History of The Garden
This page tells you about:
The Founders
Drs Nancy and Andrew Neil were a husband and wife team of GPs whose practice was in the Meadowbank area, on the north side of Arthur’s Seat. In 1963 they began work on part of the Duddingston glebe (land owned by the church).
The glebe had never been cultivated because of its steep slope and rocky surface. But the two doctors had a vision for a garden on this site and so with imagination and hard work they founded the garden we enjoy today.
The doctors encouraged their patients to assist with the gardening, so they could benefit from healthy outdoor activity and the tranquil setting beside the Loch.
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The Garden has won a number of awards over the years and has featured in television programmes and many books and articles. Andrew and Nancy Neil both died in 2005. In 2012-2013 the Physic Garden was laid out to commemorate their lives as doctors and gardeners.​
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In 1997, Dr Neil’s Garden Trust was formed to take over the running of the garden and to safeguard its future. Dr Neil’s Garden Trust is a Scottish Registered charity (No SC028197).
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Curling
In the hard winters of the 18th century, many citizens of Edinburgh liked to skate and curl on the frozen Nor’ Loch, on the north side of the Castle. As the New Town began to take shape in the 1780s it was decided to drain the Nor’ Loch but curling continued on the loch at Duddingston. The newly formed Duddingston Curling Society commissioned a small building on the edge of Duddingston loch to house their stones.
By the 1820s efforts to enlarge and repair this building proving unsuccessful, it was decided to start again, and the fashionable architect WH Playfair was asked to draw up a design. The new octagonal building, most probably on the site of the old one, was completed in 1825.
The Tower has two rooms. The lower room, its windows secured with metal bars, was used to store the stones at outside temperatures, ready for playing. The upper room, accessed separately, was furnished with glazed windows and a fireplace, and there the members could warm themselves after watching a game.
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Around 1803 the Duddingston Curling Society, which had formally agreed their version of the rules for the game, had these rules printed and distributed to every member. The rules were printed in a pocket-size format which could be consulted when out on the ice. Curling clubs throughout Scotland adopted the Duddingston Rules, which are the basis of the international curling rules today.
Today in Scotland there is very little outdoor curling, and certainly none on Duddingston loch. Edinburgh curlers now play at Murrayfield Ice Rink.