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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Lee Dalgetty

Fascinating Edinburgh film footage shows city bypass in construction

Footage filmed during the construction of the Edinburgh City Bypass has been found online, thanks to the family of TS Henderson.

Formerly of George Henderson & Co, who manufactured machines, TS Henderson built up an archive of film before he passed away which was given to his grandson - who is now sharing the digitally restored footage on YouTube.

The film shows various machines at work at the Bonaly and Dreghorn junctions. Andrew Lees, TS Hendersons grandson, said: “A small amount of footage I found on one of my grandads cine film reels.

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“Work on the Edinburgh Bypass started in 1980, and this footage is from around then. My grandad has died by then, so this will more than likely have been my dad using one of my grandads cine cameras up around what is now the Dreghorn and Bonaly Junctions.”

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The area shown is almost completely unrecognisable now, with the quiet farmland we see in the back of the film now seeing cars whizzing by round the clock. Built in sections from 1980, the last section of the bypass was completed in 1989 at the Gilmerton junction.

Connecting Scotland’s motorway network to the west and north with England, the bypass extends to 13 miles in length. According to records, the need for a southern bypass was recognised in the ‘60s though it took some time to come to fruition.

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