Audio recording of interview with Ann Sinclair

Category

Library Item

Item no

52244

Title

Audio recording of interview with Ann Sinclair, Gilmerton resident

Description

Gilmerton Library staff member, Robert Carroll talks to Ann Sinclair about her memories of the subsidence that occurred at Ferniehill Road known as 'Tumbledown Terrace'.

Date

2022

Type

Audio recording

Transcript of audio recording
Robert Carroll: Three, two, one.
I’m with Anne, who is a resident of Gilmerton and was living on the street where the ‘Tumbledown Terrace’ happened in 2000. And we’re going to talk to her about her memories.
You’re not Gilmerton born and bred, are you?

Ann Sinclair: Strictly where I’m living, where this occurrence was, is within Moredun.

Robert: There we go. [Laughs]. So, you’re not Gilmerton born and bred but you’ve lived there for a long time.

Ann: Yes.

Robert: How long have you lived there for?

Ann: 48 years.

Robert: And what’s the Moredun, Gilmerton area like? What was it like back in the year 2000? What changes have happened?

Ann: Immediately, things are much the same except for the removal of the houses because of the subsidence. Further afield, a lot of new building has started and more to come, I understand.

Robert: And what’s it like living in Moredun? What was it like in the year 2000? What did you do as your activities? What was the community like?

Ann: What was the community like? I was still working then. Most of the people around were still working. And we tended to go to our place of work. In my small neighbourhood, we were on neighbourly terms but I won’t say there was a great social interaction.

Robert: You weren’t having street parties every weekend?

Ann: No.

Robert: No. When did you first learn about the subsidence? Was it something you saw in the news and then walked out your doorstep and goes, yeah, it’s there, or could you see it happening?

Ann: The first thing that we knew of, was the gentlemen that lived at number 38, which is one of a pair of semi-detached houses but nearest to the area where the subsidence really happened. He reported a gas leak and this spread among the neighbours that he’d got a gas leak. And we didn’t think too much more of it but we began to read more into it when things started to happen. I think the first I knew was of the actual subsidence and we then caught up with the fact that one of the residents of the pensioners’ houses at the back had noticed cracks in her wall –

Robert: Right.

Ann: - called the Corporation and they had been concerned. And I’m full of admiration of them for this, and they showed interest and I think when it was a second crack, they got the lady out into alternative accommodation and started taking a strong interest. It was of course, very wet at that time and things started to happen quite quickly and the Corporation were very very good at coming and telling us what was going to happen and keeping us informed.

Robert: In terms of, what effect did the people’s houses, the buildings – could you see immediately there was subsidence, was it a gradual thing or did it happen almost instantaneously?

Ann: I think there were one or two houses going skew. You could see cracks. I think the thing which stands up in my mind, was that once they were starting to talk about people having to be removed from their houses, we started to pack up, a case of clothes and vital documents.

Robert: So, you were prepared that if it was to happen overnight, that suddenly the floor caved in or a wall came down, you were ready to go and be moved somewhere else?

Ann: Yes.

Robert: And would you say on the street there was a certain amount of maybe fear between the neighbours about what might happen? Concern?

Ann: I think we were apprehensive.

Robert: Were most people home owners, or did they live in Council accommodation?

Ann: On Ferniehill Road, there all owner occupied.

Robert: Owner occupied.

Ann: The smaller houses were I think mainly rented from the Corporation.

Robert: And in terms of the Council’s response, how was that handled? How did you feel it worked?

Ann: I thought it was handled extremely well. We were kept informed. People came to the door as necessary. I was still at work as far as I remember. But there were a number of meetings called [indecipherable] Councillor Gilmore and members of the building team from the Corporation came along and explained things to us, gave us leaflets, to explain what was happening, told us what their plans were as time went on and sent us written information.

Robert: Do you know what happened to the people who were moved out of their homes, where they went, where they were sent to?

Ann: I’m not sure, I think some of them were rehoused as locally as they could be. But obviously it would be very upsetting for them because there wouldn’t necessarily be houses very close by immediately.

Robert: In terms of the aftermath, what kind of effect do you feel it had on the area?

