Guidelines Internetion @ l WFTGA Newsletter March / April 2017 www. wftga. org
UK SCOTLAND ITGD 2017
From Rosalind Newlands
The Edinburgh and SE Scotland Branch of the Scottish Tourist Guides Association were presented this year with a unique opportunity to put together a bespoke walking tour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Edinburgh’ s New Town, which along with the Old Town, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
James Craig won a competition in 1766 to plan a visionary‘ new town’ for Edinburgh. It would be residential and would attract people of wealth to the City. It was also planned to show loyalty to the Hanoverian King down in London and let it be known that Edinburgh was no backwater.
James Craig’ s plan was a first! A planned grid system with three parallel streets, wide and spacious, with a square at either end of the middle or main street named after the King, George 3rd. Intersecting streets were named after the Hanoverian Royal Family and included the emblems of Scotland and England – the Thistle and the Rose. The plan was granted Royal Assent and building began in 1767, 250 years ago. The grid plan was very successful, although its use from residential to commercial slowly changed, and further residential extensions were added throughout the 19th century to enlarge Edinburgh’ s New Town. Nowadays it is a very sought-after part of town to work and live in amid its architectural elegance.
One or two major tourism organisations in Edinburgh( ETAG and Essential Edinburgh) decided to celebrate the 250th anniversary with a lumiere event, whereby several of the original buildings of Edinburgh’ s first New Town would be lit up with special projections giving a glimpse of what life was like for the Georgians of the late 18th century. The local branch of the STGA was able to collaborate with these organisations to devise a walk that would link these key buildings. The walks were to be known as a walking tour of Edinburgh’ s Georgian Shadows and guides were to represent the original‘ link boys’, urchins who would guide residents of the New Town from their houses to other buildings by using a flaming torch. We’ re using lanterns!
The project was launched on Thursday 23rd February in the week of International Tourist Guide Day and our walks began on the 24th February. The walks were designed to talk about the architecture, the social life of the early Georgians and the plan behind the New Town. They took place in the evenings, lasting around 75 minutes when we could admire all the special lighting projections.
We ran 18 walks until the 25th March for 900 bookings, many from local residents interested in finding out more about their city. Not only have we attracted many more bookings than expected, but also we have raised the
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