In June we had a wander in Edinburgh. I took a wrong turning and we got a bit lost.

As a result, though, we came across this block of 1930s housing:-

The second left of the four looks to still have its Critall windows.* The others don’t. Their poked out eyes are not so pleasing but they look to be better upkept.

(We found our way back okay by retracing our steps and I realised where the misstep had been.)

*The link goes to all my mentions of Critall windows, inclduing the one on this post.

During that brief time when lockdown was lifted last year we were able to go to Edinburgh and visit the Royal Botanic Garden there, using a pre-booked and timed ticket.

As she’s keen on gardening and gardens it’s one of the good lady’s favourite places.

Planting by hothouses:-

Monkey puzzle trees (araucaria):-

Path with acer:-

“New Zealand ” section:-

Path in Botanic Garden:-

Bridge over burn:-

Waterfall from bridge:-

Waterfall video:-

Burn from bridge:-

The gardens are worth a visit at any time of year.

The deaths of Sean Connery and Nobby Stiles were reported in the past two days.

Connery needs no introduction being one of the best known actors of the late twentieth century. A child of Edinburgh and a proud Scot. And the first screen James Bond, a part which became the juggernaut it now is due in large measure to his defining of it.

Nobby was a no less proud Englishman I’m sure, the latest in that select band of his countrymen to win a football World Cup to leave the wider pitch. He was what would nowadays be called a holding midfield player but in his time was more often called a hardman. As an oppposing player you certainly didn’t want him to be coming near you when you had the ball. His cavorting on the pitch after that World Cup win, waving the trophy above his head, is one of that occasion’s iconic moments.

Thomas Sean Connery: 25/8/1930 – 31/10/2020, Norbert Peter Stiles: 18/5/1942 – 30/10/2020. So it goes.

Photographed at Ingliston Antiques Fair February 2019.

S Luca’s ice-cream van. (A replica? Maybe not. Bargain Hunt’s Natasha Raskin Sharp was in it when we arrived.) Luca’s is a well-known (in Edinburgh and the Lothians) ice-cream company.

Roll of Honour. “Leith, Edinburgh and District Journeyman Coopers. The following members loyally took up arms in the Great War 1914 – 1918 and made the supreme sacrifice.”

The Scottish Records Office is at the east end of Princes Street Edinburgh and holds the National Records of Scotland. The good lady wanted to make use of it to research the case of one of her collateral ancestors who was tried for sedition and transported to Australia for nothing more criminal than campaigning for the right to vote. (This was for the ordinary man at a time when electors were landowners only.) The actual office is behind the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington but I didn’t photograph the outside

At the time we visited the interior was undergoing some refurbishment so I wasn’t able to get the angles I wanted but I was till able to see part of this ornate dome:-

This other dome was shrouded in netting:-

Statue/sculpture of King George III:-

The books in this book stack are behind wire netting presumably to prevent people stepping off into the central portion:-

A stairwell:-

And a stairway:-

Further to my post on Abbotsford, Walter Scott must be one of the few writers to have such a legacy, which I mentioned here.

In the section of the new V&A Dundee (posts passim) devoted to Scottish design there is a model of the Scott Monument the original of which stands in Princes Street, Edinburgh.

Model of Scott Monument:-

There is also a Robert Adam chimneypiece:-

Some Arts & Crafts furniture:-

A brooch designed to resemble a galaxy:-

A poster for the Festival of Britain‘s Industrial Light and Power Exhibition at the Kelvin Hall Glasgow:-

And a bookcase/cabinet by George Logan:-

James Cutt, died of wounds, 6/7/1916, aged 21. Interred in St Sever, Rouen:-

Frederick Fox, 9th Royal Lancers, 29/1/1933, aged 30, erected by his regimental comrades:-

Samuel White Fleming, killed in action at Arras, 23/4/1917, aged 21:-

It’s not entirely clear if this commemoration is war related. Bryan Hanby Holmes of Ba, Fiji, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery, fell asleep, 9/11/1918, aged 38:-

John Goodall, killed in action, High Wood, Somme, France, 23/7/1916, aged 23:-

Major J Eadie Davidson, DSO, died of wounds in France, 16/10/1918, aged 25:-

William Macfarlane, who fell in action on the Somme, France, 16/8/1916, aged 23:-

In loving memory of George Mason, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, killed whilst flying, 4/5/1917, aged 18 years:-

I took 40 more photographs of individual’s war graves at Comely Bank, scattered all over the cemetery. That’s probably too many to post on Flick and here at the moment but I may do so at some time in future.

J C Brydon, Air Mechanic 2nd class RN, HMS Sparrowhawk, 12/4/1945 age 19 and E J Chilcott, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, 25/8/1945, age 20:-

There are 15 war graves in this photograph:-

Second Lieutenant B Holmes, Royal Field Artillery, 9/11/1918, and fourteen others:-

Lieutenant W H Franke, General list, 10/12/1919, Second Lieutenant C H Lone, Highland Light Infantry, 19/2/1918, Second Lieutenant D H Cheers, East Sussex Regiment attached Royal Air Force, 17/4/1918, age 17, plus others in background and one to side:-

Second Lieutenant H M Armstrong, Royal Flying Corps, 14/11/1917, age 21, Captain C F Collett, MC, 23/12/1917, age 31, Second Lieutenant G W Macallister, Royal Air Force, 17/8/1918, age 20, Second Lieutenant E F Hughes, Royal Flying Corps, 14/11/1917, age 24, Second Lieutenant R E McKiel, 6/9/1918, age 21. Reverse of another memorial stone behind:-

Lieutenant L R Joseph, Royal Flying Corps, 23/4/1917, age 18. Another war grave behind and five others in background:-

With the exception of Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy, Comely Bank Cemetery in Edinburgh may possibly contain the most Commonwealth War Graves in one location anywhere in Scotland. 301 servicemen are buried here, from both wars. Its location near a hospital (or two) no doubt contributed to that.

Unusually the memorial stones in the Great War section are laid flat:-

Flat memorial stones. The Stone of Remembrance is to the left here behind the shrubs:-

More flat memorial stones:-

All these flat stones commemorate more than one serviceman:-

Stone of Remembrance. It is inscribed, “1914-1918 1939-1945. To the honoured memory of his Majesty’s forces who gave their lives for their country and who lie buried in this cemetery. The following are not commemorated elsewhere. Private R Brines, Middlesex Regiment. 19/1 1920, Private A Brown, Highland Light Infantry, 9/1/1920, Private Jackson Robb, Royal Scots, 30/8/1921.”

Information board:-

Here is a wonderful Art Deco poster for the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938, held in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. I saw the poster for sale at Ingliston Antiques Fair in Edinburgh:-

There, too, was this brilliant Art Deco style chocolate box lid showing one of the two Scottish Pavilions at the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938:-

Also at the same Ingliston Antiques Fair I saw this framed photo of an Art Deco building which looks as if it may have been (still be?) a hotel. The flag standard is flying a French tricolour.