Last Surviving Building from Leith Shipyards to Re-Open

We are pleased to be able to tell you that the only remaining building from the Leith Shipbuilding era is to be re-opened as an art studio for budding artists to present there work.

This is the only remaining building that Forth Ports at the time never managed to knock down, which was no surprise as it was originally built to sustain attack from German Bombers during the dark days of World War Two.

The last remaining building of hundreds of years of shipbuilding at Leith

Built at the request of the Admiralty to help protect all the many ship plans and drawings that were required to build all the many warships at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd, such as Corvettes and Frigates for the Royal Navy during the six years of War.
They required a secure facility from the threat of fire from incendiary bombs dropped by German aircraft.

Hell what chance had Forth Ports of knocking it down when the German bombers could not do it.


The building was constructed the same as a traditional riveted ship's superstructure complete with riveted seams and ships portholes.

Also used as a first aid station and latterly as a chemical/paint store it is just good to report that some use has been found for the building.

The building is now some 150m away from where it was originally in what may be the only "Listed" building in Scotland to have been physically moved from its original place. (Read more on the website)

There are also plans to turn some of the building into a small museum space to show some shipbuilding items from this long almost lost history of hundreds of years of the art of shipbuilding at Leith, Scotland.

You will also see more of what the art group intend to do here at http://www.dokartistspace.org/

As Time Goes by: the Changing Face of Leith’s Shoreline

We feature another article from our guest feature writer Jenni Buxton and while we agree with a lot of what she writes we don't necessarily endorse or agree with all of it.
All things must pass after all be it for the better or the worse, change has to happen.

Old Leith from the ediburghs-war.ed.ac.uk website



 

As Time Goes by: the Changing Face of Leith’s Shoreline

 

Although the shipbuilding traditions of Leith Docks generally resides in the shadow of the traditions of the Clyde, the East Coast shipyard has just as proud a history that is as much a backdrop to north Edinburgh’s present as it ever has been in the past. Initially a hub of the British Empire’s wine trade, secondly a world power in steamship construction and now, as Leith rises out of the more home-grown shadow cast by the so-called ‘trainspotting generation’ of the 90s, the shipyard’s image is once again being reimagined as an important, iconic reminder of Leith’s history and a symbol of Scottish growth and prosperity.

 

Leith Shipyard’s Proudest Moment

Perhaps the proudest moment in the history of the shipyard's of Leith at the old Menzies yard on the Water of Leith was the construction of the legendary steam boat, Sirius. Built at Leith in 1837, the Sirius was intended to run the London to Cork route for the Saint George Steam Packet Company. However, proving itself early on to be a masterpiece of craftsmanship, the Sirius was chartered to cross the Atlantic by the British and American Steam Navigation Company. By arriving in New York a day ahead of the Great Western, a ship designed by none other than the great industrialist Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Sirius became the first steamship to make the Atlantic crossing. Legend has it that in the last two days of the 18 day crossing, the Sirius ran out of coal and had to be powered by timber and resin. [1]

Nearly 200 years on, the achievements of the Leithers that built the Sirius are still talked about in the pubs on the Walk and the stands of Easter Road to this day, highlighting the reverberation of spirit and community that the shipyard inspires.

At Easter Road they Play Since 1875 Hibernian Football Club has been an integral part of sporting life in the City of Edinburgh and Port of Leith; its early history up to 1946 has been brilliantly documented in The Making of Hibernian trilogy by Alan Lugton. John Campbell's At Easter Road they Play is the first part of a new trilogy that brings the history up to date, picking up the story from 1946 and covering what was the most successful part of the club's history when Hibernian won three Championship titles and became the first British club to play in the European Cup, reaching the semi-final. Packed with anecdotal tales of the times, it gives a fascinating insight into life at the club when the Famous Five were in their heyday right through to the mid-sixties when a young lad by the name of Joe Baker burst onto the scene. A game-bygame, goal-by-goal account of the many highs and numerous lows, At Easter Road they Play takes the reader on a fantastic journey back to the days when massive crowds flocked to Easter Road to see Hibernian play. For any Hibs fan that lived through those heady days this book will bring back to life a host of happy memories whilst at the same time allowing those fans who were perhaps too young or not even born at the time to see just how different football was back then when compared to the modern day game.

