Newhaven

Category

Library Item

Item no

4773

Title

Newhaven

Description

Women and children are going about their daily life in a litter strewn street in Newhaven, Edinburgh.In the foreground near a street lamp two women stand by a collection of baskets, further down the road people are sitting and standing on the stairways that lead to house entrances. Across from the street and close to the nearby River Forth there are some boats ashore on dry land.

Artist / maker

Inglis, Alexander Adam

Date

1895

Size

16.3 x 21 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image has been chosen for the Edinburgh - Past and Present Exhibition by Richard Holloway, writer and broadcaster - "Old Newhaven street scenes have become a bit of a cliché, but they are a cliché because they go on saying something important about a vanished way of life that seems so close to our own day we could reach out our fingers and touch it - but it's gone, as one day we'll be gone." Richard Holloway.

Newhaven was founded by James IV in 1504 as a royal dockyard. It became an important fishing village, famous initially for oysters and later herring. An indoor fish market was built there in 1896. Newhaven fishwives, with their distinctive striped clothes, sold their goods around Edinburgh. David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson famously photographed these fishwives and other Newhaven residents in the 1840's. The area now has a population of roughly five thousand.

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Stairways

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

People > Agriculture and fisheries > Fisherwomen

Places > Edinburgh areas > Leith

Places > Edinburgh areas > Newhaven

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Water > Boats

(55°58′48″N, 3°11′42″W)

Read how our collections have inspired people taking part in events, visits and community groups. Use the slider or navigation arrows to see more responses.