South Queensferry, Edinburgh Road, Sealscraig Lane, Former Slaughterhouse

South Queensferry, 9 Edinburgh Road, Adjacent and rear (also known as Sealscraig Lane), remains of slaughter house (NT17NW 312)

The remains of the building at NT13235 78353 are probably that of a slaughterhouse. A roofed building is shown at this location in a George Washington Wilson photograph of c. 1888 (MS6342), and in a lithograph of c.1852 (W Fyfe; MS6342). The building is also shown as roofed on the 3rd edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of 1917 (Linlithgowshire, 1917, sheet III.13). The clues for it being a slaughterhouse are: its proximity to the landing place (NT17NW 313) at which cattle would be landed from further up the coast or from North Queensferry (slaughtering and butchering for local consumption at this point would make sense); the presence of a sluice system for the disposal of waste into the Firth of Forth at a time when commonplace domestic dwellings would generally not have such a convenience for waste disposal, even if situated on the water’s edge; the presence of additional slopping out areas roughly carved into the bedrock at what would have been the floor level of the building, on its north and north west sides (see DC51359).

This site was investigated as proposed building work to convert the cottage ruins at 13 Edinburgh Road to a dwelling (adjacent to NT17NW 312 and 313) may have caused damage to the carved bedrock grips which lead to the landing place. It is unknown if this building work has taken place.

Visited by RCAHMS (MMD), April 2011; Information (letter) from Dr John Shaw, 16 February 2011; W Fyfe (1852)