Leith Docks and the Wine Trade

Long before paddle steamers, the port at Leith was one of the UK’s great trading ports, and though many of the later problems that were associated with the ‘trainspotting generation’ came from alcohol, the alcohol trade was a key factor for the areas early growth. As early as the twelfth century, all the wine for the Stuart kings that resided at Holyrood palace was brought in through Leith Docks and in the days of Mary Queen of Scots, the famous French wines that she became fond of during her time there were imported through Leith. This trade increased over the next 200 years and Sherry from Spain and Port from Portugal were added to the haul.

Leith became one of the biggest importers of the finest qualities of wine in the whole of the United Kingdom. The mass storage of wine in Leith was even noted by Sir Walter Scott who talks of coopering (the art of barrelling alcohol for storage) at Leith’s docks:

“Peter Puncheon that was cooper to the queen’s stores at the Timmer Burse (or Timber Bush) at Leith.”

By the Time of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the early 17^th century, the list of wines coming into Leith included claret, burgundy, champagne, sherry, port and even some wines from as far afield as Australia. [2] With the export of whisky and the import of wine you could well say that Leith’s was built on alcohol, and though that might have been a proud thing to say a couple of hundred years ago, it could well be a source of shame given the recent stereotype of the area that came out of the 90s.

Ecstasy Lloyd from Leith has a transfiguring passion for the unhappily married Heather. Together they explore the true nature of house music and chemical romance. Will their ardour fizzle and die or will it ignite and blaze like a thousand suns? Ecstasy follows them and others through the backstreets of Edinburgh, stifling suburban sitting rooms and the bright lights of London. Exhilarating and dazzling, this is Welsh at his very best.

The More Recent History of the Leith Shipyard

The shipyards recent image was summed up in the Proclaimer’s music video for ‘Letter from America’ in 1987, lamenting the closure of industry across Scotland and the migration of once proud industrial workers to America and Canada in search of work. In the video, Henry Robb’s Shipyard, once a bustling hive of activity, looms over Leith, rendered desolate by mass unemployment and the destruction of industry. Though still a symbol of community pride, that pride was slipping as alcoholism and drug abuse began to tarnish the reputation of the region leading to the stain of the character of the ‘trainspotting generation’ of the 90s. The young heroin addicts that Irvine Welsh’s bestselling novel is based on were the sons and daughters of proud shipbuilders at the Henry Robb yards, the unemployment of the closure of industry, coupled with Leith’s history of importing opiates led to this near epidemic. Aida Edemariam and Kirsty Scott recently pointed out that this generation, though now in their forties, are still dying younger than their peers from other parts of the UK. [3]

Released in 1993, the harrowing story of Trainspotting drew attention to the drug and alcohol problems that were rampant in Edinburgh [4], and in particular Leith at this time and the derelict Shipyards became a depressing symbol of this social degredation.

 

Back on track

Though this generation changed the image of the shipyard throughout the 90s to one of decay, in the last decade it has managed to brush its self off and rise like a phoenix from the flames again. With world class drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres and community groups [5] helping more and more people with problems of addiction back to their feet the problem is beginning to show signs of decline. [6] Alcohol abuse, though still a problem across all Scotland, is under some degree of control and the Leith shoreline is home to modern gastro-pubs, restaurants and wine bars that are using alcohol to restore a pride to the shipyards more reminiscent of the booming times of the alcohol trade in the 17^th century.

