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Observations by Blacket residents past and present: Alison Bradley [Lamb]

The Lamb family (first my grandparents and subsequently the next generation and their two children lived at 14 Blacket Place from about 1936. My own memories date from around 1944 (age five).

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A feature of the area (and it was probably quite normal at the time) was that people did not move so that when I [Alison Lamb or Bradley] was a small child almost every house was occupied by people who had lived there probably through at least two generations - elderly and very elderly people. Professor Bell (any relation to Joseph Bell, Surgeon?) lived in the first house on the north side, which at that time opened on to Dalkeith Road because, it was said, of a feud between its occupants and their neighbours - but when the feud occurred I have no idea.) Professor McIntosh and family were incomers and occupied the house of a Mrs Cumming, her daughter and daughter's husband, etc. and likewise a much later arrival was Stevenson. Three recent arrivals would have been the junior Lambs, our neighbours the Campbells and their neighbours, at No. 10.

This very settled community had little to disturb it and the feuars' committee had long fallen into desuetude when, for a reason I cannot now remember, it was revived with William Lamb as chairman and William Campbell as secretary (both chartered accountants). I think it is possible that the corporation (not a council in those days) wanted to replace the gas street lights with tall sodium ones, as were used on Minto Street. However smaller, less inappropriate ones were finally installed.

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The Blacket Association arose after all the ancients - with the honourable exception of Miss Rankin, whose parents had occupied that house prior to her - had died or moved on. The new intake were largely academics, and they were keen to preserve the appearance of the area. However the remnant of longer occupants were of the view that the new residents wanted to preserve the Blackets in aspic and create a past that had never been, hence the first Conservation Area in Scotland!

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I have read the foundation writ and also the initial writ of 14 Blacket Place prior to the sale of the house. (NB a foundation writ is the initial deed of a property or group of properties and sets out the rights and obligations of the feuars and also the burdens on the property. A monetary burden, for example, was the feu duty and other burdens were, for example, the specification of construction of the properties.) According to the foundation writ each house had to conform externally but proprietors had a certain latitude in the other aspects of the property, thus the army lieutenant for whom 14 Blacket Place was built had a basement and possibly an extra large feu, while Nos 12 and 16 were on smaller areas of ground and in the case of No. 16 had no basement. The notion of rus in urbe, which inspired the design of the area, was certainly narrated in the foundation writ.

George Bell, Surgeon, would have instructed his lawyers to draw up the deeds, only specifying any matters of particular concern to himself, the remainder being put in by his professional advisers and derived from his own Superior's title etc. Collection of feu duty and all other matters would have been professionally handled and thus the sale of the Superiority to the British Linen Bank would have caused problems only when alterations were sought to be effected.

Regrettably I fear that the failure to make provision for maintenance of the shrubberies, if such was in fact the case, was possibly due to a break in communication between Mr Bell and his man of affairs. Incidentally throughout my childhood the shrubberies were contained behind split pole fences. I do not know who actually maintained them but they were not weed-filled.

I imagine the maintenance of the shrubberies was handed over to the feuars' committee of the time who would engage the lodge keeper to do the work - as borne out in the 1861 memorandum. There was no reason that the Superiors should go through the formal processes necessary to alter the burdens over the properties.

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By my childhood the lodge keepers were a thing of the past, and the lodges were just smaller houses. The lodge keepers initially had to open and close the gates as stated and also to open them at night if a resident required to enter or leave. Some time in the 1960s a building at the west end of Blacket Avenue was demolished and I remember noting that it bore the street name in faded gold lettering 'South Blacket Place'. This name was not revived subsequently. Unfortunately I did not photograph the building. This may have been at the time the pillars at the end of the street were moved to give a wider entrance. This was done at each exit to conform to modern traffic requirements.

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It is entirely possible that Blacket Place (the upper half) was topped with granite setts, but these had been removed before I have any recollection of the area, unlike in Lower Blacket Place, where they certainly remained for many years getting bumpier and bumpier until eventually tarmacked over. I know the setts had been removed from the upper part because I remember old Mr Rankin coming out with flour or white paint or something similar to outline a smallish hole that had appeared in the road on the opposite side from our house, beyond the opposite property (No. 7) and explaining to me that this was to prevent anyone stepping into it. This house (No. 7) was modified during my time, with the garage being turned into an extra bedroom.

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The front walls of houses had ornamental cast-iron railings, which were almost entirely removed during the Second World War - only ones with letter boxes etc. attached remaining. Some railings are now being replaced.

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My impression is that the feuars' committee was convened only when there was deemed to be a need. It was not a standing committee.

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