The Portobello Claypits

Before Figgate Park was created there were claypits that provided clay for the local brickworks and the Buchan Pottery in Portobello. These clay pits continued north to the area that is now Telferton Industrial Estate and the Craigentinny Telferton Allotments. The area around the claypits became a Victorian landfill tip as well as an area where ash from the brickworks and bottle works was dumped. The Friends Groups know this so well as we have unearthed piles of broken bottles and pottery especially throughout the area that is now the wildflower meadow. The black ash is very evident in the bank between the burn and the Craigentinny Train Depot (in an area we call the “Wilderness’) as over recent years a population of black rabbits have dug their burrow here and exposed the black ash.