The Rise and Fall of British Shipbuilding This is the story of how, from modest beginnings, Britain rose throughout the 19th century to become the greatest shipbuilding nation in the world. It begins with the age of sail, then moves on to the days of iron-hulled steamers. It shows how conflicts arose between the traditional shipwrights and the new men who came from the metal industries, leading to the infamous demarcation disputes. It is also the story of men like Brunel and Armstrong, geniuses who were always looking for change and development. It is also the story of decline in the 20th century, when yards were no longer as innovative as their foreign competitors and the British merchant fleet shrank from being the biggest in the world at the start of the century to ranking number 38 at the end of it. It is a story of great achievements and tragic collapse.

Looking to the future of Leith Docks

With new industries in computer software design and a solid reputation as an area for the burgeoning industry of game design, employment is beginning to creep back into the area. As well as the government building at Victoria Quay, [7] Leith Docks are also managing to keep the proud maritime traditions going by earning a strong reputation as a supporting dock for offshore development and acting as an important destination for the northern European cruise industry. [8] After a difficult few decades, the shipyards at Leith are once again becoming a modern icon of regeneration and pride.

1. "Sirius." Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546617/Sirius
2. "The Story of Leith," Electric Scotland, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.electricscotland.com/history/leith/32.htm
3. Aida Edemariam and Kirsty Scott, "What Happened to the Trainspotting Generation?" The Guardian online, August 15 2009, accessed 20/07/2014, http://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/aug/15/scotland-trainspotting-generation-dying-fact
4. "Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse," Helpguide Scotland, Accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.helpguide.org/mental/alcohol_abuse_alcoholism_signs_effects_treatment.htm
5. "Turning Point Leith," Turning Point, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.turningpointscotland.com/what-we-do/substance-misuse/turning-point-leith/
6. "Treatment Programs for Alcohol Abuse," Treatment4Addiction, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.treatment4addiction.com/treatment/alcohol/
7. "Victoria Quay," The Scottish Government, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Locations/victoria-quay
8. "Port of Leith," Forth Ports, accessed on 20/07/2014, http://www.forthports.co.uk/leith-edinburgh/

This more modern photograph is from 2011 and not so much has changed really as far as the architectural look of the Shore anyway.

Find all the books you will ever need at the E-Library Ships and the Sea

Council buys Custom House for Leith "Maritime" Museum

Well at last as someone who is amongst the first to slag off the Edinburgh Council, credit where it's due as they have at last done something positive and purchased the old Custom House in Leith and although they do not mention "Maritime Museum" with any luck and some vision the majority of the building will be set aside to celebrate the rich and very long maritime history of the Port of Leith.

The old Custom House in Leith, Scotland shown her in this Edinburgh Evening News Photograph

This classic old building just lends itself to being the home of a Maritime Museum

Perhaps now a lot of the hidden from public sight memorabilia and material will at last be shown along with much of the material hidden away in private collections.

Book with confidence thanks to the Best Price Guarantee from Expedia.com I do not for a minute understand why some people with the knowledge and information they have gathered over time would not wish to show material in such a magnificent setting, with the proviso that the "Edgits" are kept well away from the running and setting up such a worthwhile project.
While the council are to be congratulated with this one they do not have a very good track record of success now do they?


The following is From the Edinburgh Evening News

THE bid to establish a dedicated Leith Museum has taken a giant leap forward after the city sealed a deal to buy the Custom House from the National Museums Scotland.

Culture chiefs agreed to pay £650,000 for the building after a six-year campaign by residents to save the landmark. to read more



 

"Letter From America" - Leith Shipyards and The Proclaimers

This contribution is from our featured writer Jenny Buxton as there is just not enough time to keep contributing to the Blog on a daily basis and this we feel will help to keep the Blog relevant and interesting.

The views expressed are the writers alone and are not necessarily the views of Leith Built Ships (although we do agree with some of them?)

