#doune

Doune Castle, Castle Hill, Doune, UK

Edinburgh Rock - the accidental sweetie.

I’ve done the anniversary posts for today so time for a couple of fillers, and what better filler can you get than sweeties!? 

I was “rummaging” through an  Post Office Edinburgh and Leith directory' which  is an excellent resource for researching Scotland's family, trade, and town history. It has lots of adverts for old businesses and this one caught my eye.

Confectioner Alexander Ferguson  was born in 1798 in Doune, Perthshire, and came to be popularly known as “Sweetie Sandy”, Sandy being a name derived from Alexander.

It’s said that Sandy developed a love of making sweets at a tender age, much to the annoyance of his father who had wanted his son to pursue a more traditional trade such as joinery.

Undeterred, Sandy left home and sought out employment at a confectioner’s in Glasgow and later moved to the Capital, where he established his very own business in 1837.

One of myriad Edinburgh confectioners in Edinburgh in the 19th century, Ferguson’s firm was based at Melbourne Place, then part of George IV Bridge, a Hotel now takes up much of the space where it once stood in The Old Town.

 They specialised in wholesale confectionery, including the manufacture of boiled sugar sweets, lozenge production and Edinburgh Rock. 

If you haven’t tried it, don’t confuse it with the lettered sticks that are synonymous with the likes of Blackpool, Edinburgh Rock was packaged in distinctive tartan boxes, had a crumbly texture and came in a variety of pastel colours, it sort of melts in your mouth, they come in either wee chunks, but you can also get longer sticks, as seen in the photos

It is said that Ferguson’s recipe for Edinburgh Rock came about by complete accident.

The story goes that the budding confectioner had left a batch of newly-completed sweets in an open box and forgotten about them. Several months later, when he happened upon the desiccated results, Ferguson is said to have loved the taste so much that he decided to make more using similar techniques.

Alexander’s Edinburgh rock is an amalgamation of whipped egg whites, Edinburgh root, vanilla extract, and sugar and cream of tartar. It is often flavoured with ginger or lemon.

Unsurprisingly, the production of Edinburgh Rock made Ferguson a very wealthy man. In later years, he returned home to Doune to retire where he was remembered with great fondness for his generosity in supplying local kids with all the sweets they desired from his own pockets.

In the early 20th century, Edinburgh poet John Walter Oliver wrote this piece in homage to the unique confection:

Quelle est cette odeur agreeable That’s wafted on the air? The perfume of Arabia Cannot with it compare What makes the crowds of Melbourne Place With wide stretched nostrils flock? Its Ferguson who’s boiling up His Edinburgh rock”

Melbourne Place remained the home for Ferguson’s factory in Edinburgh up until 1959, when the firm relocated and merged with biscuit makers McVitie’s.

The building which once housed Ferguson’s was demolished in 1967 to make way for new council offices.