Orchard Street

Laid out after Forth Street (1811) but before Thomas Oliver's map of 1830. Developed around 1817 when the orchard ground on the site of the town wall ditch was divided into 12 plots by Thomas Anderson, lessee under the Corporation. The plots were let to individuals with licences to build buildings. For 2/6d the new tenants could build structures against the town wall. The new street was laid out to serve these plots, on the outer lip of the town ditch. Oliver's map of 1830 shows the plots as built. Orchard Street and South Street were the first of a series of north-south streets to be laid out on the south side of Forth Street. Mackenzie noted that both were 'filled with manufactories, and the houses of their proprietors, overseers, or workmen'. These included a vinegar works and aerated water plant (HER 10200) which had a well in the yard, possibly taking water from the infilled town ditch. The Telegraph Inn (HER 10205), which was in existence by 1859, was rebuilt in 1896.