 

 

"Letter From America" - Leith Docks and The Proclaimers

In 1987, Leith Docks were treated to an experience quite unlike anything else it had undergone in its long career – and that’s saying quite something, as all manner of curios passed through the Robbs yard during its lifetime. With a musical accompaniment and a blisteringly poignant set of lyrics, images of the shipyard were broadcast into the living rooms of hundreds. Thanks to Scottish twin duo ‘The Proclaimers’ [1], Henry Robb's shipyard, right at the end of its life, had a brush with pop-stardom.
 

Ecomonic Depression

It was used in the video to ‘Letter From America’, a song which speaks of economic migration from Scotland due to unemployment, depression, and even enforced eviction – all experiences with which Scotland has had a long experience. Leith Docks featured heavily in the video as an example of the kind of traditional Scottish industry which was, in the eighties, being lost – necessitating the emigration of former employees. At the time, the shipyard had been closed for four years and was falling derelict. As such, it stood as a painful and marked reminder of all that Scotland had lost and was in the process of losing. This was the era in which “Trainspotting” [2]  - that seminal novel of disaffected Scottish youth – is set. The era of Thatcherism, of job-losses, of clashes between all-powerful money-worshipping capitalists and the working man, of anger, of riots, of growing consumerism and shrinking opportunities. The Herald describe the eighties as an era in which “Scotland’s industrial heartlands were ripped out and thrown on the scrapheap” [3], and a lot of anger remains today at what is still seen as an irrevocable loss to Scotland.
 

 

 

 

Family Connection

Henry Robb’s yard was used in the video to the track partly because the father of Charlie and Craig Reid who make up the Proclaimers had worked in the yard. Indeed, the pair were born in Leith, and thus had a strong association with the yard. The working class, working man’s culture into which they were born, and which was being steadily eroded by the economic policies of the time as they grew up, would strongly influence their music. Much of their tracks are politically motivated, with a strong Scottish-cultural influence, and the depression of the eighties certainly left its mark on the brothers. Craig told the Scotsman in a recent interview, “We know what it’s like to have no money and to be at the mercy of other people….I remember spending the whole day with Charlie at the DSS, queuing for housing benefit, crowded in like cattle, and you had no say, no economic power” [4]. The family moved around in search of work as places like Robb’s closed and evicted their employees, leaving the twins well-placed to pen a track like ‘Letter From America’, which harkens to economically enforced Scots migration.
 

A Deep Scar

The eighties were a period which have left a deep scar upon not only the Scots national consciousness, but also the economic viability of Scotland as a whole. Arguably, the destruction of the shipyards and other manufacturing and industrial enterprises began a process of wholesale denigration which would be furthered twenty years later, with the 2008 recession from which we are only now emerging. Deprived of steady income at dockyards and the like, a whole swathe of society learned instead to rely upon high-interest loans and state handouts for survival. When the credit industry collapsed in 2008, it took with it not only a whole host of jobs and industries which relied upon it for survival, it also pulled the (already threadbare) rug out from beneath the feet of struggling Scots. Austerity measures like benefit cuts rendered the situation yet more desperate. Unable to turn to places like Henry Robb’s shipyard to get work, these people slipped between the cracks, often ending up desperate and homeless. The Scottish Government state that, as of 2014, “recovery in the Scottish economy is progressing and consolidating” [5], and the credit industries are beginning to reach out to people once again, with sites like CompareNI offering “many secured and unsecured loans” [6] to those in need of a cash injection, but for many this comes too little too late. It’s a recovery, furthermore, led almost entirely by consumer activity rather than industrial activity. Instead of pulling itself up through its own industrial infrastructure, Scotland is being wonkily hauled back into the black through patchy and irregular consumer spending patterns. It is not an ideal situation.
 

