Comments on: Investigating Grange House

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Thanks for your comment Alex, it must have changed a lot since then!

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Used to live in Causewayside and my Grandmother used to tell us stories of when she and her friends would pinch apples from the Grange Estate!!!! That must be going back to the early 1900′s!

By: Bewitched in Lovers’ Loan. « Tychy

Bewitched in Lovers’ Loan. « Tychy — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:51:48 +0000

[...] by their mystery and loneliness. The enchantment of these suburbs is most perceptible in “Lovers’ Loan,” a walled pathway which winds its way for about a third of a mile past the Grange cemetery and [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:52:06 +0000

I haven’t come across any references to Grange House as a school, sorry. We were feeling brave that day and could see the owners working in their garden, so just went and asked them about the outbuildings.

If you do find the photos I would be interested in seeing them, thanks!

By: Evelyn

Evelyn — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:32:39 +0000

I was brought up in Dalrymple Crescent, and pretty much always knew of the existence of Grange House. What I didn’t know until doing some family history research recently was that it was at one point a school – seminary, in one of the records I found. The Principal in 1861 was John Dalgleish, while his son Walter was a teacher there. By 1862 Walter had become vice Principal. I wonder if you have found any information on the house as a school?

(Incidently Walter married Charlotte Hill, daughter of David Octavius Hill RSA. DOH’s sister was a great great grandmother of mine, and my grandmother was named for Charlotte)

Despite living so close to the supposed entrance to Grange House on the corner of Dick Place and Lauder Road, I never went along the loan to the old outbuildings. I do regret that now. I am hoping that somewhere in my possession is the photo album my mother kept of buildings of interest in the Grange (after 1953) as I am sure there are photos of the old buildings along the loan. ( I always assumed I wasn’t allowed to go along there as it was private! Parents do tell some stories sometimes!) If I find them will let you know, but it could be a while till I can find the right box!

By: andy

andy — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:36:02 +0000

Thanks for your comment Amy! There seems to have been plenty of confusion in the past about whether the wyverns on Grange Loan are wyverns or griffins. They definitely are wyverns though, and are thought to relate to the Seton family who married into the Dick Lauder family in the 18th century - a wyvern appearing on the Seton arms. I've found the photo of the wyvern pillars in the gardens, it's in "The Grange Of St. Giles" by Jane Stewart Smith, which you can download as a PDF from here. Interestingly though the caption for the photo is "The Griffin Gateway and Old North Entrance at The Grange", but the photo definitely shows the wyvern pillars in a garden setting. In one there is clearly a hill or terracing rising in the background, which would position them at the south end of the estate - ie at the Grange Loan side. I wonder now if there ever were griffin gateposts, or if it's just as a result of confusion regarding the wyvern pillars.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:35:14 +0000

Hello! I was interested to read of your research into Grange House – coincidentally, Grange House is appearing in my postgraduate university dissertation, currently under construction and due in two weeks. There is an excellent book published by The Grange Association in 1982, ‘The Grange: A Case for Conservation’ – I found it in my university library, however I would presume the National Library of Scotland or Ed City Library will have a copy. Quite a few maps appear in it – although I don’t believe I’ve seen the 1849 map before, nice detective work! Page 90 of the book states that there is a photograph in a late nineteenth century book which shows the wyverns and their distinctive pillars situated in the gardens of the house, and suggests that the gateway actually showed griffins, as in the Lauder family arms. Grange House first appeared in my research with a set of heraldic panels which were loaned to National Museums Scotland in 1936 – they were later purchased by the museum, but currently languish in storage and will probably be inaccessible for some time now, although I was fortunate enough to examine them earlier this year. The other historic note is that there was also a convent of St Catherine of Siena on Grange lands, which was wrecked at the Reformation in 1560. The association remains with some street names and the area of Sciennes. Hope this is of some interest to you!