The Fettes College Grounds
The information contained here has been based on primary research undertaken
by Alexia Lindsay, the College archivist, using source material held by the
College. Additional research has also been undertaken by the Turnbull Jeffrey
Partnership using information from the National Map Library and the Royal
Commission of Ancient and Historic Monuments in Scotland (RCAHMS).
Acquisition of the Site for the College
In 1800 Sir William Fettes bought part of an estate at Comely Bank from Sir
Phillip Ainslie of Pilton. At this time the estate comprised open farmland to
the north west of the first Edinburgh New Town. The Ordnance Survey of 1852
(Figure 2) shows that a farm existed on what is now the southwestern boundary of
the College. Nurseries and orchards were located at Comely Bank and although
Comely Bank, Ferry Road and Crewe Road South existed at this time, East Fettes
Avenue did not. To the east the botanical gardens and an 'Experimental Garden'
were in existence but were not as extensive as now.
The estate was bounded to the west by a road (now known as Crewe Road South)
but included a small area of land to the west of this road that was
leased for 99 years. The Governors leased land so as the Poor House (2
stone buildings of W. G. Hosp.) was not adjacent to the road. If built alongside
road germs might have come over the wall. The broad main drive was built by the
Trustees to give access to the Poor House so as not to incur them in extra
expense.
The Fettes estate also extended down to Comely Bank, but apparently not up to
Ferry Road at this time. Following the death of Sir William Fettes, the trustees
of the proposed new College acquired additional land extending up to part of
Inverleith Row with the intention of developing this for housing. This
acquisition included Inverleith House. Due to a slump in the housing market,
this land was never developed however, and by the 1880's the Royal Botanical
Gardens extended onto part of this land.
The Building of the College
The College was designed by David Bryce 1863-1870 and has been described as
his."Scottish baronial-French Gothic masterpiece"(1). The foundation
stone was laid on 25th June 1864. Although the College building was
not opened to its first pupils until 1870, thought had already gone into the
design of the grounds prior to the start of the construction of the building and
planting works were begun as early as 1863.
The Original Designed Landscape
The grounds were designed by Archibald Campbell Swinton, an Edinburgh lawyer
and Governor of the new College, with plans being produced in June 1863.
Although the original plans of the College grounds were lost, the 1877 Ordnance
Survey records the main features of the designed landscape (Figure 3).
The 1877 Ordnance Survey plan shows the strong, simple geometry of the
design. At the time of the opening of the College, the designed landscape
surrounding the College building was bounded by Crewe Road South to the west and
Carrington Road to the south. East Fettes Avenue formed part of the eastern
boundary but at this time did not link with Ferry Road, terminating at the
junction with Inverleith Place. Fettes Avenue was laid out as part of the works.
The grounds were enclosed by iron railings on a stone plinth, these being
designed by Bryce and erected by 1874. Three principal points of access to the
College were planned. A single small lodge was designed by Bryce and built at
each of the entrance gates to the East and West Drives. The access from the
south appears to have been designed to give a grand pedestrian entrance, with an
ornate gate and a broad flight of steps being constructed up to the College. An
expansive gravel terrace surrounded the College to the south, west and east,
this being bordered by an ornate stone balustrade, both features designed by
Bryce.
Long belts of trees were aligned east-west immediately to the north of the
College and also to the south of the grass slopes from the gravel terrace.
Parallel tree belts with a broad grass strip between them formed a feature known
as the Green Walk. A semi-circular formal garden appears to have been laid out
within the eastern end of the lawns to the front of the College although this is
now no longer in existence. Woodlands were planted around each of the three
boarding houses present at this time. Avenues of trees were planted along the
east and west drives. The west avenue would have been particularly imposing,
comprising three rows of elm on each side of the drive and turning the corner at
the gravel terrace to link with formal gardens at the Headmaster's Lodge.
