Gardners Crescent

Gardners Crescent, Edinburgh. A beautiful Georgian terrace forming a half crescent, originally planned as a circus around a planned communal garden. Like many of the gardens in Edinburgh’s New Town, the garden had shared ownership by the residents of the crescent.

The crescent lies to the far west of the Edinburgh New Town and in the lands that had once been used for market gardening. In 1722 an organisation known as ‘The Society and Fraternity of Gardeners in the Shire of Midlothian’ was established and its members were mostly prominent businessmen who owned property in the Fountainbridge district. Their membership was seen as an opportunity for profitable investment through the tenancy of land in their possession. In 1722 the Society rented land including the area occupied by the Gardner’s Hall, which when demolished in 1821 allowed for the building of the existing Gardners Crescent.

The area now has an active community group who are working to restore the street and its gardens according to the original designs.