Green Walk: Tracing the South Side

*Updated with itinerary and info links below*

From The Causey to Summerhall via St Leonards and Sciennes.

Once one of the most densely populated areas in Europe, the South Side was nearly emptied in the 60s-70s before the South Side Association fought off the comprehensive development area plan to replace the community with a six-line highway and university buildings. Luckily there’s still lots to imagine and see in the South Side, like the vegetarian cafe where suffragettes hung out, and one the most famous literary houses in the city.

We’ll meet at The Causey, on the traffic island, at the Buccleuch Street end of West Crosscauseway.

This walk is wheelchair accessible and dog friendly. Optional hot and cold drinks at Summerhall to finish off.

If you have any questions, email seeg@scottishgreens.org.uk.

If you’re interested in the post-war story of the South Side and the fight to save it, watch to this video – ‘Pull it doon’ – made in 1997 by the South Side Association:

Itinerary and further info

• 2 Buccleuch St – first housing to be saved after the comprehensive development area plan was halted (mentioned in the video above)
• The Causey and The Causey campaign
• Parker’s Triangle
• Paperback Bookshop Rhinoceros Head
• ‘The Next Big Thing . . . is a Series of Little Things’
• Café Vegetaria: haven for suffragettes
• Bell’s Brewery
• James Hutton Memorial Garden
• Quaker Meeting House and Burial Ground
• Penny Tenement collapse
• St Leonards Hospital
• Hermits and Termits
• Innocent Railway Tunnel
• Wells o’ Wearie
• St Trinnean’s School
• Nelson Printworks
• Jewish Burial Ground
• Sciennes Hill House
• Summerhall