Friends of Hopetoun Crescent Garden

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The Garden from 1822 to 2003

Part of Hope's Garden was sold off and built on: James Grant in 1883 described the degeneration since 1822 thus: "a species of desolate waste ground, enclosed by a rusty iron railing, with here and there an old tree dying of neglect and decay till at length innovations swept it away". ("Old and New Edinburgh Volume" 3 1883). This degradation of the remaining land continued with broken glass, tipped rubbish, dog crap etc etc making the area virtually unusable; and by the 1990s there was only a miserable scrap of wasteland where once there had been a pioneering Botanic Garden. The City Council took over this piece of land and in 1995 Tim Puntis, a member of staff at Drummond Community HS, and some students made a valiant attempt to breathe new life into it, installing bird-nesting boxes. The real transformation came in 1998 when local people brought the problem to the attention of The Local Initiatives Team within the Council who agreed to investigate opportunities for this space.

Design and Inspiration

The design for the Garden (of just under an acre {3684 square metres}) was drawn up and public meetings and exhibitions held to obtain the opinion and suggestions of the local community. With funding from the Council's Local Area Improvement budget and generous support from Lothian & Edinburgh Enterprise Limited the work started on site.

The idea behind the garden design was to create a green oasis in the Hopetoun area promoting the space both as an urban wildlife garden and a pleasant place for residents. Reinstatement of the railings and gates greatly helped in preventing tipping. Some diseased and dangerous trees were felled to make way for new species, which were chosen to reflect the site’s history as the former location of the Botanic Gardens. Species such as the Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucararia araucana) were selected as the first British specimen had been collected and imported from Chile in 1795 by Archibald Menzies who had been one of John Hope’s students.

The site is now an important wildlife site within the city; many wild flowers and meadow grasses can be found here: some of the species to be found are Meadow Cranesbil, Self Heal, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Wild Strawberry, Wood Anemone, Bellflowers, Campion, Foxgloves and Ox-eye Daisies. The grass species, which in order to promote a diverse mix of flowers are to be allowed to grow to their full height and flower - also add to the valuable wildlife cycle: eg the Scottish Wildlife Trust have identified 2 bugs, Ribautiana scalaris and Lindbergina aurovittata, for which Hopetoun Crescent Garden is the only known site in the Lothians.

Some people think the Garden looks a mess - and on occasion it can! But think of it as an urban wildlife oasis and the perception is different. It was never meant to be a conventional 'neat and tidy' garden; walk through it slowly, with your eyes and mind open and you will see an amazing diversity of wild plants, flowers and grasses.

References: Hopetoun Village Action Plan, July 1999, City Development Department (City of Edinburgh Council). Hopetoun Broughton & Bellevue Community Directory, Edited by: Eileen Dickie & George Reiss (Reference copy can be seen at McDonald Road Library); Published by the City Development Department