The Wauchope Grave House, Niddrie Edinburgh Conservation Plan, Part 1

February 2010

Contents
1 2 3 The Background Introductive Summary The Evolution of the Sites Significance
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

1 2 3

First phase: William Wauchopes burial, 1587 Second Phase: the chapels destruction ( 1587 - 1688) Third Phase: erection of the grave house (1689 - 1943) Fourth Phase: loss of context (1944 - 2010)

The Grave house today

4.1 4.2 4.3 The form The enclosure wall The close and court

13

5 6

Statement of Cultural Significance Issues

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Use Physical Condition Previous Alterations (Potential) Areas of Conflict

18 19

Conservation Policies
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 General Statement of Intent New Uses New Design Elements Fabric Repair and Maintenance Management Documenting Change Working within Resources

21

Implementation and Review of the Plan

23 24 25 25 26 27

Notes Bibliography 5Appendix 1: Listing and description of carved stones in yard wall Appendix 2: Proposal for reuse as standby generator house, 1982 Appendix 3: Proposed new planting to improve sites context

The Background
Others involved Historic Scotland has an interest, as does the local authority (both in their legislative roles). Residents of Craigmillar housing scheme (adjoining residents in particular), also have a strong interest as inheritors of their neighbourhoods past, possessors of its present and de facto guardians of its future.

After the death in 1943 of Jean Wauchope, the Niddrie estate, owned by the Wauchope family for at least five hundred years, came up for sale and was bought by Edinburgh Corporation in order to build houses for those in the city most desperate in need of adequate, affordable accommodation. The grave-house (and possibly some graves outside the house), together with another graveyard opened in 1685, some 100m or so to the south-west and the home-park boundary lines were all that was retained in the clearing of the site for the streets and houses by which it now is covered. The conservation of the grave-house is the Councils responsibility. In December 2009, it commissioned this report. The Site: A small, B-listed, one-storied, stone, vaulted grave-house of 1735, covering an inscribed grave slab (and probably tomb), of 1587, on the site of a 1502 chapel (destroyed 1688), with carved stones (probably) from that chapel built into the low stone wall that encloses the grave-houses main, decorative, west front. A narrow close on the south, a tiny yard on the west, and its own walls on the north and east form the site boundaries. The Location: About three miles from Edinburghs centre, down a narrow, setted close at the west side of Niddrie House Drive (NT 469 281), between no.s 34 and 36, with the close on its south, two backgreens on the west, and one on its south and east. Niddrie house was demolished in the 1960s, and no trace of it remains. The burn near whose banks the grave-house once stood has been culverted and built over, and the Niddrie estates landscaped gardens once stretching round it are now replaced by council housing. The Clients: Edinburgh City Council

Preparation of Part I of this Conservation Plan (Statement of Cultural Significance etc): D.Bell, February 2010 Preparation of Part II (Condition Report, Management Plan etc): Bob Heath, Architect and Stone Consultant, February 2010 Purpose of Statement: The purpose of this Conservation Statement is to set basic parameters for the future repair and reuse of the Wauchope grave-house, compatible with the conservation of its value, and to act as a basis for a more detailed proposals and Conservation Management Plan (Part II), by i] highlighting the particular qualities of the grave-house, whose value to our culture has warranted its special protection, summarising its present state, the physical condition of the fabric in which its qualities are embodied, and other current pressures it may face, and extracting all issues and possible areas of conflict.

ii] iii]

Factors are then specified that must be taken into serious consideration in the fabrics future management.
1

Summary
2a that no use should be made of the grave house other than its function of protecting the tomb of William Wauchope. Respect for his remains, and for his descendants honouring of them should be paramount that, at the same time, steps should be taken to make the history of the grave and its housing better known to Niddrie residents and others, by i allowing access to the tomb, in numbers appropriate to its size and under tight supervision, once a year, and ii placing an informative panel at the gateway to its entrance close in order to consolidate its significance and value to the local area, that new memorial tablets of (proven) descendants of the Niddrie Wauchope family should continue to be placed in the remaining niches, if so desired;

The grave, its housing and the enclosure wall, because of their age and quality of design, are, nationally, of quiet but significant cultural value, evidentially (historically) and aesthetically (architecturally). When the context is taken into account, this value, because of its extreme rarity in the locality, rises astoundingly, and is joined by equally high social and emotive local value. (See p. 18.) The primary significance is, however, as a mans grave, and respect for its peace should outweigh all other considerations. The main issue is the lack of quality of the context allocated to the grave house in Niddries latest redevelopment of 1991. Given that the housing layout is not likely to change yet again in the near future, it is recommended that as much as possible should be done to turn the present situation to advantage by planting. (See p. 27) The other issues are minor and can be simply resolved. Repointing of the roof and walls, and other small repairs in the roof area need to be carried out and, internally, the interventions remaining from its reuse as housing for a standby generator in 1982 must be removed. (See Part II for details.) The one potential area for conflict is between drawing attention to the site and its significance in order to consolidate its value locally (and further afield), and both a graves essentially reflective nature, and the increased risk of vandalism. Proposals are made to resolve this by contextual design (see pp.20, 27)

2b

2c

3a

3b

that no new interventions to the buildings interior, exterior or the enclosure wall should be made, other than those solely for the fabrics health, that all existing interventions, other than, internally, the marble memorial tablet and the concrete floor pads, should be removed and the fabric made good;

4a Therefore, the main elements of this Conservation Plan are 4b 4c

1a 1b

that the grave house should be put back in good repair and, once that is done, should have regular preventative maintenance, annual comprehensive inspection (particularly of the roof surface), followed by immediate repair, to ensure the survival of the fabric as long into the future as possible, and that all repairs should be carried out in the least interventive way possible, with minimal loss of original material, including that of the enclosure wall;

that improvement of the immediate surroundings should be made and maintained by annual inspection and repair (trimming, feeding etc should planting be concerned); that a record of all repairs and interventions should be kept, that Niddrie Community members should be involved in supervising both the proposed day of access and the daily supervision of the sites health that a named person should be made responsible for protecting the value contained in the fabric, now and in the future, ordering proper maintenance and repair and contact with involved members of the local community, thus ensuring that the grave house will continue to play its part in the Niddrie environment, in a beneficial and sustainable way. 2