The planting works were undertaken between 1863 and 1866 and careful
consideration appears to have gone into the choice of species and the planting
specification. James McNab from the Royal Botanic Garden was brought in to
oversee the planting works, commenting that ....the number of trees and
shrubs stated in the specification amounts to 14008, the number now on the
ground is 16071...these having been put in to make some of the more exposed
parts pretty thick at first.' (2) A diverse range of tree species was
planted with sycamore, elm, beech, horse chestnut, lime and Norway maple forming
the dominant species within the woodland blocks. Evergreens such as Scots and
Corsican Pine also formed the original woodland plantings and more ornamental
species such as walnut, whitebeam and sweet chestnut tended to be planted as
specimen trees. Laurel, holly and yew formed understorey plantings.
Ornamental design features were few, these being restricted to gardens at the
Headmaster's Lodge and lawns and shrubberies associated with the Boarding
Houses. A sundial, reputedly dating from 1642 and originally from Warriston
House, was moved from the terrace of Inverleith House and placed as a central
feature within an ornamental sunken garden adjacent to the Headmaster's Lawn.
The 1877 Ordnance Survey plan shows the distinctive pattern of the sunken
garden.
A large grassed area to the south of the College was designed to provide, in
combination with expansive woodland blocks and the gravel terrace, a suitably
scaled landscape setting to the imposing College building. Two smaller lawns
were designed at the south gate, dissected by the south approach and contained
by woodland. Sheep grazed these grassed areas up until the Second World War.
Sports fields were laid out to the north of the College following the
diversion of a small watercourse called the Jordan. A pond was created in 1873
adjacent to this burn, on what is now the northern boundary of the lower sports
field and this was used for steeple chase and skating in the winter months. The
line of an original field boundary was retained within the sports field, judging
from the size of trees present in a photograph of 1874 (Figure 4). Remnant trees
from this hedgerow appear to have survived, possibly until the 1950's.
Late 19th Century Changes
By the 1880's, Inverleith Park had been laid out to the west of the College,
a fever hospital to the north of Ferry Road and a children's home on what is now
the Western General Hospital site. New woodland planting was undertaken on the
boundaries of Ferry Road and Crewe Road South as a sanitation measure. Land to
the north of the College, between the sports field and Ferry Road, was in
agricultural use at this time and the nurseries were still present at Comely
Bank.
Additional land was acquired to the east of the Jordan Burn during the early
1880's. Subsequent planting in this area was different in character from the
original plantings, being less formal in layout. The original plans of the
College grounds were later redrawn by R. Rowand Anderson in 1883 and included
these additional features (Figure 5). New development constructed within the
confines of the Fettes grounds included Malcolm House (now the Prep School)
which was built in 1880 as was North Lodge. Land was also acquired to the north
of the original designed landscape for additional sports provision in 1894 and a
golf course was laid out in this area.
20th Century Changes
New buildings constructed within the grounds at this time included the
Cricket Pavilion built in 1906 and Kimmergame House in the southwest, built in
1928. An aerial photograph taken in 1929 (Figure 6) shows the gleaming new stone
of Kimmerghame. It is also an interesting photograph in that it shows the strong
woodland pattern which existed at this time and the formality of the
Headmaster's gardens with clipped hollies edging the sunken garden.
The advent of the Second World War brought many changes to the use of the
grounds. The sports pitches were given over to allotments for growing vegetables
and bomb shelters were constructed within the grassed slopes to the south of the
terrace.
A new athletics track was constructed in the 1950's to the north of the
sports field, in the area now occupied by Fettes Village. From the early 1960's
onwards, however, a series of compulsory acquisitions considerably depleted the
grounds, although they fortunately had little effect on the fabric of the
original designed landscape. 18 acres of the grounds were acquired in the north
west for the construction of Telford College in 1963 and around the same time 14
acres between Carrington Road and Comely Bank were used for the Police
Headquarters. An area of land to the east of the Police Headquarters had been
let by the College as playing fields to Edinburgh University, but this too was
acquired and Broughton School built in 1972. Moredun Crescent, a Victorian
terrace of houses to the west of Crewe Road South and used for staff housing,
was also acquired as the Western General Hospital developed. New staff
accommodation was constructed within the College grounds at West Woods to
replace accommodation lost within the Crescent, with an area of woodland being
felled as a result.
