The Regent, Royal and Carlton Terrace Gardens (informally called Regent Gardens), are private communal gardens first conceived nearly 200 years ago in the 1820s and formally opened in 1832, the feu charter having been granted in 1829 after negotiation with the Heriot Trust, with the condition that the ground should only be used as ‘pleasure gardens’. The definition of a pleasure garden being ‘landscaped outdoor venues that feature shady groves, and most delightful walks’, although this remit expanded slightly at the end of the 19th Century when two grass tennis courts were added.
The land used to be just scrub grazing for cattle, but when the Waterloo Bridge was built in 1817, it paved the way for a new building site in the very heart of Edinburgh. The 12-acre gardens were built for residents on the three newly-constructed Terraces, Royal, Regent and Carlton.
Regent Gardens, along with the adjacent front bank next to Regent Road, lie over a 4.8-hectare (12-acre) site on the east side of Calton Hill, and were chiefly designed by the architect William Playfair. The trees and shrubs were put in by Dr Robert Graham, who designed the Glasgow Botanics.
The front terrace gardens (known as ‘the front bank’), alongside Regent Road, were actually created just a little before the main gardens and in the late 19th Century this front bank was an excellent viewing platform for the various royal processions to Holyrood. There was so much demand for these events that they had to be ticketed, with the gardener and his assistants on hand for crowd control.
With glorious views out over the Firth of Forth as well as Arthur’s Seat, the Regent Gardens are a secret gemstone in the heart of the city.
The Gardens welcome all their members and has few restrictions other than neighbourly conduct and considerate behaviour.