Evolution of the Sites Significance

By then, the family had a castle or tower (date unknown), large enough to accommodate 100 strangers and, in 1502, had founded a chapel some few hundred yards away, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and in honorem sancte crucis,4 while the fifth son of the current Wauchope, had sufficient funds to acquire the property of Cakemuir, about fourteen miles south-east of Edinburgh, and build himself a substantial tower.5 The Chapel Though primarily for family use, the chapel would, no doubt, also have served those who worked on the estate to some degree; if not for hearing daily mass at least for marriage, christening and burial (the nearest kirks being at Duddingston, Liberton and Newton, all two or three miles distant). A burial ground was indeed also established by it.6 In appearance, the chapel is said to have been similar to its contemporary at nearby Craigmillar.7 When founded, it came under the rule of Holyrood.8 .After the Reformation (1560s), Niddry was included in Liberton parish.
1 The chapel at Craigmillar Castle, built at roughly the same time as that at Niddrie, and similar in appearance to it

The little grave-house - today embedded in the backgreens of Craigmillar, a twentieth-century council housing-scheme - is almost all that remains of not just a family that held power in the area from at least the fourteenth to the twentieth century, but also of a long-settled landscape, the communities that lived and worked in it and their own small settlements in and around the estate. This area, at Edinburghs edge, is one of great beauty, largely due to the survival of four of the five large estates in the area - Craigmillar to Niddries west, Woolmet to the south, Duddingston to the north, and Bruntsfield to the north-east, all of which had, for centuries, close connections to Niddrie and the Wauchope family. Niddrie alone of the five has been almost totally obliterated; not by the badly needed housing now built on most of the land, but by the eradication of everything natural and man-built - that made it one of the most admired and attractive areas in Edinburgh. Every established route, every building, plant, copse and court, however well it was designed or had evolved to fit the land and views was scoured from the site, if not in the housings erection, in its redesign of 1993. As a result, thousands of people were moved into and now live in a place with no past or individuality, much like a better built, more comfortable version of the emergency housing camps the first residents had left.

3.1

First Phase: William Wauchopes burial

Exactly when the Wauchopes first took possession of the lands of Niddry is unknown.1 A charter of Robert III (1390-1406) names Gilbert Wauchop as the holder but the family may have had some of the property much earlier.2 Having survived through three hundred years or so of civil wars, English invasions (that of 1544 having burnt out the great castle on the neighbouring Craigmillar estate)3, and innumerable changes in power, when families won and lost land at dizzying speed, the sixteenth-century Wauchopes of Niddrie Marischal got caught at last in the chaos that followed Mary Is turbulent reign.
3

William and Robert Wauchope When, in 1587, Robert Wauchope buried his father William, either in the chapel itself or in its graveyard, the family was already in considerable trouble. Little is known of William, but both Robert and his son Archibald in June of that year were included in the charge againis personis denuncest rebellis, for their support of the deposed Queen.9 (Mary I, executed four months before by the English, is said to have been particularly fond of the area, staying often at Craigmillar).10 On the losing side politically (and most probably religiously),11 the Wauchopes had other problems too. In a violent age, Archibald, Roberts son and heir, appears to have been notably more vicious than most. In 1588, he, with the Laird of Bannochies brother, three servants of the Laird of Craigmillar, and Thomas Kame, smith in Niddrie, was accused of the slaughter of four men, one of whom was an Edmonston, the family who owned the Woolmet estate that bordered Niddrie on the south.12 The next year, Andrew tried to attack the Laird of Edmonston himself, but was caught lying in wait for him at Bridgend (near Peffermill). Put in Edinburghs tolbooth, Wauchope escaped out a window during his trial the next day. The following year, he killed again, this time merely on being reproved for striking an officer of arms.13 Father and son were also deeply involved with Francis Stewart, Protestant Earl of Bothwell and the kings cousin, who, in temporary alliance with the Roman Catholic Earl of Huntly, led an unsuccessful insurrection against the twenty-three-year-old James VI in 1589.14 Imprisoned then escaped, between 1592 and 1594 Bothwell made various attempts to see - or seize - his cousin, all equally violent and just as unsuccessful, and after one of these Robert was taken and warded in Draphane Castle but released soon after.15 A few years later, in 1593, he received respite for his
art and part in the slaughter of umquhile [deceased] John Edmiston, brother germane to David Edmiston of Woolmet, and mutilation of George Davidson in Charterhouse, and for all other crimes and offenses, as weil slaughter and mutilation as other whatsoever, treason excepted.16

Archibald, who had escaped after the Bothwell debacle, broke his neck in 1597, trying to escape out a window yet again, this time from Edmonston who, with a large band of followers, had cornered him in a house in Sclaters Close in Edinburgh. Robert, with his son and heir dead, his lands forfeit, his castle burned down by a mob out of revenge for Archibalds many cruelties and wrongs, died c.1600.

3.2

Second Phase: the chapels destruction

In 1603, Francis Wauchope, Archibalds eldest lawful son, was

restorit and rehabilitat ... to his haill landis, rowmes, possessiouns, coilles, coilhouchis and others, pertaining to his said umquhile father ...17

By then, the estate had been sold on, but Francis resolved this dilemma by marrying the new owners heiress, and signing a caution for 200,000 merks. He then left the country and lived very privately as a soldier in Holland until 1632, when he died on his way home.18 Meantime, his wife had been living meanly in the wester house on the estate,19 what possibly formed the core of the new house Francis is said to have begun, that his son John completed in the 1630s. New Niddrie Marischal house A family manuscript notes that John Wauchope, by his frugal way of living, payd the 200,000 merks of cautionry, either by selling of land or by the effects of the rest of the estate, but the house he completed showed little of frugality..20 Its grandiose interior celebrates the favour in which John Wauchope was held by the highly unpopular Charles I, who, during his 1633 visit to Edinburgh, not only knighted him but also attended the christening of his second son. Wauchope was also close friends with

