In 1983 Wester Hailes Representative Council produced a special map of the area which showed in impressive graphic detail every individual block of housing and the whole range of community facilities that existed at the time. Drawn by Rolando Ugolini it’s more than just a map, it’s a very valuable social history document and a little work of art in its own right.
Previously, we’ve shown some sections from this map on the blog but we can now let you see the whole of it and at a much better level of quality. Also, if you click on it and scroll you’ll be able to zoom into specific parts to look at them more closely. Very many thanks to Kathie from Malcolm Fraser Architects who undertook the technical wizardry to make this happen and Eoghan Howard who arranged it all on our behalf.
And here’s a few photos from our archive to accompany it. The first shows the bypass under construction (in 1983 you’ll see from the map that it was still only at the proposed route stage). In the immediate background is Wesburn Grove and just beyond that a couple of the multis and some of the four storey housing in Wester Hailes Drive.
This next one is an interior shot of the Cafe Venchie…
And finally, one of the Westburn Gardens multis, we think this is probably block one on the map (the block itself may be long gone but the fences are still here!)…
From There... To Here 