Skulferatu #16 - Cammo Tower, Cammo Estate, Edinburgh

 

Lying on the outskirts of Edinburgh, as you head North towards South Queensferry and Fife, sits Cammo Estate.  This was once a private estate, but was bequeathed to the National Trust and then given to Edinburgh Council.  It is now maintained by the council as a wilderness park.

 

Cammo House circa 1900

 

The remains of Cammo House

 

In the estate there are the remains of Cammo House.  This was built in 1693 for John Menzies and at that time had fourteen bedrooms, four public rooms, a smoking room, a billiards room, bathrooms, a kitchen, a wash-house, a laundry, cellars, larders, pantries and servants' accommodation.  A surrounding park and landscaped garden were then laid out around the house. 

 

The house went through several owners before being bought by the Clark family.  In 1909 David Bennet Clark divorced his wife Margaret Maitland-Tennent and she and her son Percival kept the house.  However, shortly after the divorce Margaret dismissed the staff and moved into a caravan with her son.  The house was left, still full of valuable paintings and antiques.  Over the years it was completely neglected and was broken into on numerous occasions.  During the break-ins it was vandalised and damaged, with various valuables also being stolen.  In 1955 Margaret died and the house was left to Percival.  He lived as a recluse with a pack of around thirty dogs, which were given a free run of the house.  On his death in 1975, the house and the estate were left to the National Trust.  In 1977 most of the house was destroyed by fire and the remains were later pulled down, leaving only the door frame and lower wall.  In 1980 the house and the estate were given to Edinburgh Council by the National Trust.

 

Cammo House is thought to have been the inspiration for ‘The House of Shaws’ in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Kidnapped.

 

On the estate there is also the very picturesque Cammo Tower.  This is a 19^th Century Water Tower built to supply water to Cammo House.

 

A view of Cammo Tower

Cammo Tower

A view of Cammo Tower

 

On my wanders around the estate, I left a Skulferatu in the wall of Cammo Tower with a view of the nearby hill.

 

Skulferatu #16

 

Skulferatu #16 in wall of Cammo Tower

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are:

 

Latitude 55.954275

Longitude -3.321390

 

Skulferatu #15, St Baldred's Cradle, Peffer Sands, East Lothian

 

The thing I love about working in East Lothian is that there are so many beautiful places nearby to go for a lunchtime walk.  My walk today was along Peffer Sands, which is a great big sandy beach with lots of sand dunes.  It is a quiet and isolated spot with amazing views over the Forth and down to the Bass Rock.   

 

View down Peffer Sands to the Bass Rock

 

I walked along the beach and up onto the rocky outcrop at the southern end of the beach.  This area is known as St Baldred’s Cradle. 

View from St Baldred’s Cradle

 

View over rocks at St Baldred’s Cradle

 

Here St Baldred is believed to have spent some years in a remote hermitage.  He obviously liked the view if he came here, as it’s still pretty remote and out of the way.  There is supposedly an ancient cairn here, but I’ve never actually seen it.  However, I do find this is often the case with ancient landmarks, unless they are pointed out to me, I just don’t see them.    

 

Today’s Skulferatu was left in a crack in one of the rocky outcrops overlooking the Bass Rock.

 

Skulferatu #15

 

Skulferatu #15 in rocks at St Baldred’s Cradle

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are:

 

Lattitude 56.023742

Longitude -2.584464

 

Skulferatu #14 - Figgate Park, Edinburgh

It has been snowing.  The snow has turned to slush and ice.  So today I didn’t venture far, my walk taking me through Portobello and up to Figgate Park and around the pond there.

 

View over pond at Figgate Park to Arthur’s Seat

 

Figgate Park is nestled between Portobello and Duddingston.  The main East Coast railway line from Edinburgh to London runs past the park, and it is surrounded on the other sides by various housing estates. The park is about a kilometre long and at the east end there is a large pond.  This used to be a claypit, which supplied the potteries in Portobello.  It is now a habitat for lots of birds.  The park was formally opened in 1938.

 

The name of the park comes from the burn that runs through it and from the old name for the land it sits in, Figgate Muir.  Figgate Muir was an area of land on the east side of Edinburgh that now forms the main part of Portobello.  In Cassells Old and New Edinburgh, Vol.3 (1883) it is described as ‘…a once desolate expanse of muir-land…which latterly was covered with whins and furze, bordered by a broad sandy beach and extending from Magdalene Bridge on the south perhaps to where Seafield now lies, on the north-west.’ 

 

The park was busy today with everyone doing their daily Covid walk, or slip and slide in the slushy mess of last nights snow.  Disconsolate looking ducks sat on the ice of the pond while a group of swans swam in the small area that hadn’t frozen over.  Noisy seagulls circled around hoping to spot someone throwing something edible to the other birds.  Children screamed and demanded attention from their worn out parents, while an occasional train roared past. 

 

Boardwalk round pond at Figgate Park

 

View over pond to pylon and powerlines

Disconsolate ducks and selfish swans

 

I found some quiet places in the park to take a few photographs.  Then in another quiet spot, in between some reeds on the bank of the pond, I left my Skulferatu.  I placed it on some pockmarked, icy snow, so it should fall down between the reeds and into the pond when the snow melts.

 

Skulferatu #14

Skulferatu #14 on snow by pond

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are:

Latitude 55.949871

Longitude -3.124324 

Skulferatu #13 - Victoria Swing Bridge, Leith Docks, Edinburgh

 

Today’s Skulkferatu ended up somewhere a little bit different, on a structure from the industrial past of Leith – the Victoria Swing Bridge.  This crosses the water of Leith just down from the popular area of The Shore, where there are many restaurants and eateries.

View down Water of Leith

Victoria Swing Bridge, Leith

The bridge was built between 1871 and 1874 and is constructed of wrought iron.  It is a swing bridge, meaning it could swing open to allow passing boats through.  It was hydraulically operated and the power for this was supplied from a small power station building that sits nearby.  Originally a railway track and a private road ran down the middle of the structure and there was a walkway on both sides.  The bridge no longer swings open and is nowadays solely for pedestrian use. 

Victoria Swing Bridge and old Whaling Harpoon

View down Victoria Swing Bridge

Unfortunately, the bridge is now in a state of disrepair and though there have been various campaigns to have it restored, nothing has yet been done.  It is currently on the Buildings at Risk register.

 

I left a Skulferatu balanced on a rivet in one the beams of the bridge.

Skulferatu #13

Skulferatu #13 on Victoria Swing Bridge, Leith

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #13

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are:

Latitude 55.978708

Longitude -3.170241