Can anyone tell us about our garden wall?!

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 18 Sep 2003, 23:57

Me again - see, took me a few months to get started but now I'll be impossible to shut up

... I was wondering if anyone has information about the house that used to stand where Scotmid now stands. Not long after we moved in (to Mentone Avenue) a friend told me about the "big" house that used to be here. The reason my interest is growing is because of our garden wall - it's very unusual and people often ask us about it. We actually know nothing at all about it other than that our neighbour told us we're not allowed to do anything to it as it's protected. It's actually in very poor repair and our biggest concern is getting rid of the kids that climb on it as it's pretty dangerous. It has strange alcoves in it and someone recently commented that it looks like a church wall, leading us to wonder if the house on the Scotmid site had a chapel, and if ours was one of the walls of it - the wall we are now being questioned about and having to demonstrate complete ignorance! It forms the border between us and 12 Bath Street, and is 4m high in places. Can anyone tell us anything at all about our garden wall?!

Susan · Post by **Susan** » 19 Sep 2003, 00:08

Hi,

The house that stood on the Scotmid site was called Mount Charles.

I know latterly it was owned by St. John's Church but don't recall a chapel in the grounds but maybe one of the older Bath Street residents could provide further information.

Susan

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 19 Sep 2003, 12:49

Thanks Susan. It's actually in a pretty bad state of repair but we really know nothing about it other than what our neighbour could tell us, which went along the lines of "Well, you just can't touch it!". It's quite nice to look at on the Bath Street side, with large archways inlaid into it if I remember correctly, and if it could be repaired would probably look great on our side too, but that sounds like something very expensive!

Susan · Post by **Susan** » 20 Sep 2003, 21:34

Hi,

Does your wall share a boundary with Scotmid or is it shared with one of the tenement back greens?

If it is in a state of disrepair who would be responsible if it fell down?

Perhaps it is worth checking out.

Susan

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 25 Sep 2003, 13:40

We have a wall with scotmid and a wall with the number 12 tenement on Bath Street, and our house and front garden share the boundary with the bingo hall. We had a fight with them over that once - their wall was in disrepair, and chunks of render were falling off in our garden, but when they had it redone they ignored the part in our garden so we hassled them until they fixed it (hinting that if any render should fall on our children, being sued would cost them far more than the repairs seemed to help!). However, we did check with our solicitor first that it was their responsibility, and because they built their wall after our house was built, it was. The back walls are unlikely to fall down just yet - we have had a few people look at them to make sure! - but we don't actually know whose responsibility it is. Presumably it's shared between us and number 12 - but if we're not allowed to do anything to the wall, I'm not sure how we're supposed to keep it in good repair either.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 04 Dec 2003, 17:53

Malfour & Manson have a list of FAQs that might be helpful: try / http://www.knowledge.balfour-manson.co.uk/

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 31 Dec 2003, 23:39

I was brought up at 12 Bath Street and I know exactly the wall you're talking about. It extends right along the back greens of the tenements and was part of the garden wall belonging to Mount Charles. I remember the house when I was a child but it was derelict then. Very like Norman Bates' house LOL We were always led to believe that it had been a convent but I don't know how accurate that was. There were also lovely iron railings and huge gates and what is now Scotmid carpark was a very overgrown garden which at one point housed the beach ponies! I remember the day it was knocked down by a huge ball and crane - I think half the street was out watching.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 01 May 2005, 20:32

Well, some time later

, I still know very little about our wall, but wondered if anyone can tell me what these are for?

There are seven (I think) in a row. And they once looked nice with potted trailing plants in them, but being a terrible gardener I forgot to water them, and have since given up that idea, because then they didn't look nice with trailing dead plants in them lol!

BB

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 01 May 2005, 20:34

Just to look pretty?!

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 01 May 2005, 20:37

Oh yeah - never thought of that!

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 01 May 2005, 20:40

Seven of them, you say?

I strongly suspect that if you were to (gently - mind the neighbours) excavate the centre section on a clear night with a full moon, you would find that they are in a perfect alignment between the Bass Rock and Roslin Chapel. Hidden there is undoubtedly an element of a clue towards the beginning of the trail to find the receptacle of the key to the enduring mystery of The Holy Grail.

DG · Post by DG » 01 May 2005, 20:44

Either that

or, as Mr DG thought, they could have been kilns for brick making or the likes.

DG

Post by **wangi** » 01 May 2005, 20:48

Very interesting, I'll do a search on the rcahms indexes once they're working again...

Gemini · Post by **Gemini** » 01 May 2005, 20:48

Bellybabe

What a beautiful wall!

Some suggestions : Try Archie Foley - Porty Historic Society/

John Stewart PAS/CC - both know squillions of things about Porty

Good Luck

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 01 May 2005, 20:50

What are your neighbours' back walls like? I assume this wall was to do with Mount Charles [?] which is what Scotmid is built upon?

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 01 May 2005, 20:57

Thanks all for your comments - especially Mr M's, which I suspect is the correct answer.

The rear wall, which the neighbours share, is plain as far as we can tell; it has a higher bit in the corner of our garden (about 4m) then a drop to about 3m at which level it runs all the way along the backs of the houses, and seems to be plain red brick. The wall with the alcoves (we had considered the kilns idea too, DG/GG) is very pretty on the other side (as Epykat mentioned, it goes along the back greens of the tenements on Bath Street), but I've not seen the other side for more than a year so can't remember it too well.

teddygirl · Post by **teddygirl** » 01 May 2005, 21:35

They could be bee boles.........little alcoves that many large houses had in their garden walls which housed little straw skep beehives. I'm not sure if yours are large enough to be these though. I'm dead jealous if they are, I'd love to have them in my garden to match the (ornamental) WBC hives that I have.

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 01 May 2005, 22:50

The other side (Bath Street) is exactly the same as yours. I always thought they looked like window frames which had been bricked up when the glass was removed?

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 02 May 2005, 09:54

The bee boles suggested by Teddygirl sound really intriguing. I had never heard about them before but after looking up more info on the net it sounds a real strong contender BB. If they are bee boles then you are in an exclusive club as one site says;

At present there seem to be about fifty sets of bee-boles known in Scotland, and seventeen of these are within a radius of three miles of Arbroath.

Pal of Porty · Post by **Pal of Porty** » 02 May 2005, 12:10

When I was young we used to climb the wall to play in the derelict Mount Charles House. It was very ramshackle and a bit like Scotmid is now but only darker. Everybody thought it was haunted so we found it a really scary place to be. Cannot remember the walls though - just the big gates.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 02 May 2005, 12:20

Marya wrote:then you are in an exclusive club

Well we knew that already...

CatzVP · Post by **CatzVP** » 07 May 2005, 07:30

They could be markers where old man smithers buried the bodies

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 16 May 2005, 22:27

Was browsing through the old maps of Portobello today in the library - demmed interesting, old bean!

Anyway, it appears from one of them that a greenhouse/glasshouse for Mount Charles was there after your house was built .... maybe this is a clue?

Don't know date, but looked like OS map and was issued before Ramsay Place was built - in fact, Ramsay Lodge was still there then.

Talk Porty ~ Portobello

Can anyone tell us about our garden wall?!

Can anyone tell us about our garden wall?!

Garden Wall

Paula' Wall!

Mount Charles