The main picture is the Legal Plan prepared in 1765 with proposed new roads from Nether Bow (High Street, Edinburgh) to Newhaven and from Queens Ferry to Leith, clearly indicates the course of the Anker Burn flowing into the waters of the Forth at Ankerfield.

The Anker Burn rose near Goldenacre at Bangholm Bower, sometimes referred to as Bangholm Farm on older maps.  It followed a winding twisting course down to the sea.  ‘Anker’ is an old Scots word meaning just that, ‘a winding or hook-shaped watercourse’.

With its proximity to the sea, it is understandable how the name Anchorfield became the accepted norm of the area.

The burn flowed through mainly pastoral land. Opposite Victoria Park, there is a house built at an oblique angle to Newhaven Road where all the other houses are parallel as can be seen in the photo.  This was built in such a position to accomodate the burn running through its property.

From here, the stream ran downwards following roughly the route of Hawthornvale.  The railway that was built in the nineteenth century, now a pedestrian and cycle path, followed the course of the stream.