The College also sold the former athletics track in 1988 for housing
development, retaining playing fields to the north adjacent to Ferry Road and
accessed from the main grounds by a narrow track through housing. In 1993 the
Sutcliffe Pitch, an all-weather outdoor sports facility was constructed to the
west of the College. Felling of the northern side of the West Avenue was
undertaken to accommodate this development.
Summary
The layout of the designed landscape used woodland blocks to contain space
around buildings and provide a series of differently scaled grassed areas. The
building was designed to be principally appreciated from the south, east and
west entrances with the most monumental views occurring from the south, the main
entrance to the College. The landscape setting to the College building is also
more formal and grand to the south. The scale of the College building was
reflected in the expansive scale of planting; the simplicity of landscape
components comprising grass, woodland, avenues and gravel terrace provided a
'foil' to the ornate qualities of the architecture.
3 Gazetteer of Designed Landscape Features
The designed landscape, which surrounds and provides the setting to the
College, is still mainly intact, although the integrity of some features has
been affected through development or lack of management. The key features of the
designed landscape are briefly described below and illustrated in Figure 7.
Drives and Entrances
The South entrance and the West and East Drives provide the principal
approaches to the College and were designed to be monumental. The South Entrance
and East Drive give the most imposing views of the College as long vistas are
possible from Queensferry Road and Inverleith Place. Ornamental gates designed
by Bryce provide a focus for the South Entrance while a single lodge house and
decorative gates are positioned at both the entrances to the East and West
Drives. The west entrance has distinctive high walls between Crewe Road, South
and the Lodge House. The original avenues of trees planted along the drives
around 1863 have been depleted in places. Gaps are particularly evident on the
north side of the West Drive where only a few mature trees survive from what was
originally a triple row of elms.
The Terrace and Lawns
The gravel terrace to the front of the College is expansive, reflecting the
scale of the building. The terrace provides views out to the landscape of lawns
and woodland surrounding the College and over to the distant City skyline and
Pentland Hills. It also provides an open area from which to appreciate the rich
detailing of the building.
The Green Walk
The Green Walk is an intriguing feature of the designed landscape, it not
being immediately obvious when first approaching the grounds. It comprises a
broad grassy 'walk' between two parallel belts of woodland turning at right
angles at each end to meet the East and West Drives. The Walk has an intimate
character, being enclosed by the canopy of mature trees and feeling cut off from
the rest of the grounds which are more open. The woodland either side of the
walk is underplanted with evergreen shrubs such as laurel and holly, which is a
characteristic feature of many planting schemes of the Victorian era.
Woodlands
The woodlands cover an area of over 6 hectares and are therefore a
significant feature both within the grounds and within the wider City of
Edinburgh context. Long views from Queensferry Road display the woodland to best
advantage, the belts of trees coalescing to form a expansive mass of woodland
surrounding the main college building. The woodlands planted as part of the
designed landscape from 1863 onwards are still largely intact and the
distinctive pattern of broad belts and enclosures around the boarding houses
remains.
The Headmaster's Lawn and Gardens
Early plans give little indication of the detail of the Headmaster's Lawn and
Gardens, the principal 'ornate' feature of the designed landscape. The sundial
(reputedly circa.1642) forms the focus for the sunken garden, which was until
recently planted with roses. This garden may have once been more decorative,
possibly laid out with clipped hedges and herbaceous plants to form a knot
garden or parterre. A distinctive row of clipped 'column' hollies is shown in a
1929 photograph. Although some these still exist, they are now overgrown. The
Headmaster's Lawn was and is still used for special events, although in the past
it appears to have been used as a bowling green and for tennis. The lawn is
edged by a herbaceous border to the east and informal rock garden to the
south.
