Activities
The Morningside Heritage Association runs projects relating to the history of the area, maintains an archive of relevant materials and publishes volumes based on this work and material.
Projects
The Association is currently running the Morningside Stones Project jointly with the Old Edinburgh Club. A number of properties in Morningside incorporate stones bearing seemingly ecclesiastical motifs and set apparently at random. A local tradition suggests that these stones originally came from the fifteenth century Trinity Collegiate Church demolished in 1848 to make way for the construction of Waverley Station. The Morningside Stones project aims to catalogue these stones, investigate their provenance and, if possible, establish whether or not they originated in the Trinity Church. The project is funded from a Jean Guild Grant by the Old Edinburgh Club.
Some further information is available about this project here.
In the past the Association has run three projects to collect reminiscences from people living in the Morningside area. This work resulted in the three books listed under Publications below, where brief details are given. These projects are now complete.
Archive
The Association maintains an archive of material related to the history of Morningside. This collection has largely been acquired by donation. Some of the larger and more important collections include the following.
- Bill Smith Archive: the largest and most important collection in the archive consisting of material accumulated by the eminent local historian of Morningside and South Edinburgh Bill Smith. The collection was donated by his family in 2015 and comprises a large number of photographs together with some audio recordings, books, ephemera and other written material.
- 55th Boys Brigade Company: a large archive of photographs and other material pertaining to the 55th Boys Brigade Company which since its founding in 1914 has met in Morningside Parish Church. The collection documents the Brigade since its founding. It was donated in 2016 by the Officers of the Company.
- South Morningside Parish Church Cluny Centre: a small collection of photographs dating from the early twentieth century. They were donated in 2016 and relate to the Church. Also included are some photographs of a family who were then members of the Church.
There are opportunities for members of the Association to get involved in examining, sorting, indexing, cataloguing and digitising the archive. It may be possible for non-members to examine items from the archive for serious historical research. In either instance contact the Association’s Secretary using the e-mail address mhaenq@gmail.com for further information.
Publications
The three previous projects mentioned above collected reminiscences and information about life in Morningside during the twentieth century. This work resulted in three publications as follows.
- Morningside Memories Volume 1 (1988)
presents some personal experiences of life in Morningside from 1900 to 1940 collected by a group of local residents led by Jennifer Meiklejohn, a Founding Member of the Association, between 1986 and its publication in 1988 (£3.00). - Morningside Memories Volume 2 (2003)
records some further personal experiences of life in Morningside from 1940 to the end of the twentieth century (£5.00). - Morningside Memories Volume 3 (2018)
presents both reminiscences and archival research to document the impact of World Wars One and Two on the community of Morningside (£5.00).
The Association also publishes the very successful Morningside Heritage Trail compiled by Fiona Brownlee under the aegis of the Association. This trail highlights some forty historically significant features of the Morningside area (£1.50).
Copies of all four publications are available for purchase at most of the Association’s meetings at the price shown. If you wish to purchase copies by post then in the first instance please contact the Secretary using e-mail address mhaenq@gmail.com. Please note that an additional charge will usually be added for postage and packing.