293 Canongate, Edinburgh and Cranston Street

[BassinghamTerrier]

Hi all

I have recently visited Edinburgh and whilst there I did a little bit of rellie hunting, only to be thwarted! But then again, who isn't?

Anyway, my rellie Alexander Ross was married to Jane Swanson at Canongate Kirk on 5th June 1812; I found the church easily and had a photo taken outside, so no worries on that score.
The problem arises with her address; according to the documentation she was living with her father, George Swanson, at 293 Canongate - which ain't there! Now, my guess is that one of two things account for this:

• The house (probably a tenement) was knocked down to make way for the United Presbyterian Church which was built in 1869 and now houses the Edinburgh School of English
• The house was knocked down as part of the creation of Cranston Street
  
  [I base the above on the fact that the first building on the other side of Cranston Street is number 297 ('World of Nature' shop)].

So my request is two-fold; does anyone know when Cranston Street was created and can therefore pretty much pin down this little issue?
And can anyone supply pictures/maps of Canongate with 293 in situ?

Many thanks in advance,
MT

[KGarrad]

Have you tried Scotland's Urban Past?
http://scotlandsurbanpast.org.uk/site/198488/edinburgh-269-293-canongate

[BassinghamTerrier]

No, sorry. I know not of such sites.
I have very little knowledge of this Scots end of the website or, indeed, of Scotland in general.
I'll follow up on this link though - thanks for your interest and help.

MT

[KGarrad]

I also found a reference to this address in 1881:
2 Midcommon Close 293 Canongate

Does that help?

[Ruskie]

... another possibility ... numbering may have changed over the years.

I don't suppose they were there in any census were they? (you can sometimes narrow down the location via the enumerator's route).

[Ruskie]

following up on KGarrad's find:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_closes_on_the_Royal_Mile

http://www.royal-mile.com/closes/close-midcommon.html

It may have been where the church is http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebyside.cfm#zoom=19&lat=55.9511&lon=-3.1832&layers=168&right=BingHyb - looking at the location of Midcommon Close here http://www.royal-mile.com/royalmile-closes.html the location seems to tally with it though it is not too precise (hover your cursor over the name of the Close and it will highlight on the plan)

If you look on google maps streetview Midcommon Close is right beside the church between it and the Wedgewood store, so it looks like you might have been correct MT.

The NLS maps are excellent but for your purposes it might be worth trying to track down a detailed town plan. I'm sure there must be one somewhere. 

[BassinghamTerrier]

Thanks for all of the help on here.
I've found Mid Common Close on Google Street View ... for what it's worth!

It's a bit close to 267 - the shop on the right - which makes me wonder if Mid Common Close WAS indeed number 293 as KGarrad has intimated.

MT

[BassinghamTerrier]

Righto, a little further basic () research has revealed that the address of the Edinburgh School of English (the old Presbyterian Church of 1829) is 271 Canongate, so I think that kicks Mid Common Close most definitely into touch as it sits between the church/school and 267, the shop to the right in the picture; 293 Canongate HAD to be further up the Royal Mile, so it's now my bet that it was either where Cranston Street now is or else in the land that was flattened to build the church and its surrounding area.

I'm guessing that the key to this is when Cranston Street was created, because I strongly suspect that 293 was one of a number of houses pulled down to make way for it.

MT

[stanmapstone]

293 appears to have been where the Christian Institute Hall was 1946-50 map https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/326188/673722/13/101329
1854 map https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/326188/673722/13/100039
Stan