Ann: I think it’s part of our history. Arup, the civil engineers who were called in by the Corporation to advise did a very complete series of drawings. They shared the results with anybody who wanted them. There were bore holes in the roads and car parks all around and they were able to assure people where the ground was stable and where it was not stable.

Robert: That’s because the reason why the collapses happened, the subsidences happened was because of the mines that used to exist under the ground?

Ann: Yes.

Robert: Ok.

Ann: Think it’s worth saying, that when my husband died, the house had to be valued and the guy who came along to value the house, knew about Ferniehill and he also knew that there wasn’t any immediate risk of subsidence.

Robert: Right.

Ann: So, it has entered the folklore of the building trade.

Robert: [Laughs]

Ann: The other thing I want to mention, that the Corporation did, they went round, once they had done the survey, they went to the insurance companies, and assured them that the buildings that they had identified as safe, were safe and there shouldn’t be an extra cost because of subsidence and I’m very grateful to them for that.

Robert: Yes, that seems like a very useful thing to do because anyone that’s applied for a mortgage or their insurance quote knows that any kind of thing that could be added to the price, so it’s very nice they did that.
You’ve got some pictures of roadworks, roads being closed. When did the roads close for them to do this work? Did it happen the day after the subsidence happened or did it happen a little bit further down the line?

Ann: I can’t quite remember. It was quite soon. I may have come home from work and found the road closed or my husband rang me up and said “the road’s closed”.

Robert: There was an immediate response and a surprise.

Ann: Yeah.

Robert: And again, what kind of atmosphere was there when that was going on?

Ann: It was trepidation, apprehensiveness. You couldn’t do very much about it.

Robert: Was everyone having a look to see what was going on each day? Was it the talk of the town?

Ann: I don’t know that everyone was having a look each day. I think maybe, since we knew something about the construction of the houses we lived in on our side of the road, and we knew when they had been built, there was I think some confidence that they were alright.

Robert: That was a question I was going to ask. When did you start to feel everything’s safe in my home? Everything’s going to be ok.

Ann: I think when we were told we could stay!

Robert: [Laughs]

Ann: And once we’d been told the results of the bore holes.

Robert: Did anyone have any trouble moving away from the areas, selling their houses afterwards?

Ann: The house next door to me has recently been on sale in the last two or three years. I heard nothing about it from them. The house next door to me is going on the market shortly. I don’t think there’s going to be any issue.

Robert: See because when I’ve done a little bit of research into this, nowhere near what you’ve brought along today, so thank you for that –

Ann: That one sold without any issue.

Robert: - there’s only one or two web stories and most of them are, this happened 10 years ago, this happened 20 years ago rather than you can find stuff [indecipherable] so in terms of on the news, did it make the telly news? Was it something that was reported for a few days in The Scotsman or the Evening News?

Ann: It was in The Scotsman and obviously at work, I told people. Of course, there were other areas affected. I was talking to a friend the other day and she became aware of all the problems at Hyvots because of personal connections with the school there or staff at the school there. So, it was all around.

Robert: Yeah, the greater Gilmerton area was affected essentially.

Ann: But once it had been realised what the cause of the subsidence was, then I think that took out a lot of the fear. And that fact that Arup, more or less predicted what was going to happen and explained why it was sequential, because of the progressive collapse of the limestone columns, it made a lot of sense.

Robert: That’s good. It sounds to me that even though it was quite a unique problem, they seemed well prepared on how to handle the public.

Ann: People also knew, the older residents, remembered the old air raid shelters which had been under that area –

Robert: Right, ok.

Ann: We’ll see pictures of it. And people vaguely remember the air raid shelters. And they would remember the extent of them.

Robert: So, it sounds to me like they might have used some of the mine space underground as air raid shelters.

Ann: They did.

Robert: Ok. And day to day, was there any real problems created by the demolition works, or was it just a bit more difficult to find a parking space?

Ann: There’s plenty of parking space anyway. There was just a bit of difficulty but not much.

Robert: Yeah. Thank you very much for doing this, Ann.

Ann: Ok.

Robert: Stop.

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Homes > Derelict buildings and excavation sites > Subsidence

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

Places > Edinburgh areas > Gilmerton

Places > Edinburgh areas > Moredun