Historical Tin City

During the period circa 1905-1970 a berry-picker accommodation site existed at Wester Essendy, Blairgowrie, Scotland. The site - known locally as Tin City because of the corrugated iron roofs of the dormitory buildings - was constructed to provide accommodation for temporary berry pickers. Although the provision of accommodation for berry-pickers is normal today, in the early 20th century the need to provide 'good' accommodation, catering and other facilities in order to attract berry-pickers from the cities during the picking season was a novel and experimental idea.

Notes on Tin City

A set of notes (format pdf) including photo's and diagrams on the experimental 'Tin City' berry-picker accommodation complex were assembled as part of the Scotland's Rural Past (SRP) project conducted by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) circa 2006-2011.

The notes, at RCAHMS, are here.

The following additional diagrams, maps and notes supplement the SRP project notes.

Static Maps of Tin City

These static maps were compiled from numerous sources but primarily by combining digitally geo-referenced maps and aerial photo's with field-survey and historical research.

(pending)

Dynamic Maps of Tin City

These dynamic maps, that are linked to a database, enable exploration ofindividual site features such as buildings, remains and artefact finds. Images are provided for many of the features. An installation of the free ArcReader software from ESRI is required (alas, ArcReader is a rather large progamme.) ArcReader can be downloaded here.

(pending)