Coal works A good part of the wealth needed to pay off family debts and build such a house most likely came from the coal seams that spread under Niddrie and the adjoining estates. Though mined for some hundred years and more, until the 1600s output had been small due to problems of extraction but these were now being solved.25 With more profit to be made, more labour was needed for the highly dangerous, unpleasant work that few, even the poorest, were willing to undertake. This too was solved by an Act of 1606 that decreed no person should fee, hire or conduce salters, colliers or coal bearers without a written authority from the master whom they had last served. A collier who left his pit without the owners permission was considered to be stealing themselves from their masters and held as thieves and punished in their bodies.26 In effect, all working in the mines and their children were, from then on, slaves. They became a race apart. Known as brown yins or black folk, they could not attend the kirk. nor could they be buried in consecrated ground, but instead their graves lay outside kirkyard walls. They would even be excluded from the Habeus Corpus Act of 1701.27 At the same time as the new house, providing the very best of contemporary living conditions, went up, a pit village, providing the very worst, also grew immediately outside the estate wall. The chapels destruction John Wauchope died in 1682, as did his friend Maitland, and three years later so did Charles II. With the accession of Charles brother James VII, the country once again faced a king determined on changing the religious beliefs and practices fought for so bitterly - and brutally - throughout the century. Despite the great mass of the populations violently strong antipathy to what were known as popish practices, James began to appoint Catholics to positions of power and, at Holyrood, turned the nave of the Abbey (since the Reformation, Canongate parish kirk), into a Catholic chapel royal, opened a Jesuit school offering free education, and established a catholic printing press.28
5

2 The Dining room, Niddrie house, in 1950

John Maitland, the 2nd Earl and future 1st Duke of Lauderdale, advisor to both parliaments and, under Charles II, virtual ruler of Scotland, renowned above all for his corruptly repressive dealings..21 (Maitland had bought the adjoining estate of Bruntstane, north-east of Niddrie, in 1632. The family manuscript states Wauchope lived with my Lord Lauderdale and was his bedfellow,22 but that might not then have had the connotations it has today.) A kirk elder and commissioner of the 1648 General Assembly (the year moderate presbyterians made a last attempt to reconcile the now captive kings rule with the countrys religious belief and that of the English), it is said that, in the most prudent manner, after Charles execution, Wauchope employed all his interest and influence for the new kings English restoration, that eventually took place in 1660.23 Given the familys strong and well known royalist - and Roman Catholic - leanings, Johns survival through the era of the Covenant and the Cromwell occupation with, apparently, fortune not just intact but increased is remarkable.24

Royal support - and favour - had begun to encourage a few of the nobility to come out as Catholic, but for the small number of Catholic families that remained in Scotland, this had to be balanced against the hatred it would stir up against them locally. It appears that now the Wauchopes - both of Johns elder sons, his brother, and his brothers sons - were amongst those who did begin to worship according to Roman rites slightly more openly.29 (Whyte writes in 1792 that they were Catholics owing to an accidental circumstance, but does not enlarge on what that circumstance was. Most likely, the family - perhaps excepting John - had never changed its belief, but merely outwardly conformed to Protestant practice.) Since, from the Reformation, Libberton Kirk had become the legal centre for communal worship in Niddrie (John Wauchope had erected a gallery for his familys worship there in 1640),30 burials were the one use the chapel retained. In 1685, the year of James VIIs accession, a

new graveyard was opened at the edge of the home park.31 By moving this to a distance, there would be no need for any but the family to enter, or be around, the chapel itself. Wauchopes could then worship as they pleased in relative privacy, their practice known (for nothing could be hidden from the numerous servants), but not obtrusive. Events make it safe to assume the chapel itself was then furnished for Roman Catholic worship. Even such discretion failed to avert the fury of the mob. A year after the new graveyard opened, there was a riot in Edinburgh over mass said in the house of the Chancellor, and, in December the year after that, when news reached the capital that William of Orange, husband of James elder - and Protestant - daughter Mary, had landed in England with a force to overthrow the king, the Edinburgh mob sacked the chapel royal at Holyrood and drove out the Jesuits. It then set off to do the same at Traquair, another known Catholic seat and, on its way, burned out the Wauchope chapel.

3 The new graveyard of 1685, in 2010

3.3

Third Phase: the building of the grave house

With James VIIs flight to France on the 23rd of December 1688, he was assumed by the English parliament to have abdicated, and in April 1689 the Scottish parliament more or less agreed, though with certain reservations. Mary II took the throne with her husband William that year, but the matter was not settled, for a considerable support for James, or rather for the lawful monarch, remained in the country - like him or not. Two Wauchopes followed James abroad; Johns nephews John and Francis, both of whom eventually became Major Generals, one in French, one in Spanish service.33 Johns son and heir, Andrew [1] stayed. Married to Gilmour of Craigmillars daughter in 1656, she (poor woman), produced nineteen children in twenty-seven years, of which the

grandson of the eighteenth, Andrew [2], finally inherited on his fathers, grandfathers (and mothers) deaths in 1711 (but only after some legal difficulties, neatly side-stepped, due to his religion, for the family still held to Roman Catholic beliefs). When, in 1726, Andrew [2] died, aged twenty, in a duel abroad,34 his fifteen-year-old cousin Andrew [3] then inherited the estate. Andrew, like John the century before, appears to have steadied the family during and after difficult times. He survived the attempts of James VIIs son and grandson to return to power (in 1715 and 1745 respectively), though, with all the familys royalist ties and Catholic sympathies, the presence of Charles Stuart in Edinburgh, and with his army only a mile or so away at Duddingston must have been a challenge.35

4 The Niddrie neighbourhood in 1766 (Lauries map). The red square is the site of Niddrie house 1 2 3 4 Craigmillar Catle Duddingston House Brunstane house Edmonston house

The aftermath also gave him problems. His Seton cousins in France, with their lands attainted, made frequent demands on his purse and sympathy.36 On the death of John Gilmour, his neighbour at Craigmillar, the young heir become his ward, and his education was a matter of constant debate with the widowed mother.37 The collieries, however, continued to thrive and provide a good income.38 A new pit had been opened in 1682, and, in 1725, the first steam engine in the Lothians was introduced to speed production.39 Even the colliers lot improved marginally, when, in 1728, they were allowed into Libberton kirk (on condition they erected a gallery for themselves at their own expense and stayed well apart from the rest of the congregation).40 In 1773, Peter Hunter, the lessee of Niddrie colliery, and a few others began a colliers fund to end their slavery,41 and, to an extent, that was achieved a few years later (also, colliers were no longer exempt from the Habeus Corpus Act). Near the end of the century, Whyte reports that a few years before there had been fifty Niddrie colliers living in Mill-town (on the south sides of the crossing of the present Niddrie Mains Road and Duddingston Park), and what is called Hunters hall (position unknown), but in 1792 only five or six remained. He also reports, a fire engine is erecting.42 The grave house In 1735, forty-seven years after the chapels destruction, according to an inscribed slab set at the enclosures gate, Andrew Wauchope erected the little grave house over his ancestors tomb. According to Whyte, 57 years after its erection, nothing then remained of the chapel itself,
but what is used for the burying place of the family; the entry to which is now much ornamented, but in a very decent manner.43

