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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
David McLean

Incredible interactive new website brings parts of Edinburgh back to life

A fascinating new website has been set up telling the history of Leith as we've never quite seen it before.

Using historic street maps, vintage photos, newspaper clippings, post office directory data, and people's own memories, Old Leith Rediscovered allows locals to explore Edinburgh's famous port as it was at the end of the 19th century.

The interactive site features a zoomable version of Charles Goad's 1892 Fire Insurance Plan of Leith, which captured the streets and structures of the old Leith in extraordinary detail, giving information on everything from the names of businesses, what they did there and the construction materials used in individual buildings.

READ MORE: The legendary Edinburgh theme pub where drinkers struggled to find the toilets

The Goad map is overlaid on a current map of the city of Edinburgh so that you can see how the 1892 Leith compares with the modern-day version.

Premises noted on the map are brought back to life with the inclusion of clickable points of interest that display historic photographs, news reports and information relevant to the time in question.

Users can also select by building type, and have the ability to highlight old Leith's many pubs, banks and restaurants at the click of a button.

Spearheaded by the Living Memory Association in partnership with the Spirit of Leithers Facebook community and the National Library of Scotland, the Old Leith Rediscovered project was made possible thanks to financial support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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Material on the site was collated by Fraser Parkinson, Rhona Alcorn, and Vasilis Karaiskos.

Fraser Parkinson, who is an administrator of the Spirit of Leithers Facebook page, said: "The team, Rhona Alcorn, Vasilis Karaiskos and myself have worked hard along with The Living Memory Association to complete this project and get it on line for people to enjoy. We are over the moon with the outcome. One big issue was what we had to leave out! One of our drivers was sharing Leith's amazing history in an accessible and interesting way. "

"This project has been a superb collaboration between The Living Memory Association and the Spirit of Leithers Facebook page and shows how joint working can bring to life ideas that benefit all. The Spirit of Leithers have always wanted to build bridges across the globe and hopefully we are continuing to do that.

"We also hope that we will encourage people to visit Leith and that their experience of Leith will be enhanced by being able to look up information on Old Leith Rediscovered. Leith is very much a must see when visiting Scotland."

You can visit the Old Leith Rediscovered website here.

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