Last of Horse Wynd

Those who may be familar with some of the words and images that I share on hole ousia [a non-existent place] will be aware of my fascination with archives!

Archives, as silent as light, remind us that meaning does not exist unless you look for it.

In an archive, I came across this image:

This, a wooden figure of a man, who stood as a shop sign outside three different shops in Edinburgh. This  wooden figure dates from the 18th century and first stood at the door of a gardener’s shop in Edinburgh’s Canongate. This shop, on Horse Wynd, is possibly the one:

Edinburgh’s Horse Wynd has a fascinating history [see the 1928 newspaper account below].

Horse Wynd, mid-18th century:

Horse Wynd, early 19th century:

Horse Wynd, 1st Ordnance Survey, 1854:

Today: no physical vestiges of Horse Wynd survive. However,  it ‘lives on’ in a different physical form:

Like Patrick Geddes, I would like to be remembered [silent as light] as a gardener.