Whyte puts the chapel at the west end of the house, and remarks that in the garden, a great many improvements have been made. He adds, `the adjacent rivulet, and what hath been done there, add great beauty to the whole.44 This appears to be the only near contemporary description of what actually took place. Wauchope must have cleared away the chapel

5 Plan and elevation of the grave house

rubble, possibly as part of his improvement of the grounds, possibly to let memory of his familys allegiances fade more quickly from local memory. Some carved stones, probably from the chapel, were inserted in the little wall that now encloses the front, but whether this is Andrews work or that of later Wauchopes is unknown. (See section 4.) The front itself is remarkably austere, perhaps to avoid offence or, even worse, raising fears that the chapel was being rebuilt, and in it Jacobites would practice Roman rites. There can be no doubt that Wauchope could have afforded something much grander, in the custom of the time.
6 Plan of Niddrie home-park in 1831 with (inset at larger scale), the house and outbuildings. The grave house is coloured red, and the graveyard of 1685 is outlined in red. (Note the position by the burn given for the chapel. In most later maps, the site of the grave house is indicated as the chapels remains. It is assumed that the 1831 placing of the chapel is an error, for Whyte implies the chapel and gravehouse were, if not on the same spot, at least very near.)

7 The grave house in its original position at the west end of the house

3.4

Fourth Phase: loss of context (1944-2010)

By the twentieth century, the Wauchope estate consisted of three distinct parts: the beautiful grounds of the home park around the house (and grave house); the farming land; and finally the land used for (or affected by), coal mining. Not only was there a working pit at the south-east corner of the park boundary and old worked-out pits nearby, but also, more crucially, underneath the ground was a vast labyrinth of worked out tunnels, the left-overs of three centuries incessant digging. Living in the house was the childless widow of the last Wauchope of that line, a major-general who had died fighting in the Boer War in 1899. On her death in 1943, the estate was put up for sale.45 Some of it had already gone. The compulsory purchase by Edinburgh Corporation of 63,874 acres of Niddrie Mains and Niddrie Mill farm had been announced in January 1939, along with 2,284 acres of Niddrie and Craigmillar Estates, for the purposes of a playing field and all or any of the further purposes specified in the Physical Training and Recreation Act, 1937.46 In September, war with Germany was declared. Five years later, the war was over, and the country was promised a better life for all. Five years after that, in Edinburgh, 871 families in great distress were still housed in emergency housing camps, another 1,272 were on the emergency housing list, and the Corporation was negotiating for the acquisition of Niddrie house and policies.47 By 1954, the former estate land north of the main road, from Craigmillar Brewery to Niddry village had filled with Council housing, as had the land south of the road by what had been Niddrie Mains Farm. The house stood empty while its future was discussed. On Hogmanay, 1959, the Evening News headline announced Edinburgh Mansion house Gutted By A Spectacular Fire. By 1970, the house had been demolished and the landscape scoured.

8 View of the house and grounds from the south, before the fire of 1959. The grave house is just visible at the left side of the house and the burn runs at the foot of the steps visible just right of centre. (left) the house plan after the fire

10

When the buildings round the grave house went up in 1969-70, there was some attempt to use the lie of the land, if not its buildings, routes or gardens. The bed of the burn, for instance, became a footpath (the burn running in a culvert underneath). A copse of trees was left at the south end of Greendykes Road. The grave house became the centre of a court, one of the many around which the housing was arranged; not the best environment for a burial place but one that at least acknowledged its existence. Niddrie (or Craigmillar) folk themselves made it a focal point of their own celebrations in a pageant of Niddry history. In 1982, the decision was made to use the burial place as housing for a standby generator. Electric wiring was tacked inside its vaulted roof, its south wall was covered on the inside by plywood and plastic sheeting, and concrete was laid to support an oil tank and a generator (see Appendix 2).

9 The grave house in the 1970s

11 Site plan of the 1970s development

10 View showing the use of the land. The path follows the route of the burn.

11

In 1991, the grave-house setting became as ignominious as its use, when its surroundings were altered yet again. In a complete redesign of the housing, the two high blocks nearby were demolished and replaced by standard houses set out in a standard way, and the form of lower blocks was changed to match, as were the lines of roads. All that might have given some sense of place to the homogenous monotony was removed; even the burns former bed was raised to the level of the surrounding land. Most crucially, all the courts were fenced in and the space divided between the properties around them. This had a dire effect on the grave house. Instead of being used to add one point of interest to acres of unvarying view or to give some sense of continuity to the thousands of people moved into an unknown area, in design terms, this last remaining link to Niddries long past was

treated as of less than no account. Squashed between four backgreens like any garden shed, it is now completely hidden from a street it no longer even faces.

It is not known why this one scrap of the past was kept in the purge of Niddries individuality. The destruction in the 1960s and 1990s was otherwise so complete, it may be that there was a legally imposed restraint on the Corporation. Both chapel and graveyard were consecrated burial places, and both are still visited on occasion by far-flung Wauchope descendants. (The graveyard round the chapel, part excavated during extensions to the house in the late nineteenth century, is presumably still there, the bones under the backgreens.)

12 The grave house from the street, 2010. (Its south side is just visible right of the hedge and left of the large, four-part block.)

13 The grave house from one of the backgreens, 2010

14 Site plan, 2010 The grave house and graveyard are marked in red.

12

4.0
4.1

The Wauchope Grave house Today

The grave house

The grave house today is, as it has always been, a small stone rectangular structure, c.8.5m x 8.5m (c.3m high), with rubble walls on three sides. The fourth (the west front), has a polished stone, decorative face with a central round-headed opening containing an iron double door with a wrought ironwork grille above (centrepiece missing). The pediment finial is also missing (see [7]). There is a niche on either side of the door opening (one of which has in recent times had a block inserted, raising the level of its base for reason unknown), and a triangular pediment above it containing the Wauchope heraldic achievement. Inside is a cross-vaulted roof, with a simple moulding on the cross, and a small vault centred on each side. The three walls whose surface is visible are of dressed stone, each having a central, shallow, rectangular niche with a smaller niche on either side, most likely for the setting in of memorials panels. One (centre, east wall), is filled with a white marble panel, whose inscription is said to have been composed by Rudyard Kipling and Hume Brown.48 The fourth (south) wall has a temporary cover (plywood and sheeting), of 1982.

