A Prize Winning Undergraduate

Architectural Archaeology Dissertation

by Kennedy Dold May 2020

It was spring when I first discovered the Botanic Cottage.  I remember thinking how the beech hedge framed it like an illustration directly off the pages of Andrew Lang’s fairy tales.  At the time, I was studying History and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh with a focus on architectural archaeology.  I had no idea how important the stories held in the stones of this unassuming cottage would become to me.  

A long view of the georgian, pale ochre coloured, slate roofed, Botanic Cottage through an arch cut in a tall beech hedge. The door is pale green and the windows on the ground floor have matching pale green shutters either side of the windows.
The reconstructed Botanic Cottage from 1765 @RBGE rebuilt in 2016 with all of the stones and timbers going back in the correct places, and finished so that it looks as good as it did 250 years ago.

The following Autumn, I noticed a call for volunteers.  From the first time I stepped inside, I could tell the roots of its rich history allowed it to grow and adapt into the twenty-first century.  Being an artist, I was drawn to the story of Agnes Williamson.  Agnes was the daughter of George Williamson, the head gardener under Professor John Hope (John Hope was Regius Keeper of the RBGE from 1761 to 1786, during which period he moved the Garden from Trinity Hospital to a new, larger site on Leith Walk).  Hope employed Agnes as an illustrator to create teaching diagrams.  Agnes called the Botanic Cottage her home.  Like me, she had found beauty and tranquility within its walls.         

Working with staff & volunteers, all part of the Cottage team, I delved into the history and archaeology of the Cottage.  By assisting with educational programs such as Grandpa’s Garden, I played a part in continuing the mission of the Cottage as a place of community and education laid out by John Hope in 1765. Using two years of volunteer work, I wanted to contribute to Hope’s mission by focusing on the Cottage as a case study to explore cultural heritage, social memory, and architectural archaeology.  My research culminated in my undergraduate dissertation: ‘The Oldest and Youngest Building:’ The Botanic Cottage at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in context.

  • image shows John Hope’s early botanic garden on Leith Walk illustration. The building’s drawing presents the elevations and the first design of the historical botanic cottage. It is a simple building with six windows and a door in the middle and a gate with two additional entries
  • image shows a black & white image from the 1990's of the upper floor of the stone Cottage at road level with a front door and a window either side. You can just see a glimpse of the lower floor windows. There are black wrought iron railings at the front either side of the entrance way and the Cottage has a grey slate roof.
Left: Design for improvement of the Leith Walk frontage of the gardener’s house and garden doors, probably James Craig c.1780
Right: The Botanic Cottage on Lieth Walk in the early 1990’s, after the new walkway had been built and a front door installed where a window had been

Using interviews with the people responsible for the Cottage’s survival and rebirth as well as the RBGE’s extensive library and achieve. I explored how the Cottage fell out of social memory, how it was reintroduced and what it means for the future of the site.  I still remember how amazing it was to see the original plans for the Cottage and John Hope’s maps of his early Botanic Garden on Leith Walk! 

  • image shows a gentleman in a white shirt at the edge of a stone lined archaeology pit he is explaining the project to two visitors to his side who are listening attentively.
  • image shows a building construction site with scaffolding, there are a group of visitors standing listening to a lecture and they are wearing yellow high vis jackets with Maxi written on them and all wearing white safety hardhats.
Left: Sutherland Forsyth hosting community visitors to the Leith Walk dig site 2015
Right: Hosted visit to the Botanic Cottage reconstruction site RBGE 2015

The study demonstrates the importance of cultural heritage and access to archaeological sites.  It shows how local communities can save a forgotten structure from demolition and transform it into a building of national significance.  More broadly, the Cottage proved to be a type-site for engagement and education within an archaeological site. Simultaneously the ‘oldest and youngest’ building at the RBGE, the Cottage adapted but still maintained Hope’s original purpose to educate new generations.

For my research, I was co-awarded the University of Edinburgh’s Archaeological Dissertation Prize.  I gifted my dissertation to the Cottage as thank you for allowing me to be yet another small part in Cottage’s long collective memory.  

image shows a young woman, Kennedy Dold, standing smiling outside the Botanic Cottage. Kennedy is wearing the maroon volunteer gilet and has on the lanyard with keys for the Cottage. She is wearing jeans, a blue jumper, has blonde hair tied back and black rimmed glasses.
Kennedy Dold, Botanic Cottage Volunteer Team member

The Botanic Cottage has shown me a greater appreciation for collective memory.  It is truly remarkable how John Hope’s original intention to provide for and educate a community has prevailed for over 250 years.  During the time I was working or researching in the Cottage, I was just like Agnes or one of Hope’s students. Education at its core is the desire to understand.  Over the centuries the Cottage’s branches have continued to grow upward toward the future, forever blooming with new ideas.

To see more stories about the Botanic Cottage current public engagement work go to Twitter @BotanicCottage

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