Tollcross, Edinburgh

Tollcross is a crossroads in the South-West of the City Centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, and also the surrounding area which derives its name from the junction.

Physical description

The crossroads is formed by Earl Grey Street (effectively an extension of Lothian Road) to the north, Lauriston Place to the east, Brougham Street to the south-east (leading to Melville Drive which cuts across The Meadows), Home Street to the south (which leads to Bruntsfield), and West Tollcross to the west. In the middle of the junction is a distinctive ironwork clock tower which has been there since 1910.

The southern edge of the area merges with Bruntsfield while to the north and west Tollcross meets Fountainbridge, Lauriston and the rest of the Old Town part of the City Centre lies to the East.

Facilities

The Parish Church for Tollcross is Barclay Church at the southern edge. The Methodist Central Hall, a listed building (category B), is used for meetings and concerts as well as church services.

The area is diverse, containing Tollcross Primary School, which includes the city's Scottish Gaelic-Medium Unit, a wide range of nationalities of restaurants, and both an Italian and Polish bakery. There is a cluster of services here for the city's Chinese community including a Chinese language church, two Chinese supermarkets, a travel agent, and an old people's advice centre.

The Cameo cinema and the King's Theatre are located nearby, on Home Street, and Leven Street respectively. The area has a considerable amount of eateries, takeaways, pubs, bars and even a lap dancing club.

There is a modern health centre and a fire station opened in 1988, and "Princes Exchange", a large new office development (circa 2000), home to the Corporate arm of the Bank Of Scotland, in a central position on Earl Grey Street. The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links are nearby parks to the east and south.

Housing

Housing is mostly four-storey Victorian tenement flats, with a few blocks listed as being of significant local architectural or historical interest. Some were put up in the 1860s and 1870s by James Steel, an entrepreneurial Edinburgh builder who was responsible for many "working-class tenement developments" [Rodger, Richard. "The Transformation of Edinburgh: Land, Property and Trust in the Nineteenth Century", Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-60282-3] in various parts of the city; others were the work of small local building associations. Earlier buildings include a few tenements, originally designed to provide "room-and-kitchen" accommodation for poorer families, in Home Street, as well as residential property (and a guest house) opposite Lochrin Buildings on Gilmore Place, named after Samuel Gilmour, a ropemaker whose factory was originally on the site.

Many students live in the area, with Napier University having three separate halls of residence in the vicinity.

Transport and industry

Tollcross, like neighbouring Fountainbridge, was important to the city's industry in the 19th century, and the Union Canal, which started from the area, opened up new transport possibilities. The current Lochrin Buildings continue the Lochrin name previously used for the Lochrin Distillery which was replaced in 1859 by the Lochrin Iron Works. There were also a saw mill, paraffin works, and slaughterhouse in West Tollcross, with a brewery on the site of the current theatre. In 1899 the tram depot and power station for the southern part of Edinburgh's large cable tramway system (later electric) opened here. After the last tram ran in the 1950s it became a bus garage which was demolished in 1967.

The "toll" part of "Toll"cross refers to its past as a place where payments were collected from travellers entering the city on a centuries-old route.

References

Further reading

* [http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/map/early/towns.cfm?id=412 John G Bartholomew, "Chronological map of Edinburgh" (1919)]
* [http://www.scottishironwork.org/catdetail.asp?ironid=377 Scottish Ironwork Foundation, "Edinburgh clocktower 2"]
* [http://www.lochrin-bain.co.uk/history.html Lochrin Bain company history, "Lochrin Iron Works"]
* [http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/Education/gaelicinfo/GaelicEd.html City of Edinburgh Council, "Gaelic Education at Tollcross Primary"]
* [http://www.scran.ac.uk/ Scran Trust database]

External links

* [http://www.tollcross.org/ Tollcross Online]
* [http://www.edinfilm.com/locations/Methodist_Central_Hall Methodist Central Hall]