15 The grave-house front, 2010

16 The interior (pre-1984 reuse)

13

In the north-east corner of the vault is a raised area c.2.2 x 3m and 750mm high, with a rubble base visible on its east side, that itself may cover yet another vault in which the bones are laid. Built into (but not covering), the top surface of this raised area is a slab with, on its centre, a small shield (garb [wheat sheaf] below two mullets [five-pointed stars]) and the initials W V shallowly incised into the stone. Around the edge of the slabs surface runs the inscription
HEAR . LYIS . ANE . HONORABIL MAN . WILLIAM . WAVCHOP . OF . NIDRE-MERSCHIL QVHA . DEC [EA] SI [T] YE . VI . DAY . FEB RAVR . 1587

The letters face inwards and read clockwise, except for the fifth line which faces outwards. Another slab, built into the west side of the base, reads
THIS . TOME . VES . BIGGIT . BE . ROBERT VAVCHOP . OF . NVDRIMARSCH AL . AND . ENTERIS . HEIR . P . P . 1587

Why the symmetrically-designed grave house was sited asymmetrically over the tomb is unknown. It is possible - but unlikely - that the tomb was moved after the grave-houses erection. The south wall of a late-nineteenth-century extension to the houses west court remains attached to the north wall of the grave-house.

17 (above right) The inscription on the top of the grave slab. Though shallowly inscribed there is more wear than one could expect from the fifty years exposure to the elements when the chapel was in ruins; that is, it may have been outside the chapel from the start. 18 The inscription on the west face of the tomb

14

Condition In addition to the south walls temporary cover, orange electicity cables have been attached to the vault, there are the remains of plywood partitioning and the debris left from its 1984 use as a back-up generator that fills much of the space. The greater area of the floor has been concreted on its surface (plastic sheeting underlay is visible by the tomb base). Considerable amounts of moisture is coming through the defective roof covering. Externally, the dado moulding has been roughly cloured off the west face on both north and south sides by the enclosure wall. Such misuse can be made good without great difficulty, or further damage to the fabric. For more detail, see the Condition Report.

19 (above right) Interior, 2010 20 (right) moisture on internal walls from defective roof covering

21 (left) damaged mouling by north niche and truncated gate pillar

15

4.2

The front yard wall

A low wall, formerly with iron gate and topped with iron railings, encloses a tiny court in front of the grave house. In it are embedded a number of carved stones possibly of 1502, taken from the chapel ruins (see Appendix 1 for the Inventorys detailed description). Condition The wall itself is in fair condition but the carved stones in it are badly eroded, as could be expected after more than three-hundred-years exposure to the elements. Railing stubs are still embedded in the wall, but not causing damage. The gate pillars have been truncated [21] and the gate itself is missing. (See [7] for original appearance/)

22 Three of the six carved stones noted in the Inventory of 1921

16

4.2

The surrounding site

The close, entered at the side of a large tenement through a padlocked gate, is paved with sets, remaining from its brief time as a hard court centrpiece in the 1970s. In front of the opening of the enclosing wall is a stone slab.with the inscription This Pavilion is Found[ed] by Andrew Waucho[pe] of Niddrie Esqr the 8th day of October 1735 There was formerly also a commemorative tablet beside the vault, recording that an old cross, replaced in 1920, was formerly a portion of the chapel, but no sign of this remains.49 A modern metal fence closes off the tiny stretch of pavement in front of the grave-house yard from the surrounding backgreens. Condition Physically, the surroundings are in adequate condition. In terms of their appropriateness, they are exceedingly poor.
23 Inscription just outside gateway of the enclosure 24 The immediate surroundings, 2010

17

5.0 Statement of Cultural Significance

The following section is based on and in accordance with the values set out in the Venice and (Australia) Burra Charters (ICOMOS 1964 and 1999 respectively), Historic Scotlands Memorandum of Guidance (1998), and Management Guidelines for World Cultural Heritage Sites (Fielden and Jokilehto, 1993).
In addition, it should be noted that the special circumstances of Niddrie have been taken into account; that is, its condition as an area whose long-established physical environment - buildings, landscape, routes and spaces - has been completely wiped out then rebuilt in an entirely different form. Such a loss of baseline markers of everyday life, of familiarity and continuity of experience, is similar, in essence, to that suffered by cities, such as Dresden, almost obliterated by bombing in the Second World War. This inevitably has an effect on the inhabitants, and on local culture, exacerbated here by the sites distance from the busy city life that the new inhabitants had known, by the complete alteration even of their new surroundings. and by their present total lack of any variety whatsoever. This being so, any remnant of a normal past, on which local culture is based, takes on a much enhanced value and significance, regardless, to a great extent, of its quality in comparison to similar works in communities that have not undergone the same drastic change and environmental deprivation.

Evidential (or Historical) Value

Evidentially, William Wauchopes remains provide proof of his existence, the grave slabs inscriptions proof of his sons part in the burial, and the grave house proof of his descendants care of the family grave, with the whole an example of sixteenth- and eighteenth-century burial practice, design and construction. More evidence may lie beneath ground in what was the surrounding pre-1685 graveyard. Neither William Wauchope nor the son who buried him are outstanding figures of their time, but the family took part in most major events in centuries of Scottish history, particularly those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As such, the evidence provided is not of outstanding value but has a quiet but significant worth, greatly raised by its rarity in a historically depleted context (see Social and Emotive Value below).

Architectural (or Aesthetic) Value

Architecturally, the value is equally quiet but stands up well in comparison with other contemporary grave-house designs, such as those in Greyfriars kirkyard. (Seventeenth-century works extraordinary exuberance having almost entirely disappeared by the 1700s.) The formal frontage of the grave-house is austere, but well-proportioned, as is the interior. Again, the value is greatly raised by the lack of any other feature of visual note in the wider area of housing; that is, by its rarity in a context of aesthetic deprivation.

It should also be noted that the primary significance of the grave house is as a structure sheltering a grave; a place where a mans bones, after Christian burial, rest in peace, and where his family have honoured, and continue to honour his former existence. In all matters concerning the site, this supersedes any value to Scottish culture it may have.

Emotive Value
On the most basic level, every grave causes some degree of emotive reaction, because of its stark reminder of death. When the grave is of considerable age, as it is here, the shortness of a lifespan compared to the time that has passed since burial is also underlined. In the particular context of Niddrie, the grave house has taken on even more significance as the one surviving tangible reminder of what was so recently a beautiful, historic area, and so gives the present inhabitants one strong emotive link with their neighbourhoods past (see also Social Value).

