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Joppa is an eastern suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is bounded on the north by the coast of the Firth of Forth, on the west by Portobello of which it was a suburb when Portobello was a burgh, to the south by the open area south of Milton Road and to the east by Musselburgh in East Lothian. The name "Joppa" is of biblical origin, referring to the port of Jaffa in Israel, and was first bestowed on this part of Edinburgh in the 18th century (apparently because, like its namesake, it sits next to the sea).
Joppa is now largely residential, but salt was once produced from seawater by evaporation at Joppa Pans. Practically nothing remains of the industrial buildings but Rockville, formerly the owner's/manager's house and now a hotel and Rock Cottage. Some light industry has operated from the area near the former railway station in Brunstane Road and at Eastfield. Many of the larger houses near the seafront date from early nineteenth century, with extensive later areas further inland built up in the mid-twentieth century.
While the last cable cars were in use in Edinburgh, a line ran through to Joppa, where it connected with the Musselburgh electric tram line. The two lines joined together in 1923 when the Edinburgh system was converted to electricity, and through trams then ran from Levenhall in Musselburgh to Waterloo Place in Edinburgh. Joppa's skyline is dominated by the 165 ft spire of Portobello and Joppa Parish Church (formerly St Philip's Church), situated on the corner of Brunstane Road North. It is built from Binny Stone in the Early Decorated style by John Honeyman (1831–1914) and was completed in 1877. On 2 December 1998, a fire destroyed the roof and much of the interior. It has since been fully restored.
On 16 October 1939, the Luftwaffe made a daylight air raid up the Forth to bomb British warships (HMS Edinburgh, HMS Mohawk and HMS Southampton) at Rosyth. This was the first daylight air raid in the United Kingdom. Houses in Morton Street and Brunstane Road North were damaged as a result. The German pilots shot down during the raid were buried, following a ceremony at St Philip's Church, in Portobello Cemetery which lies on Milton Road East. They were the first enemy casualties of the Second World War to be buried on British soil.
The main attractions are now the Joppa Rocks, for their geological interest, and Portobello Beach on the seafront. In 1789, Christopher Girtanner is noted as having a "salt manufactory" at Joppa Pans.
Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it was a town in its own right, it is officially a residential suburb of Edinburgh. The promenade fronts onto a wide sandy beach.
Portobello Sands were used at that time by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott was their quartermaster. While riding in a charge in 1802 he was kicked by a horse and confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel.[2] The Scots Magazine in 1806 noted that the lands were "a perfect waste covered almost entirely with whins or furze". Portobello grew into a bathing resort, and in 1807 new salt-water baths at the foot of Bath Street and Regent Street were erected at a cost of £5,000. In 1822, a visit of King George IV to Scotland organised by Scott included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the dunes.
Before Portobello had a promenade and public beach, there was only a belt of dry sand between the firmer sand of the beach and the private properties adjoining the shore. Access to the beach was restricted by these property holders, as Sir William Rae discovered in 1842 when he tried to gain access to his favourite section for bathing. The proprietor of a villa adjoining the shore had extended his garden to include the sand and had built a wall leading right down to the sea. Sir William, a former Lord Advocate, viewed this as interfering with his right of way, as a private citizen and as an officer of the Crown. After legal action over several years and an appeal right up to the House of Lords,[6] the proprietor and his neighbours were forced in July 1849 to demolish the walls they had erected. Fifteen years later, Portobello Town Council began to build the Promenade, so securing public access to the beach along its two miles (three kilometres).
Portobello became industrialized in the 19th century, manufacturing bricks ("Portobello brick"), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap and mustard. Joppa to the east was important as a salt producer.
In 1833 the town was made a burgh, and jointly with Leith and Musselburgh, it was represented by one member of Parliament. Then in 1896 Portobello was incorporated into Edinburgh by Act of Parliament.[8] The Scotsman in 1912 noted that "It was by the provisions of the Edinburgh Extension Act of 1895 under which Portobello was amalgamated with the city, that Edinburgh gave an undertaking to build and maintain the town hall in Portobello, and in February of this year the Corporation decided to implement the bargain". A formidable red-brick power station was built in 1923 at the west end of the beach. It was extended by Ebenezer James MacRae) in 1938, and operated until 1977 when it was closed. It was demolished in the following 18 months.
Between 1846 and 1964 a railway station provided access for visitors to the resort, whose facilities came to include a large open-air swimming pool, heated by waste from the power station. The actor Sean Connery once worked there as a lifeguard. The pool was closed in 1979. There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent funfair, which closed in 2007 and was eventually demolished too.