SMM+S

Adam Brown · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:00 pm Post subject: Old & New Libraries, Corstorphine

Old & New Libraries
Location: Kirk Loan, Corstorphine
OS Ref: NT 200 727

The Old Library & Hall in Corstorphine sits just a couple of doors along from the 'new' Library

The old one has some interesting creatures carved above the doorways

And the new Library

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ADP · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject:

According to the Corstorphine Conservation Area character appraisal, the creatures on the older building are salamanders.

http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/caca/CACACorstorphine.pdf (see page 12)

The horn motif appears to be from the family crest of the Forresters of Corstorphine.

http://forresterfamily.org/index.php?template=list_photogallery&category=Trip+To+Scotland+-+2003

ADP

Adam Brown · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:34 am Post subject:

ADP

Thanks for looking this up. I had to look up what a real salamanders look like on the internet and I don't know what references the sculptor used, the Zoo didn't open until 1913, ten years after the hall was built. I can understand the reference to the Forresters of Corstorphine but what do salamanders have to do with Corstorphine?

I see from the links you gave above the Hall was built in 1903 and the new library in 1927.

Adam
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ADP · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:01 pm Post subject:

Adam Brown · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject:

ADP

Yes, I took the castle on the 1927 building to be a City of Edinburgh reference. That would perhaps explain why a new building was built so soon after the old one - funding from the City coffers.

Cheers

Adam
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Scottish War Memorials Project
Scottish War Graves Project