Social Value
While there is no value to society as a whole in an individuals grave, in this particular case the community of the housing scheme have given it a value, using the gravehouse as, in effect, a rock on which they can try to rebuild some sense of continuity and stability for themselves in an environment otherwise bereft of character. (Notably, in the writers search for the grave-house, eight passersby - men, women and children - had to be asked for directions, and all knew not only of the grave-house but also had versions of its past they were pleased to relate.)
18

6.1
6.1

Issues
Context

Context is the primary issue of the sites current state; the environment established in 1991 being severely damaging to its cultural significance, not because the grave house is now in the centre of a housing scheme though that is unusual - but because of the lack of respect given to it by the immediate surroundings. In its obscure position, the minimal space accorded to it, and the aesthetically brutal railings round it, no difference has been made between the treatment of the grave house and that of, say, an electricity substation, despite its immensely higher value to local and, to a degree, national culture. Given that the original context of the grave house is now and forever entirely eradicated, the best must be made of the present circumstances. Nothing can be done about the tombs orientation to the now established street, nor to the positioning of houses, so these have to be accepted. By improving the appearance of the sites perimeter, the current obscurity of siting and access could be turned to positive advantage. A tiny, secret, different environment could be created round the tomb; in effect, putting it into a little timeless world of its own, unaffected by present and future change outside. The simplest way to achieve such an effect would be by planting a dense hedge of c.3m in height on its exposed east, north and west sides that would cover the present railings, hiding them from view (and giving even further discouragement to vandalism; see 6.5). This would also give a link back to the remarkable Niddrie gardens that, amongst so much else, were renowned for their hedges. Annual pruning would be required to maintain the hedges density, shape, and height.
19

25 View 1938 (the bridge right of the men is over the burn)

26 (left) looking down the close drom the grave house to the street

27 View 2010 (from approximately same standpoint)

6.2

Use

As a burial place, use of the grave house should not be an issue, since any further use or reuse would be entirely inappropriate. This does not rule out improving access to it. Since its presence is not only of cultural value particularly to Niddrie, but also is indeed valued the Niddrie community, the more people know of the site and its history the better. Access, therefore, is to be encouraged - but only under tight control that ensures respect for the grave and the fabrics protection, and in numbers appropriate to the size; only one or two people at a time. (The Doors Open Day event could prove a suitable annual occasion.) An information panel fixed to the south side of the close by its entrance, with a summary of the tombs history, would also be of benefit.

Access versus Respect for the Dead Potential conflict here would be avoided by limiting access to one celebratory day of the year, by ensuring that respect for the dead is emphasised on that day, and by adequate supervision of visitors during that day (at least one person, able to inform visitors of the sites history, in attendance at all times). The Craigmillar Festival Committee should be approached to see if one or more of its members would be willing to undertake the duty. Also, the creation of a `world of its own around the tomb (see 6.1) would greatly help to engender a feeling of quiet respect. Access versus Vandalism Vandalism of the site began from the moment Niddrie house was empty. There have been innumerable graffitti attacks over the years, and the original gutter covering (most likely lead) has long since disappeared. This, no doubt, is the reason for the large, industrial-type, protective railings. Not only are these railings ugly, in practice the protection they offer is minimal, only a slight discouragement to trespass, for one boy could easily boost another over them. It is suggested that in combination with a high, dense hedge, much better protection would be offered.

6.3

Physical Condition

Given that the present defective roof treatment is removed and replaced by a sound covering, and that other minor repairs to pointing and so on are also promptly carried out (see Part II for details), externally the sites physical condition is not an issue. Internally, the remains of the 1984 reuse should be removed, other than the concrete pad whose removal would cause, at the least, considerable disturbance and, at the worst, further damage.

6.4

Previous Alterations

Since the 1984 alterations are reversible, they too are not an issue, assuming that they are indeed promptly reversed and the fabric made good.

6.5

The area where conflict could arise is between the positive and negative aspects of focusing more attention on the site. On one hand, evident recognition of the tombs value (by the improvement of its immediate surroundings suggested above), would consolidate the social and emotive aspects of its cultural value. On the other hand, it is a tomb, a grave where a mans bones rest, and intrinsically a quiet place of reflection not an exhibit. What is more, by underlining its value, the perverse impulse to vandalise its fabric might well increase.

(Potential) Areas of Conflict

28 The entrance being unblocked in 1982. Note the graffitti right of the doorway.

20

7
7.1
i

Conservation Policies
General Statement of Intent

Because of the Wauchope grave-houses significance as a burial place, which is worthy of respect, and also its significance, historically, aesthetically, emotively and urbanistically, to the people of Niddrie and, to an extent, to Scotland in general, every care should be taken to ensure that this significance is no less after work designed to keep it than before, and so all interventions should be designed for minimal loss of original fabric, in order to cause the least possible loss of the sites value as an historical document as far as reasonably possible, reversible, so that future generations may alter todays decisions if necessary to suit their needs without more damage to the sites fabric discernible (at least on close inspection), as new work, in order to maintain the sites integrity as an historical document, whilst maintaining the existing quality of the aesthetic. Furthermore, all interventions in the immediate surroundings of the grave house, as well as the access to it, should act - in function and in form - primarily to support and enhance the qualities of the original work, whilst at the same time have a quality of their own, equal - in its contemporary way - to that of the original.

ii -

iii Any remaining element of age (external decorative stonework of front and pieces in enclosure wall, inscribed slab at entrance, internal mouldings on vault, niches, both inscribed grave slabs and memorial plaque on east wall), should be given a protective cover during the course of the work in their vicinity. Particular care should be taken when such work is underway. Contractors and their workforce on site should be both specifically warned of the value of this fabric and of the especial need for care when working near it. This has particular relevance to the enclosure wall whose high value may otherwise be overlooked. iv Any excavation of the ground in the immediate vicinity, greater than a spade depth, should take place only under the supervision of an archaeologist, and with the awareness that other graves of pre-1685 date may well be found. Any such graves should not be further disturbed except for the most pressing reason. Should such reason exist, the distubed bones should be treated with respect and reburied with suitable religious ceremony in the post-1685 graveyard with an inscribed stone to mark their re-interment. This general statement of intent conforms to the advice set out in Historic Scotlands Memorandum of Guidance, and Stirling Charter, and in the (ICOMOS) Venice and Burra Charters. 21

7.1

New Use
No new use should be made of the grave house or its yard. This does not preclude public access to the interior at agreed times (for instance, during the annual Open Day event), so long as this is carried out with respect for the grave, in numbers appropriate to the houses size and under tight supervision. New use also may be made of the grave houses surroundings so long as such use is compatible with respect for the grave inside, and compatible with the housings cultural significance.

