A history of nature
play in the Old Town
Tour notes
At the beginning of the 20th C, Edinburgh's Old Town
was an overcrowded area of poverty and hardship
where many children were left in airless single rooms,
or on the streets, while their parents worked. The
walking tour illustrates two inspiring movements which
gave local children care and stimulation through
gardens and play in the outdoors.
Patrick Geddes and the Outlook Tower
Open Spaces Committee
Patrick Geddes (1854 - 1932), environmentalist,
biologist, educationalist, social reformer and town
planner was responsible for regeneration in some
areas of the Old Town. He developed the current
Camera Obscura in Castlehill as an innovative
education centre called the Outlook Tower, which
among other activities promoted arts and crafts and
the use of open spaces for children's gardens. This
latter work was organised by the Outlook Tower Open
Spaces Committee, which in 1909 - 10 organised a
survey of open spaces in the Old Town; they found 75
sites, mainly gap sites and waste ground, suitable for
children's gardens, and set about transforming around
a dozen of these sites, mostly around Johnston
Terrace and the Grassmarket. Lady supervisors
would organise play in the afternoons.
Two of the gardens were cultivated by Castlehill
A lady supervisor and children in Castle Wynd
Children's Garden around 1910. Photo courtesy of
Strathclyde University Archives
0131 444 1725
School teachers and students, who grew an
impressive range of vegetables which were then
used by the girls in cookery classes.
The Free Kindergarten Movement
The Edinburgh Free Kindergarten, opened by a
private trust in Galloway's Entry in the Canongate in
1903, was the first nursery in Scotland. It moved to
the old mansion in Reid's Court in 1906. Saint
Saviour's Child Garden Nursery opened in 1906, first
in dark and unwelcoming Brown's Close, until they
moved to a flat in Chessels Court, with its own
private garden, in 1908.
By 1912, there were five free kindergartens offering
free childcare in the Old Town, in the main headed
by teachers with the Higher Froebel Certificate. A
very important part of their curriculum was learning
and play in the outdoors, and all of them taught
children to garden and care for animals.
"The crowning glory of the place is the garden, and
the story of how that was made from waste ground
used as a rubbish heap. A little plot has been made
and a few seeds sown in the waste places of the
Canongate, and it is to become a garden for work
and play. Children plant flowers, water them, hail
joyfully a newly opened bud, and also keep their
garden clear of rubbish."
A visitor's report, quoted in Diary of a Free
Kindergarten, by Lileen Hardy, 1912
Saint Saviour's Child Garden Nursery, Chessels
Court, around 1910. Photo from Diary of a Free
Kindergarten. Photo now out of copyright
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Want to know more?
HISTORICAL
Royal Mile history
Holyrood and Canongate: a thousand years of
history by E Patricia Dennison, Birrlinn, 2005
Very readable history from 1100s - present.
The People's Story Museum in the Canongate is a
great source of information about how ordinary
people have lived in the Royal Mile.
Greenyonder's walking tour 'Hidden Gardens of the
Royal Mile' features more about the history of the
Old Town as well as several more modern
community gardens.
www.greenyondertours.com/hiddengardens
Patrick Geddes
The Patrick Geddes Trust website is an excellent
source of information, and suggests lots of further
reading. www.patrickgeddes.co.uk
A Vigorous Institution: the living legacy of Patrick
Geddes, introduced and edited by Walter Stephen,
Luath Press, 2007. Selection of Geddes-inspired
work going on today.
Geddes' regeneration work in the Old Town
One chapter in A Vigorous Institution contains a
useful introduction to Geddes' regeneration work in
Edinburgh's Old Town: Through a Glass, Clearly:
behind the photographs of the First Survey of
Edinburgh by Patrick Geddes, by Sofia Leonard.
Greenyonder's walking tour 'By Leaves We Live'
features more about Geddes and community
gardening today. Check details on
www.greenyondertours.com/byleaves
0131 444 1725
The Free Kindergarten Movement
Diary of a Free Kindergarten by Lileen Hardy,
1912 A wonderful account about setting up Saint
Saviours Child Garden Nursery in the Canongate,
by the head teacher. Lots of insight into the
children and how they responded to the daily life
of the kindergarten. (Now out of print although
reprints can be ordered online. Reference copy
available from Edinburgh Public Library.)
The History of Edinburgh's Early Nursery Schools,
by A.M.M.Swanson, British Association for Early
Childhood Education (Edinburgh Branch), 1975
Traces the history of the first half of the 20th C,
from free kindergartens to the role of the
education authority. Interviews with several
nursery teachers involved. (Reference copy
available from Edinburgh Public Library.)
A FEW CURRENT INITIATIVES
Scottish Wildlife Trust have managed Johnston
Terrace Urban Wildlife Garden since the mid1980s as a demonstration wildlife garden. Keys
are avaliable from the Reserve Manager for
community use. www.swt.org.uk
The Patrick Geddes Gardening Club is a group
of residents and others interested in gardening in
the Old Town. Their main achievement so far has
been to help make Granny's Green into a pleasant
green space in the Grassmarket. They hope to
encourage more community gardens in public
areas and gap sites.
Federation of City Farms and Community
Gardens www.farmgarden.org.uk
Trellis www.trellisscotland.org.uk/
Scottish charity that supports the use of
horticulture to improve well-being.
www.greenyondertours.com
[email protected]