. — Extensive premises for making oil-gas
were erected in 1825 at Tanfield; but, proving unsuc-
cessful, the buildings went by sale to the Edinburgh
Gas-Light Company, and were partly reserved, with four
gasometers, for supplying the northern parts of the city
from the Canongate works, and partly converted into a
large hall, used for the early meetings of the Free Church
Assembly, but now used entirely as warehouses.
Railway Works. — The Old Edinburgh and Dalkeith
Railway, now amalgamated with the North British,
commences at St Leonard's, near the boundary of the
Queen's Park, on the south-eastern verge of the city, and
passes through a sloping tunnel in the near neighbour-
hood of the terminus. It was used for passenger traffic in
carriages drawn by horses for some time after locomotive