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Tag: Granton Castle Walled Garden
Council welcomes funding to help protect and enhance Granton Waterfront’s heritage
The city council is to receive over £50,000 to develop plans for the heritage and restoration of four key historic buildings and structures in Granton Waterfront.
The funding will also be used for heritage skills training and community events. The announcement was made on Wednesday (17 May) by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland’s Heritage and Place Programme (H&PP).
The money will be used to develop ideas and proposals for the refurbishment of Granton Lighthouse; the Edwardian former Granton Gasworks railway station building platforms; Madelvic House, which is ‘B’ listed from the 1890s, and Granton Castle Walled Garden.
This first phase of funding will support the creation of high-quality sustainable development plans over the next 12 months, with the potential that Historic Environment Scotland and Heritage Fund will then award further funding to deliver the projects in the coming years.
The project forms part of the Council’s wider strategic £1.3bn regeneration of Granton Waterfront.
Council Leader Cammy Day said: “We have ambitious plans to make Granton Waterfront a new sustainable coastal town for Edinburgh.
“In keeping with our plans for the whole city we’re creating a £1.3bn 20 minute neighbourhood with 3,500 net zero homes, a new primary school, lots of green spaces. We want to make sure people can get around and access other parts of the city easily so we’re putting in active travel routes and improving transport links as well. You can see work has started to make the iconic Granton Gasholder a multi-functional public space and hundreds of the sustainable affordable homes we’ve planned are .
“As part of this project we have strong community support to protect the heritage of the area and bring its listed buildings back to life for local people and visitors to use and enjoy. The funding announced today will help us to develop our plans to secure future funding to make this happen.
“This project along with the refurbishment of the Gasholder demonstrates the Council’s commitment to celebrate the historical legacy of the area making sure that its heritage is revitalised for future generations to come.”
Come Wassailing at Granton Castle Walled Garden on Sunday 19 February
Come join us for wassailing at Granton Castle Walled Garden on the 19th February from 2 – 4pm. There will be activities, songs and refreshments all inspired by the wonderful apple trees.
Wassailing is an anglo-saxon tradition where the fruit trees are blessed with offerings of song, food and drink to encourage them to provide a bountiful harvest.
We will gather together and give the trees of our orchard a much needed cheer and scare away all of the bad spirits! Bring along some friends and family, and perhaps make yourself a lovely apple themed crown to wear.
Cash donations are appreciated but not required, if you have any questions please ask!
For details on how to find us visit our website:
Drop-In Event: Restoring Heritage at Granton Castle Walled Garden
MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER 11am – 4pm
EDINBURGH Residents are being invited to take part in a free stone masonry workshop next Monday (21 November) to celebrate work starting to restore the Granton Castle Walled Garden B-listed wall and dovecot.
Organised by the City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with Friends of the Walled Garden with Scottish Crown Estate marine asset funding it is hoped the workshop will give people of all ages a chance to learn new or develop existing stone masonry skills.
The Council is also working with Friends of the Walled Garden on a vision to transform the historic site into a working market garden and local attraction. The project to restore the Granton Castle Walled Garden is part of the City of Edinburgh Council’s wider £1.3bn regeneration of Granton Waterfront.
Council leader Cammy Day said: “Being a heritage city, stone masonry is one of the skills it’s really important we keep alive in Edinburgh.
“This workshop is an ideal way to help people from across the city and the local area come together and celebrate this great craft as works begins to restore this historic site to be enjoyed by locals and visitors for generations to come.
“It’s great to see the community in and around Granton Waterfront being so creative and dedicated to their area and I’d encourage anyone looking to try their hand at repairing the beautiful old stone wall to give this a go.
The wider £1.3bn transformation of Granton Waterfront as a new sustainable coastal town is well underway with several housing developments under construction, the restoration of Granton Station almost complete and work soon to begin to bring the iconic gasholder back to life.
“I’m very much looking forward to seeing the Granton Castle Walled Garden being enjoyed by the local community as a working market garden and quality visitor destination in the years ahead.”
Anyone who would like to take a group along is being asked to contact the organisers in advance. There’s even free tea, coffee and cake!
Restoring heritage at Granton Castle Walled Garden (23 West Shore Road) EH5 1 QB drop-in event – Monday 21 November – 11am to 4pm.
Come and help repair the beautiful old stone wall using traditional heritage skills in stone masonry using lime mortar.
If you’d like to come with a group please email grantongarden@gmail.com.
Open afternoon at Granton Castle Walled Garden
THURSDAY 24th MARCH – ALL WELCOME
Play together: Outdoor adventures at Granton Castle Walled Garden
Mums/carers and their under 5s are coming along to @grantoncastle to meet us and @trees_seas for more Play Together Outdoor Activities.
