Overview of Granton

A seaport suburb of Edinburgh, Granton lies on the Firth of Forth, 2½ miles (4 km) to the north of the city centre. Its development as a seaport dates from 1836 when the building of a harbour was initiated by Walter, 5th Duke of Buccleuch (1806-84) on his Caroline Park property. Designed by the engineer Robert Stevenson, the harbour provided an important link with Fife and the north, the world's first train-ferry, the Leviathan, operating between Granton and Burntisland from 1850. Designed by Sir Thomas Bouch (1822-90), builder of the ill-fated Tay Rail Bridge, the complex series of ramps created to load and unload carriages had to accommodate the sizeable tidal range of the Firth of Forth. A coaling jetty was built in 1937 and car and passenger ferry services continued until the building of the Forth Road Bridge in 1964. The home of the Royal Forth Yacht Club, Granton was once the base for a large fishing fleet. The Granton Gas Works industrial complex, which now receives gas from the North Sea, dates from 1898, its massive gasometers being erected in 1902, 1933 and 1966. The redundant gasometers were demolished in 2004.