Museum of Fire

Today was Open Doors day in Edinburgh - freebies, woo hoo! Mr Dazed and I planned to go to Surgeon's Hall as neither of us has ever been, but trooped up there only to discover that it was booked appointments only, darnit. A quick scan on my phone and we decided to investigate the Museum of Fire on Lauriston Place instead.

It was very interesting, lots of old fire engines and various other contraptions, uniforms, photos, badges, medals etc etc. This fire engine was from Musselburgh - I think from the 1930's! Check out the hand crank at the front.

I particularly liked the information that back in the 19th century there were four fire stations in Edinburgh and they were based on hills north, south, east and west of the Old Town so that firemen could run downhill to fires. They pulled the pump down with them and had to basically hang on to ropes to halt it, which resulted in a lot of injuries and broken bones, and two deaths.

Afterwards, if someone with a horse could be persuaded to hitch it to the pump and drag it back up the hill, the firemen had special dispensation to stop in every pub on the way up! Very Edinburgh eh? Members of the public would also assist in chains, passing water to the pump, and they would be refreshed with beer as they did so. It's amazing how people will leap to assist when free beer is offered as an incentive :-)

Worth a visit, if you have the chance.