Skulferatu #94 - Guardhouse, Leith Fort, North Fort Street, Leith, Edinburgh

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a far off land there was a fort full of soldiers...well, actually not that long ago there was a fort full of soldiers in Leith.  And being a fort in Leith it was aptly named – Leith Fort.  Now, all that remain of it are a bit of the wall, the main gate, and the guardhouses.

 

Walls and guardhouse at Leith Fort

 

Walls and guardhouse at Leith Fort

 

Entrance to Leith Fort – Postcard by Valentine & Sons

 

Leith Fort was built in the 1780s to protect the harbour at Leith, the city fathers being spurred into action during the American war of Independence after three ships led by the Scottish American naval captain John Paul Jones, attempted an attack on Leith and were only thwarted by a storm.  

 

The original fort was designed by James Craig, the architect who designed Edinburgh’s New Town, and it had a battery of nine guns that were pointed out over Leith Harbour and the Forth.  During the Napoleonic wars, the fort was expanded quite considerably with more buildings being added to house French prisoners of war.   It then carried on as a military base, and was the headquarters for the Royal Artillery in Scotland.  In the mid-1950s the fort was closed and abandoned. 

 

The abandoned fort in 1957

 

In the 1960s most of the buildings were demolished to make way for a large, seven storey block of flats - Fort House. A building that from the 1980s gained a notorious reputation for drugs and violence.  I have a distant memory of visiting the building once, back in the late Eighties.  On a Friday evening after work, I met up with one of my friends in a pub in Edinburgh.  At that time, we were both working in those sorts of offices where we were expected to be in suit and tie, so were suited up.  After a few beers, my friend was having one of those drunken teenage moments of regret, and decided he wanted to get back with his ex-girlfriend.  He asked if I’d chum him, not for moral support, but rather because she’d recently moved to a flat in the Fort and he was scared to go there on his own.  So off we went.  My only real recollections of the place are of a large dog that someone had tethered up outside the flats who growled and snarled at us, then, as we went into the building, some bloke on seeing us two in our suits came up to us and said - ‘Youse are no fucking debt collectors, are you?’  Shitting our pants a bit we said no, to which he replied - ‘Just as well, cause I’d ‘ave kicked yer cunts in if ya were.’ 

 

Fort House

 

In 2009 it was decided by Edinburgh Council to demolish the flats due to maintenance issues and costs.  The tenants were then rehoused, and Fort House was demolished in 2013.  In its place were built the terraces of ‘colony style’ homes that now sit on the site.

 

One of the old guardhouses at Leith Fort

 

Press for attention

 

Window through the guardhouse

 

Leith Fort guardhouse

 

Some cannons - a feature on the new housing estate

 

A cannon’s view of the guardhouses and fort entrance

 

Today, after my toddle around the remnants of the old fort and the new streets of new houses, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me in a gap by the drainpipe on one of the guardhouses.

 

Skulferatu #94

 

Skulferatu #94 in a gap by the drainpipe

 

Skulferatu #94 in a gap by the drainpipe

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #94

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.976781

Longitude -3.185499

 

what3words: vague.chips.tiles

 

I used the following sources for information on Leith Fort –

 

Historic Environment Scotland

Leith Fort Lodges, North Fort Street, Edinburgh

 

Canmore

Canmore - North Fort Street, Leith Fort

 

The Sphere - Saturday 17 August 1957

 

Photo of Fort House by Jonathan Oldenbuck and sourced from Wikicommons

 

Skulferatu #70 - Site of Caldwell's Paper Mill, Inverkeithing, Fife

 

Sometimes when I’m out walking, I end up wandering through the desolate, post demolition sites of old factories and industrial complexes.  These places always have a sort of apocalyptical feel about them with the traces of what was once there being consumed by nature.  In a way I suppose they are like the landscapes in some sci-fi drama set after a devastating nuclear conflict or alien invasion.  There is a sort of eerie emptiness to them.  They feel slightly lawless and forgotten.  The site of Caldwell’s Paper Mill in Inverkeithing is a bit like that with the scrub growing through the remains of concrete floors that seem to stretch on for miles.  Crumbling concrete that is being swallowed back into the earth beneath it.  While wandering around the place I sometimes feel like I’ve drifted into another dimension where humanity has collapsed and society ceased, but rather than bumping into some Mad Max types or some trundling Daleks, I’m usually met by some curious dog bounding through the scrub to bark loudly at me, try to get me to throw its ball, or maybe just attempt to sniff my crotch before being called back by its apologetic owner. 

 

The site of Caldwell’s Paper Mill, Inverkeithing

 

An aerial shot from Canmore of the site as it was when the paper mill was in operation

 

Caldwell’s Paper Mill was built in 1914 for Caldwell & Co. Papermakers Ltd.  At the time it was built the mill had four paper machines.  It was bought over by Inveresk in 1928 who added a fifth paper machine.  They ran the company until 2002 when it was purchased by the Scandinavian firm Klippan. About a year after the takeover the mill was closed with the loss of 160 jobs.  The mill then lay derelict until August 2012 when it was demolished.

 

Remains of one of the paper mill buildings

 

Remains of one of the paper mill buildings

 

Remains of one of the paper mill buildings

 

Grate and bricks inside the building

 

View inside the building

 

View out over the site from the remains of the paper mill building

 

Graffiti on the wall around the site of the paper mill

 

Graffiti on the wall around the site of the paper mill

 

View over remains of concrete floors to the wall around the site of the paper mill

 

Stairs to the bridge over railway tracks at the back of the site

 

One of the many bricks scattered around the site

 

Four pipes and some metal

 

Graffiti on the remains of the concrete floor

 

After a bit of a jaunt around the site I ended up back at the partial remains of one of the buildings.  There I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk, in a pipe hole in the wall of the building. As I walked away, the glass from the thousands of smashed beer bottles covering the ground nearby, glittered and sparkled in the early afternoon sunlight.

 

Skulferatu #70

 

Skulferatu #70 in a pipe hole in the wall of the building

 

Thousands of smashed beer bottles glitter and sparkle in the afternoon sunlight

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #70

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.028555

Longitude -3.3968700

I used the following sources for information on Caldwell’s Paper Mill -

 

Canmore - Caldwell's Mill, Inverkeithing

 

Daily Record, Monday 13 August 2012

 

For anyone who is interested there is a rather good video by John Davis of the chimneys of the old mill being demolished in a controlled explosion.  I've included the link here –

Demolition of Caldwell paper mill in Inverkeithing