A School History Lesson

Time for some history as Alan Veitch, Bert Barclay and John Archer take a nostalgic trip around the sports grounds of Daniel Stewart’s College and Edinburgh Institution / Melville College.

We are all of us used to the superb sports facilities at Inverleith and the older among us will fondly remember playing at Ferryfield. I can guarantee, however, that no one reading this will remember games being played at Warriston or Gorgie or the other venues used before both Daniel Stewart’s College and Melville College settled on opposite sides of Ferry Road.

Edinburgh Institution/ Melville College

The Edinburgh Institution, established by Rev Robert Cunningham in 1832 in 59 George Street, lacked any sort of facilities for sports until 1867 when ground was rented from the Orphan Institution, later the Dean Orphanage and now the eastern building of the National Gallery of Modern Art. This ground was rented in 1867 and 1868 but in 1869 a piece of land in Warriston situated between Eildon Street and Warriston Terrace was taken for the purpose of school sports.

Map of Warriston ground in 1878 and is still there today being used as Edinburgh Council School Playing fields

Edinburgh Institution FP CC first home match at Warriston on 4th May 1878

The Edinburgh Institution (FP) Football club which had been founded in 1871 by RM Neill played at Warriston as did the FP cricket club (founded in 1877) but conditions there were far from ideal. The pitch was both damp and short and changing facilities were under canvas in a tent which, even for these days, some clubs found unsuitable! In view of this, and in part due to the generosity of a father of two pupils, the club was given use of a pitch at Coltbridge almost opposite the main entrance to Murrayfield, and this was used from 1878 for some years. This move to a new pitch brought great success and in seasons 188081 and 1881-82 under the captaincy of NT Brewis and latterly R Ainslie the club won the unofficial Scottish championship. Brewis also skippered the Institution FP cricket and golf teams and later captained the Scottish rugby team. However in 1890 the London and North Eastern Railway Company bought the land at Coltbridge for the purpose of developing it by erecting engine sheds and railway sidings and the Institution was once again on the search for a new location.

Map of Coltbridge ground replaced by the Engine Shed in 1890, very close to the Murrayfield Stadium main entrance

A return to Warriston was not on the cards but an excellent pitch was found at Lady Napier’s Park in Portobello on the land now occupied by Southfield Square. While the ground was ideal the location most certainly was not! The ground was virtually inaccessible with the nearest transport being Portobello Station, a

good 15 minutes walk away. This caused great problems for players and spectators alike and the club was on the verge of going out of existence when in 1902 it was forced to give up Lady Napier’s Park and had to return to Warriston. Proposals to acquire and enlarge Warriston to better suit the needs of both school and FP Club were unsuccessful but in 1906 the school and former pupils were able to lease ground in Ferry Road directly opposite the Scottish Rugby Union’s ground of Inverleith. In 1924 a 3 day bazaar was held in the Music Hall in George Street and the money raised by this was used to purchase Ferryfield for the sum of £5700.00. It must have been some bazaar!

Map of Lady Napier’s Park in the grounds of Duddingston cottage in 1901. Now occupied by Southfield Square, close to Milton Road West

The first FP cricket match played at Ferryfield on 20th July 1907 Edinburgh Institution FP Rugby Club Scottish Club Champions in 1880-81

Pavilion at Ferryfield, 1963

Daniel Stewart’s College

In 1870 Daniel Stewart’s Hospital became a day school and changed its name to Daniel Stewart’s Institution. There were no organised sports under the auspices of the school but Daniel Stewart’s Institution had an advantage over the Edinburgh Institution in that the school boasted a playground! It cannot be said that the playground was ideal for organised sport in that not only was the surface in the main composed of clinker but it also ran down a slope towards the main school building. Despite this a XX was organised and captained by James Gibb and a challenge duly issued to George Watson’s College. The result was in Stewart’s favour and the school won by a drop goal. It was not until 1875, however, that an FP team was formed and again its first match was against George Watson’s FPs. This was very much an ad hoc game and the Stewart’s College FP Football Club was not formed until 1885. Early matches were played at Gorgie, although it has not been possible to establish exactly where these took place. Before Heart of Midlothian moved to their present ground at Tynecastle they too played elsewhere in Gorgie from 1881 at a ground now occupied by Wardlaw Street and Wardlaw Terrace. It would be pleasing to think that they may have shared a ground!

The clinker is clearly visible in this Daniel Stewart’s College team photo

The formation of the Stewart’s College Athletic Club in March 1886 brough together all sports and the Merchant Company was encouraged to take up a lease on Honeyman’s Field from the governors of Trinity Hospital at £8.00 per annum. This field and its three cottages was at the junction of what is now Ravelston Dykes and Queensferry Terrace and is of course now built on. The school sports of 1887 were held there and were organised by the FP Club, a tradition which lasted until 1970.

Ground at Ravelston around 1900

Map from 1894 showing location of Ravelston ground

The first FP cricket match played at Ravelston on 28th May 1887

Albeit Honeyman’s Field was in an excellent location geographically for the school it was being somewhat rocky and undulating, not an ideal playing surface. In 1895 the governors of the College were again induced to purchase a parcel of land at Inverleith from the Rocheid family. This land was situated at the north west of the present ground where the artificial cricket wicket is located.

Map of Inverleith from 1898

The first FP cricket match and formal opening of Inverleith on 18th May 1895

Shortly thereafter in 1897 the Scottish Football Union purchased a field at Inverleith from the Fettes Trust for the sum of £3800.00, paid for by the sale of debentures. (Plus ca change…!). This was used as the Scottish international ground until, after the purchase of land at Murrayfield from the Edinburgh Polo Club in 1922, the last international was played at Inverleith on 25 January 1925 with Scotland beating France 25–4. Once again the Merchant Company, this time with the aid of the FP Club, was willing to supply the funds with which to buy the international ground. Now possessed of one of the finest grounds in the country the first match took place on 2 October 1926 when Royal High School FP was defeated by 8 points to 6.

Just prior to this in 1920 plans were drawn up for a sports field for the Edinburgh Ladies College at that part of the ground bounded by East Fettes Avenue and Ferry Road but separated from the Stewart’s pitches by a low wall. The headmistress, Miss Clarke, opened the ground by hitting the first tennis ball in 1923 and senior pupils would travel by tram from Queen Street to make use of the facilities although it was not until 1929 that junior pupils were allowed to use this facility. When the new Mary Erskine school was opened at Ravelston in 1967 tennis courts and hockey pitches were included on the site and this enabled Stewart’s to expand into the furthest west corner of Inverleith. First of all the existing tennis courts were taken over and then the hockey pitches were converted into a further rugby pitch during the winter and for the summer an artificial wicket for cricket was laid. The tennis courts have now metamorphosed

The grounds of Stewart’s Hospital, the Scottish Football Union and Edinburgh Institution in 1912

Scotland v Wales at Inverleith on 7th February 1920 Result Scotland 9 Wales 5

Large crowd for the opening match at Inverleith

into an all-weather hockey pitch and a new pavilion has been added to serve both hockey and those playing cricket on the “arti”. The wall which ran north – south separating the Stewart’s and Mary Erskine parts of the ground, acting as a cordon sanitaire separating the sexes, was demolished although there exists still a slight banking showing its original location. As for the Union Field the press box which stood for many years atop the banking on the east side of the field all but demolished itself during a bout of severe weather and the banking itself was used as infill to level up the ground where the cricket nets now stand.