Thanks for this additional information. I didn't know there was an Andrew Hillcoat as I thought it was Anthony who did 'walkies' over the border. I need to go back and check some more, but I thought the first pottery was in Prestonpans, then another in Musselburgh, and then I believe Portobello (as you note) and then maybe Leith...this latter could be doubtful, however. It's a bit daunting to go ferreting around the myriad Hillcoat names I have, beginning 1645 with Thomas Hillcoat, Newcastle, potter. I think also, apart from brickworks, that Prestonpans/Portobello Hillcoat pottery produced roof and drain tiles, not fine pottery as such: http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/scottish_pottery.pdf On Google there is a Hillcoat Place, Portobello, Edinburgh. I suppose Portobello is now considered an annex, if you will, of Edinburgh, but when I lived in Glasgow, Portobello was a separate district entirely. Is it a stretch to think that this Hillcoat Place was named after the potter? I remember the Portobello Swimming pool when travelling en route to visit relatives In Mid Calder, Midlothian. Was it called the Lido, or am I thinking of some other place, maybe on the Clyde? After the Hillcoat East coast pottery works closed (?), some Hillcoats are to be found in Paisley, Renfrewshire, and then in potteries in Glasgow. Jenny Myers on this list has Keith relatives who lived in the same tenement in Townhead, Glasgow as one of my Hillcoat relatives, before both transferred to the pottery in Rutherglen (South Lanarkshire) where they also lived in the same tenement building. I still can't get over this coincidence, and then that another lister sent us a photograph of the Townhead tenement where Jenny's Keith and my Hillcoat greats lived! I really appreciate that you have kept Hillcoat in mind to forward this information to me. Maisie From: G Russell Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 3:23 PM To: Maisie Egger ; lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Your Relatives - the Hillcoat Potters Hi Maisie, I found another reference to your potter relatives - in a wee book on the history of Portobello potteries :- In a text by William Baird (complete reference available) on the uses of the site of what was Portobello Pottery (latterly operated by A.W. Buchan and others he says 'Originally built by Andrew Hilcoat about 1786 , we find it about forty years afterwards converted into a soap works' Mr Hilcoat owned the brickworks on the north west side of the Figgate Burn, on which site, this century (20th ?) the Open Air Swimming Pool (famous in Portobello ! Sean Connery was the life guard ) was constructed., that too has gone and a sports complex now occupies this site. So, by 1786 he must have moved his business from Musselburgh to Portobello !!! Progress !!! G Russell ---
George, Maisie et al, No doubt George, you have the article of the Northern Ceramic Soc. Journal Vol. 25 2008-2009 by Denis Ayers? This is a broad spectrum of potteries and much or their history. Denis also sent me many photos of items unearthed at some of the 'digs'. You should have my family info sent to you in 2010; from this I am still trying to find from where my John KEITH and named wife Margaret SMITH came from to be living in Edinburgh c1830s where their son Thomas b c1837 names Stockbridge as his place of birth on all census. To date I have no confirmation of Thomas' birth/bapt. c1837, it is not on SP, were they Episcopalian? Did the family move north to the potteries in Midlothian from the clay pans in Co. Durham as there are many KEITHs to be found in the early records of that county? Again, following the trail of Maisie's HILLCOATS > Midlothian > Townhead > Rutherglen etc. Another of my hurdles is BRASS BANDS....I believe Thomas and his sons all played brass! In Denis' article there is a photograph of the Melling Brass Band in Lancaster; Melling being another pottery where Thomas was moved to when working at Murray's Caledonian in Rutherglen. This family were also in the Rutherglen Burgh Brass Band, did this band also have ties to the Caledonian? I have the names of the potteries in Kirkcaldy FIF but as to which is the correct one Thomas was working at in 1891 I have no idea. When you find children born in differing places it is in some cases very easy to follow the occupation and named companies where their employment might have been. This is the case with Thomas KEITH b c1837 Stockbridge (mar Janet McQUEEN), and his son Thomas b 1861 Weaver St Townhead (mar Annie Freebairn BEVERIDGE)... Maisie, somehow I think we were destined to meet each other, our families always living close to each other as found on census and then finding the same on the Valuation Rolls available from SP. Regards Jenny -----Original Message----- From: Maisie Egger via Subject: Re: [Lanark] Your Relatives - the Hillcoat Potters It's a bit daunting to go ferreting around the myriad Hillcoat names I have, beginning 1645 with Thomas Hillcoat, Newcastle, potter. I think also, apart from brickworks, that Prestonpans/Portobello Hillcoat pottery produced roof and drain tiles, not fine pottery as such: http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/scottish_pottery.pdf After the Hillcoat East coast pottery works closed (?), some Hillcoats are to be found in Paisley, Renfrewshire, and then in potteries in Glasgow. Jenny Myers on this list has Keith relatives who lived in the same tenement in Townhead, Glasgow as one of my Hillcoat relatives, before both transferred to the pottery in Rutherglen (South Lanarkshire) where they also lived in the same tenement building. I still can't get over this coincidence, and then that another lister sent us a photograph of the Townhead tenement where Jenny's Keith and my Hillcoat greats lived! I really appreciate that you have kept Hillcoat in mind to forward this information to me. Maisie From: G Russell Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 3:23 PM To: Maisie Egger ; lanark@rootsweb.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus