Moffat Miners in Edinburgh Scotland

The Moffats and the McLeans came from Scotland. The McLeans are from the islands in the west on the other side of Glasgow and we didn't have time to go there. But Scotty McLean met us in Edinburgh to show us where the Moffats lived for generations as coal miners.




First we stopped off for a delicious Scottish breakfast.




The coal mines have all closed down and the many villages and settlements that the Moffats lived in are now just street names and neighborhoods in the suburbs of Edinburgh, so we headed to the mining museum at Newtongrange that is right in the middle of where they lived.


At the museum we learned that before 1850, the miners were treated like slaves, with no rights and no benefits. It is no wonder that David Moffat became a sailor for a time to get away. But sailors were treated even worse so he came back. The lovely houses that surround the old mines today were built after the Moffats left, as a result of social reforms. These old abandoned rock houses we passed on the bus may be the type of house they lived in.


Until the reforms when the mine owners had to provide benefits for the miners, they went home dirty and bathed there every evening.


Janet Leishman, who married into the family, was a maid in a household and probably was responsible for the laundry.


Out in the countryside, there was no entertainment except for taverns. David Moffat said he had trouble giving up liquor after he joined the church.


The mining companies built houses such as these for the miners after the Moffats joined the church and came to the USA.


This old church is on Hunterfield Road in Gorebridge. Hunterfield is the name of the branch of the church that the Moffats belonged to in the 1840's and 50's before they came to America and pushed handcarts across the plains to Utah.


The street sign at this corner points to a school that is named after one of the settlements where the Moffats lived, Stobhill.


These are examples of old buildings in Gorebridge that may have been there when the Moffats lived nearby.


If the Moffats went into Edinburgh, these are some things they would have seen. The Sir Walter Scott monument...


lots of castle looking buildings...






lots of kilts...


little alley ways called "closes"...


and of course, a tavern or two. We ate upstairs at this one.


Don't ask us what is in haggis, the national dish. It wasn't too bad.


The rest of the meal was heavenly.