Fresh slice of life as it was back then

The Royal Mile: A Hidden History ****
Scottish Storytelling Centre

EDINBURGH, like most cities, is constantly being built and rebuilt. In some ways it's remarkable that so much of it is as unchanged as it is.

For all the march of progress and modernism, historic Edinburgh has been largely preserved, proof of which can be seen in the photography exhibition in the Scottish Storytelling Centre until the end of July.

A single wall in the Centre contains memories captured on paper, from between 1850 and 1930, in a single street – The Royal Mile. There are fewer people wandering the cobbled streets than now, and almost no motor vehicles, but it's still obviously Edinburgh. Not only a testament to the architects and builders of the old town, but also to those responsible for its maintenance and restoration.

The photographs are separated into three sections, labelled Life, Characters and Places. In each, the Royal Mile is of course the common theme, but scrutinised closely, all the pictures contain something of each category.

John Wright, the then manager at the Canongate Poorhouse is quoted as saying, "I think in 3 tenements we had 470 families; which all might be said to be in a state of destitution." Certainly, the view from the back of some tenements seems austere and cold – giving them a gloomy character all their own.

Cloth-capped gents and short trousered schoolboys stare at a burst water mains gushing into the air, while the hand-cart, pick-axe and spade of absent workmen lay idle by dug up cobblestones. In the background, familiar steps still in use today in the Lawnmarket stand astride Ramages Dairy and a Public Bar. It's a scene that could easily be re-enacted today, with only a few details changed.

This Hidden History also reveals a few lesser known facts. For example, in names like Gladstone's Land and Brodie's Land, the word 'land' was an old word for tenement. Elsewhere, the reasons for certain streets being built are revealed: Cockburn Street, for one, was intended to ease access to Waverley Station.

While some of the characters definitely belong to that era, the archetypes will live on. The Buckie wife, selling whelks and mussels by the pavements of the Canongate, or the draymen outside Cockburn Street's City Hotel. One of the most striking characters must be the Chaplinesque old blind beggar, standing in the road, bowler on his head, walking cane is his fingerless gloved hand.

Herbert Parkin, a character known to locals as The Old Fiddler, sits for the camera in front of a painted portrait of him with his dog. The photo is one of several by Francis M. Chrystal, one of a number of featured photographers. A little is said about these photographers, and while it would have been fascinating to learn more about them, it wouldn't have been nearly so engaging or focused an exhibition.

Looking very much to quality over quantity, with excellent results, this exhibition is enthralling. Endless stories leap from these ancient, sepia images into the imagination of even the most casual viewer, and while the internet might carry millions of perfectly interesting pictures, there's still nothing to match the storytelling powers of a proper photograph.