Lots of fun to be had – some of it’s messy but who cares !
BOOKING ESSENTIAL
Creative Celebration coming up at Granton Castle Walled Garden
Saturday 4th May: 1 – 4:30pm
Good news for Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden
Hi friends and supporters,
The action group has been busy over June and July meeting with and lobbying many politicians for support. We have had some good news. After two years of campaigning to have the walled garden protected we received the news we have been waiting for – the Local Development plan has been thoroughly examined and a decision issued by national planners that it should be kept as Openspace!
So what now?
- Making the garden accessible for the first time in over ten years.
Our group has been invited to take part in the new ‘Masterplan’ creation for Granton’s Waterfront and we hope that architects will help to make the garden accessible in the future: enabling community members to begin its restoration and return it to productivity.
Three of us will be attending the developer’s architects meeting in August on behalf of the group.
Openspace designation in the Local Development Plan may not necessarily deter the developers from submitting new planning applications to build in the B-listed garden, but we hope that common sense will prevail and a council owned company will not go against the council’s approved plans and abide by national planning policies and guidelines.
Alternatives to housing in the garden?
Our real work begins now, following the overwhelmingly positive response to a survey of Friends Group ideas for the garden we are now looking at ways to fund these dreams.
We have been invited to present our ideas to the board of Waterfront Edinburgh Limited and hope to reach an agreement with the company that respects local opinion and planning guidelines for best land use. We intend to get across the idea that this late medieval walled garden, the oldest built structure in Granton, is precious to all as a unique, fertile & unpolluted historic garden.
Petitioning the council to have the garden protected properly for posterity
Earlier this week Group members met with MSP Andy Wightman (above) and were glad of helpful advice and support shown for our ideas. Our petition is open until the 25th August and must gain 500 signatures for us to be heard. Please sign and share:
Many opportunities have now arisen to raise awareness of the garden and involve a wider audience in the future. The possibility of funding to build a new low impact access to re-open the garden this winter if the company can be persuaded of the value of the garden to local people and visitors.
Best wishes,
Kirsty Sutherland
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Down to Earth(y)?
Officials recommend Earthy should be demolished
Planning officials have recommended that the popular Earthy shop and cafe on Canonmills Bridge should be demolished to make way for a new development. Councillors will discuss the issue at a meeting this morning.
Three local issues feature on today’s Development Sub-Committee agenda.
Reports on Granton Castle’s Walled Garden, the controversial demolition of Earthy at Canonmills and the ongoing saga of the proposed housing development on Trinity Road will all be tabled at the meeting. which takes place at 10am in The Dean of Guild Court Room in the City Chambers.
While councillors will be asked simply to ‘note’ the council’s current position on Granton Castle Walled Garden, where plans remain in place to erect 17 luxury townhouses, officials are recommending that the proposed demolition of Earthy on Canonmills Bridge is given the go-ahead.
Officials also recommend that the proposed demolition of the existing garage building at 127 Trinity Road – and the development of five new houses there – should be granted.
Members of the Save 1-6 Canonmills Bridge campaign plan to lobby councillors before the meeting, which is open to the public.
Related papers:
Item_6.3____GRANTON_CASTLE_WALLED_GARDEN___03_04595_FUL
Item_8.1____1_CANONMILLS_BRIDGE___15_01786_CON
Item_8.4_a_____127_TRINITY_ROAD___15_01788_FUL
Item_8.4_b_____127_TRINITY_ROAD___14_05070_CON
DM_Sub_29_July_2015_Full_papers
Walled Garden: growing hope
B-list boost for Friends campaign
A deputation representing The Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden will attend today’s Planning Committee meeting with renewed optimism thanks to an imminent report from Historic Scotland.
Friends group organiser Kirsty Sutherland explained: “Just two days before our Friends Group deputation to the City Chambers we learned from Historic Scotland that they have almost completed the review of Granton Castle Walled Garden – and the great news is that they want to upgrade its status to B-listed!
“We hope this groundbreaking news will help convince the city council’s planning committee members to support our Friends Group aim of safeguarding this historic garden from a luxury housing development.”
The recent Historic Environment Act and planning guidelines issued for Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Edinburgh all recognise the significant contribution heritage landscapes & greenspaces make to our communities sense of place, cultural identity & understanding of history.
Friends Group members and supporters feel that one of the oldest walled gardens in Scotland deserves to be safeguarded, cherished and restored.
Kirsty added: “We’re really excited by the Historic Scotland news – I’m bubbling over! It’s a bit like David and Goliath, trying to stop a multi-million pound business from building houses in the garden.We’d like to thank everyone for their support – the more people that speak up and send in a wee message of support, the better.”
Deputation Letter to Planning Committee 14 May