7.2

New Design Elements

No new design elements should be introduced internally, other than a memorial plaque to a direct descendant of the Niddrie Wauchopes line in one of the vacant niches, should that be so desired. No new design elements should be introduced on the west front or in the enclosure yard. New design elements may be introduced to the sites immediate surroundings so long as these are compatible with respect for the grave inside, and compatible with the sites significance.

7.3

Fabric Repair and Maintenance

In all repair works, the general policy statement laid out above should be paramount. The guiding criterion should be to save as much of the original material as possible, within the limits set by the overall health of the building itself and by public safety. If there is a choice of equally effective repair techniques, that which causes least disruption of the fabric should be chosen. Old stones should be replaced by new only if so decayed they now threaten the buildings structural integrity. Original structural members damaged by decay should be repaired rather than replaced. In all cases, physical intervention should be kept to the minimum necessary for the sites continuing health. No method of repair, or of cleaning, or consolidation should be used a whose effects are irreversible, and b that has not been previously tested in a comparable situation on site (as opposed to in laboratory conditions, or as an isolated piece of material exposed to weathering), for a minimum ten-year period without adverse results. No pipework or cabling etc should be cut into the stonework, internally or externally. No fixings should be made onto the interior or on the west front. Items that at present are so fixed should be removed and the fabric made good. No new interventions, other than those for the buildings health, should be made internally or on the west front. Inspection of the buildings fabric should be carried out at agreed, regular intervals, and a named individual given the responsibility for seeing this is carried out, and that any repair found to be necessary is promptly put in hand. 22

In all repair and maintenance work, however minimal, the sites value and interest should be explained to the workforce, and their involvement in its care encouraged.

7.5

Management
A named person or group should be made responsible for the management of the fabrics maintenance, and for the sites immediate surroundings and any use to which these are put. Such a person or group should understand the sites value, and that respect for the grave inside the house is essential.

7.6

Documenting change
All areas should be photographically recorded before and after work. Opening up of the original construction should be kept to a minimum. A copy of the photographic record, together with copies of survey drawings and the new design should be lodged with the National Monuments Record and the archivist of Glasgow City Council.

7.7

Working within Resources

A cost plan for the current proposals will be found in the accompanying documents. It should be noted that, with the establishing of a system of regular inspection and repair, and with the limiting of use to those compatible with and benefiting from the buildings existing form and architectural quality, in future the degree of repairs and alterations needed will drastically diminish, as will costs over the long term.

Implementation and Project Review

All concerned parties should agree to implement these policies.. When current proposals have also been agreed, a review panel should be established, consisting of the owners representative (or representatives), and other interested parties. The procedure for decision-making should be clearly set out and agreed, as should the procedure for calling meetings. A named individual should be made responsible for calling meetings and for seeing that the Plan is adhered to now and in the future. It is advisable that, once work is underway on site, a first review should be programmed to take place in view of potential practical problems. When the work is complete, the plan should continue to be reviewed at yearly intervals (or more often, if the need occurs).

29 The closehead, grave house and backgreen, 2010

23

Notes
1 A fire of 1799 damaged or destroyed many documents in the charter room. 2 In 1363, one of the Niddrie family had at least part of the land, as did a Heriot in 1423, Rev. Mr Thomas Whyte, An Account of the Parish of Liberton, in Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, VI, Edinburgh, 1792, p. 348. 3 Diurnal of Occurrents, p.32. 4 Whyte, op.cit., p.345. 5 MacGibbon and Ross, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, vol.2, Edinburgh, 1887 pp. 57, 58. 6 In 1858, Paterson reports, on making some excavations lately at the west end of the chapel vault, a number of bones were dug up. James Paterson, A History and Genealogy of the Family of Wauchope, Edinburgh, 1858, p.10. 7 Ibid, p.65. 8 In 1502, the priest, Dominus Willielmus Werok, had a manse, an acre of ground for a glebe, the privilege of having two cows fed in the common pasture, and twelve merks a year, as well as other possessions and emoluments. Whyte, op. cit., p.345. 9 Paterson, op.cit., p.23, (citing Act of Parliament.) 10 MacGibbon and Ross, op.cit., vi, p.190 - Cakemuir too] 11 Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol.i, Edinburgh, 1858, p.225 12 Paterson, op.cit., p.27, (citing Criminal Trials). 13 Ibid, p.23, (citing Calderwood). 14 Gordon Donaldson, Scotland, The Making of the Kingdom: James V - James VII, Edinburgh, 1978, pp.189-192. 15 Chambers, op.cit., p.238 (citing Diary of Robert Birrel, 1532-1605.). 16 Paterson, op.cit., p.27. 17 Ibid, p.28, citing Winchester XXIX, September 1603. 18 Paterson, op.cit., p.28. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid, p.29, citing family manuscript notes. 21 Ibid, and Donaldson, op.cit., pp.374-376. 22 Paterson p.29. 23 Whyte, op.cit., p.351. 24 During the occupation, English troops carried off the tower heads copper cover MacGibbon and Ross, op.cit., p.64 (citing MS notebook in family possession). 25 Don aldson, op.cit., p.246. George Bruces underwater mine of the seventeenth century was said to be a wonder of Scotrland, and in 1620 Samuel Johnstone of Elphinstone received a patent for new methods of draining pits and bringing coal to the surface. 26 The Act also gave the coal owners and masters the powers to to apprehend vagabonds and sturdy beggars and put them to work in the mines. A further Act of 1641 extended those enslaved to include other workers in the mines and forced the colliers to work six days a week. 27 George Montgomery, A History of Newton Parish, Edinburgh 1984, p.58. 28 Donaldson, op.cit., pp. 381-2. 29 Whyte, op.cit., pp.349, 351, also Paterson, op.cit., p.34. 30 Ibid, p.257. 31 It is also possible that just too many graves were now near the house. 32 Donaldson, op.cit., p. 382. 33 Whyte, op.cit., p.349. 34 Paterson, op.cit.. 35 Most books on the area mention the tradition that Andrew Wauchopes young son, with his nurse, visited the Jacobite army when it was camped at Duddingston with food for it concealed in a basket. 36 Correspondence of Andrew Wauchope, 1724-1783. NLS ref. GB 233/Acc 6694 37 Ibid. 38 Whyte,op.cit., p.346 39 Paterson, op.cit., p.34 and Montgomery, op.cit., p.61 40 Whyte, op.cit., p.295. 41 History of the Scottish Coal Industry, p.300 42 Whyte, p.346. 43 Ibid, p.345. 44 Ibid, p.346. In Johnstones map of 1831, the remains of Niddrie Chapel are shown as being some tens of metres further away from the house, very close to the burn, and quite seperate from the grave house. Most later maps place it on the gravehouse site. 45 Scotsman, 19 January 1943, p.3. Mrs Wauchope left a personal estate of 62,827. The heir of the estate itself was Edward de Moleyns, the son of her husbands elder sister Harriet, by her marriage to the 4th Lord Ventry (Scotsman, 4 Sept. 1917). 46 Scotsman, 18 January 1939. 47 Scotsman, 7 April, 28 June, 13 Ocober 1950. 48 Scotsman, 4 May 1931. The inscription reads, In memory of Mrs Helen Hume daughter of Lord Kimmerghame VJS who lived upwards of 45 years a virtuous affectionate and complacent wife to Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie Marischal and bore to him thirteen children whom she reared with the tenderest affection averted by partial fondness or improper indulgence it was mild benevolent social and cheerful without artifice and without disguise. Her person well formed and agreeable responded to the purity of her mind by its constant neatness maintained without affectation of ornament be secured by temperance an uniform course of good health and when at last attacked by disease o she would have been content for the sake of her husband and family to live sometime longer yet finding her dissolution approach, she with perfect submission to the divine will and in testimony of an conscience void of offence calmly quitted her mortal frame without emotion or complaint. She died on the 10th September 1780 at Bath where by her desire her body is interred. 49 Scotsman, 7 April 1950.