Sorely Missed

In its heyday, Robb’s shipbuilding company employed thousands, and left all of those employees with a viable trade which they could ply anywhere in the world, should they so wish. These skilled people were a great boon to whatever country they lived in. Unfortunately, as the Scottish shipyards steadily fell to Thatcher’s onslaught, that country was Scotland less and less. Although many Scots emigrants sent money home - banks lie HSBC [7] which provided international transfer services did particularly well during the eighties - the dearth of opportunities for people to use their skills naturally lead to an evacuation of those skills from Scotland. They have never returned. Places like Robb’s yard at Leith Docks are sorely missed.

Australian Migrant Ships In 1945 Arthur Calwell announced a new immigration policy for Australia requiring an influx of 70,000 migrants a year, and it was hoped that all of them would come from Britain. When insufficient Britons applied the Australian government looked to Italy and Greece and then to refugee camps across Europe. This book looks at the ships that brought these migrants to Australia - some that were never designed to carry passengers or to travel great distances - and their place in maritime and Australian history.

[1] The Proclaimers

[2] Irvine Welsh, "Trainspotting", Random House

[3] Ian MacWhirter, "Can Scotland escape the killer zombies?", Herald Scotland, Feb 2013

[4] Janet Christie, "Interview: The Proclaimers still have miles to walk", The Scotsman, July 2013

[5] The Scottish Government, "State of the Economy - April 2014: Summary Of Key Conclusions"

[6] Compare, "Compare Loans"

[7] HSBC, "International Payments"

SS EXPLORER-Restoration Project

The SS EXPLORER

The SS EXPLORER is one of the last examples of a bygone era in shipbuilding and she is now berthed at Leith Docks, registered at Leith but built in Aberdeen this huge restoration project is all about giving back to the people of Leith in the hope that some of the old now, almost lost skills of shipbuilding can be passed on by willing volunteers.

A fine project that deserves all the support they can get, you can find out lots more by visiting the ship restoration pages on the Leith Shipyards website or at SS EXPLORER Preservation Society

Chipping and Painting her hull at the Edinburgh Dock, Leith

(Photographs are courtesy of the SS EXPLORER Preservation Society)



Shipbuilding in Leith.

As mentioned before there have been shipbuilders in and around Leith for more than 660 recorded years, with the first records of a ship kept involved the building of the world’s mightiest warship at the time The Great Michael, built on Leith Sands at Newhaven in the 14th Century.
With Shipbuilding being such a specialised subject that involved countless different trades etc to complete, the industry has its own language which has built up over centuries and of which we hope to bring you a glossary of shipbuilding terms to help those new to the industry and to help refresh the memories of those that may have forgotten.
The following is from the Great database of information that is From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.
Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both commercial and military, are referred to as the "naval sector". The construction of boats is a similar activity called boat building.
The dismantling of ships is called ship breaking.

Before recorded history eh! Before all the known machines that have been there have been Ships/boats of some form of other.
You could even say that the Shipwright profession is the second oldest profession in the world; we won’t go into the oldest profession here on this blog.

The first Steamship to cross the Atlantic was built in Leith, starting the race for the Blue Riband fought for by the greatest ships of our times and now resting with Sir Richard Branson when he crossed the 3,000 miles of water in a fast boat a few years ago, to record the fastest crossing.
The First Steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean was,
Name: SS Sirius

Operator: St. George Steam Packet Co. Cork, Ireland
Builder: Robert Menzies & Sons, Leith, Scotland
In service: 1837

Fate: Wrecked and sunk off Ballycotton, Ireland on 16 January 1847
General characteristics

Class and type: Steam merchant ship

Tonnage: 703 tons

Displacement: 1,995 tons

Length: 200 ft (60.9 m)

Beam: 25 ft (7.62 m)

47 ft (14.3 m) across wheels

Draught: 15 ft (4.5 m)

Propulsion: Two masts

One funnel

Two side-wheels

1 x 2 cylinder side-lever by Wingate & Co. 600hp

Capacity: 40 passengers

Crew: 36

For more information visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding

what	where
job title, keywords or company	city, state or zip jobs by