24

Bibliography
(It should be noted that the core information on Niddrie comes from Whyte, Paterson and McGibbon and Ross, and is merely repeated with varying degrees of accuracy in other books, though these do offer other contextual information.)

Appendix 1
Listing: NIDDRIE MARISCHAL HOUSE TOMBHOUSE, NIDDRIE MARISCHAL TERRACE [sic]; HB Number 28103; Item Number: 397; Map sheet: NT37SW Category: B; Date of Listing, 14-DEC-1970 Description: 18th century. Vaulted tomb-house adjoining western extension of mansion (now demolished). Pedimented facade with quoin ends, rusticated centre arch flanked by niches.

Primary sources
Correspondence of Andrew Wauchope, 1724 - 1783. NLS ref. GB 233/Acc 6694 Whyte, Rev. Mr Thomas, An Account of the Parish of Liberton, in Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, VI, Edinburgh, 1792

Description of carved stones in enclosure wall

(from The Tenth Report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, RCAHMS, Edinburgh, 1929, p.117) Site visited 1921 1 a moulded freestone base of a freestone standing cross, square on plan, 1ft 7 ins across the base, and 1ft 2 ins in height. The missing shaft has been 11ins broad by 7 ins deep and sat 6 ins within its base. 2 a circular bowl of freestone, 1ft high and 1ft 9ins in diameter, which is apparently a font. It bears in relief on its outer surface shields on which are grotesques 3 a freestone panel, 1ft 4ins high by 1ft 5ins broad, that bears an angel holding a shield parted per pale and charged with dexter, a garb in base and two mullets in chief, for Wauchope, and, sinister, a hunting horn stringed and garnished for Forrester. Around the margin runs an illegible inscription in Gothic lettering 4 a cross-head of freestone, with hollowed angles between the arms and lozengeshaped voided centre, that measures 1ft 8ins above the necking band and 1ft 7ins across the arms; the thickness is 5ins. The shaft is oblong and measures 7 ins by 5ins. 5 a panel of freestone, 1ft 7ins high by 1ft broad, bearing beneath a crown a shield charged with the Royal Arms of Scotland 6 the moulded head of a piscina or credence. It is 1ft 5ins in height and 3ft broad, and has a moulded hood of ogival form, croketted on the extrados and flanked by two uncarved shields; beside it, on the south-western angle of the enclosure, is a little engaged shaft, 1ft 5ins high by 2 ins diameter, with moulded base and necking. 25

Secondary Sources
Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol.i, Edinburgh, 1858 Cockburn, Henry, Memorials of his time, Edinburgh, 1856 Ferenbach, Rev. Campbell, Annuls of Liberton, Edinburgh, 1975 Good, George, Liberton in Ancient and Modern Times, Edinburgh, 1893 MacGibbon, David and Ross, Thomas, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, vol.2, Edinburgh, 1887 Montgomery, George, A History of Newton Parish, Edinburgh 1984, Paterson, James, A History and Genealogy of the Family of Wauchope, Edinburgh, 1858 RCAHMS, The Tenth Report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, Edinburgh, 1929 Small, John, The Castles and Mansions of the Lothians, Edinburgh, 1883 Speedy, Tom, Craigmillar and its Environs, Selkirk, 1892

Appendix 2
Proposed Standby Generator tp Chapel at Niddrie House Drive, 1982

Roofing specification
existing roof to be made watertight by the following treatment:- the joints between the slabs are to be raked out to a depth of 25 & a backing plaotazote rope insertted. The joints are to be primed by painting with Expandite no.7 primer & Thioflex-One gunned in. The entire surface once the sealant has cured is to be pointed with a silicone sealant treatment.

30

26

Appendix 3
Proposed new planting to improve sites context

Hedging: Leylandii for its fast-growing properties. Because of the risk of damage by vandals, plants of c.1.0m in height should be transplanted. Frequent trimming will be necessary to achieve the required density.
31 Location of Niddrie house and burn in 1960 overlaid on the layout in 2010

But the garden! the garden! ... [it] contained absolutely everything that a garden could supply for mans delightful use; peaches and oaks, gravel walks, and a wilderness grotesque and wild, a burn and a bowling green, shade and sun, covert and lawn, vegetables and glorious holly hedges - everything delightful either to the young or the old. Eden was not more varied.
(Henry Cockburn, Memorials of his Time, Edinburgh, 1856, p.17)

Cockburns glowing description of the now eradicated Niddrie estate gardens provides part of the rationale for this proposal; one small feature from them would be recreated. The other reasons are, as previously given 1 protection from vandalism 2 protection from weathering 3 the creation of a self-contained world with the grave house as its centre.
32 Location of proposed hedge and information board

27