History - Rosyth Garden City

The names Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth Garden City are familiar to many people but perhaps the same cannot be said of Rosyth Garden City.

In the beginning

For much of the latter half of the 20th Century, the fact that Rosyth was created as a Garden City had largely faded from the public consciousness. Prior to that, the words "Rosyth Garden City" were routinely included in postal addresses in the same way as Welwyn and Letchworth but gradually this practice fell into disuse.

So how did Rosyth come to be built on Garden City lines? At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Government were seeking to establish a new Royal Naval Dockyard on the east coast. The existing Dockyards were mainly along the south coast of England away from the North Sea which was the most likely area of conflict with the German Fleet. Various sites were considered including the Humber and the Cromarty Firth but the choice fell on St Margaret's Hope in the River Forth. The work of building the Dockyard began in 1909. There was no town of Rosyth and the men working on the construction of the Dockyard (many of them navvies) had to find lodgings in the neighbouring communities of Limekilns, Charlestown, Inverkeithing and Dunfermline. A number of model lodging houses were built in these communities to cope with the demand. In 1913, a hut village was constructed at Hilton Road close to the Dockyard. The huts were made of corrugated iron and were known as Tin Town.

The lodging houses and huts sufficed for those building the Dockyard but there was a need for permanent housing for the men who would be working in the Dockyard and their families. The Admiralty had bought sufficient land for this purpose but were reluctant to take on this role. At that time the Garden City Movement was growing following the publication of a book "Garden Cities of Tomorrow" in 1902. The author, Ebenezer Howard, was deeply concerned about social issues. He believed that "if each man could have his own house, a large garden to cultivate and healthy surroundings then …there would be for them a better opportunity of a happy family life". Howard's design adopted a low-density approach. His Garden Cities were characterised by their unity of design and purpose. Houses were to have their own front and back gardens: there were to be shopping centres, libraries, reading rooms, hospitals, schools, churches, playing fields, allotments, public buildings and open spaces. Large well planned parks were to be located within easy walking distance from every house and the streets themselves were to be wide, open tree-lined boulevards.

There was general agreement that the new town of Rosyth should be built on Garden City lines but there was no agreement as to which branch of Government should take on the role. The Edinburgh and East of Scotland Branch of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association in Edinburgh offered their help and in December 1913, Raymond Unwin was appointed by the Admiralty to prepare a detailed plan. Tenders were invited from private contractors interested in building the town but no satisfactory offer was received. With work on the Dockyard progressing, the time was rapidly approaching when some 2000 men (mainly from the Southern Dockyards) would need to be suitably housed. The solution finally adopted was to establish a body known as the Scottish National Housing Company whose sole purpose was to build Rosyth Garden City. Dunfermline Town Council held the majority of shares in the Company but a small proportion were owned by private individuals. The bulk of the finance came from loans from the Local Government Board for Scotland. The Government passed the Housing (Rosyth Dockyard) Act 1915 which exempted the building work from the normal Scottish building acts and by-laws and speeded up the process.

The first homes

Work finally started in 1915. The first phase of 150 houses was designed by an Edinburgh based firm of architects, Greig and Fairbairn, but the work was overseen by one of Unwin’s pupils A H Mottram. He was responsible for the design of most of the other houses in the Garden City and many of his original architectural drawings are held by the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The formal ceremony to mark the occupation of the first house took place in May 1916. The designs of the houses were not without their critics but a report by the Parliamentary Committee of the Scottish Trades Union Council in 1917 was very complimentary about the layout of the town describing it as far in advance of anything yet attempted in Scotland. Work continued apace and by the end of 1918, some 1600 houses had been built with Holloway Brothers of London being responsible for most of them. This was a remarkable achievement given the shortage of labour and materials during war time. A source of clay for brick building had been found close to Rosyth and many of the bricks used in the Rosyth houses came from this local source. German prisoners of war were used to make the bricks.

The original plans for the Dockyard envisaged Rosyth becoming a manning port similar to Portsmouth and Devonport with boys and men doing their training at Rosyth and certain ships being designated as Rosyth manned ships. The Dockyard was to have a naval barracks, a hospital, gunnery and torpedo schools and a training establishment for boys. The population of Rosyth was expected to increase to 30,000 and the intention was to erect 3000 houses over 6 years for the civilian population. The Housing Company were authorised to build another 100 houses in 2 batches in 1921 and 1924 but these proved to be the last houses to be built as part of the Garden City. By the Treaty of Washington in 1922, the major naval powers agreed to limit the size of their navies which, for the Royal Navy, meant a significant reduction in the number of capital ships. A smaller navy meant less work for the Royal Naval Dockyards.

In 1921, short time working was introduced in the Dockyard and, in September 1925,the Dockyard was closed and put on a care and maintenance basis. The “established” men who worked in the Dockyard were posted back to the southern yards and many of the houses in Rosyth Garden City became vacant. The Housing Company obtained authority to let the vacant houses at rents similar to those charged to Dockyard employees and the houses were soon occupied. In 1926, over 1100 of the 1700 houses were vacated and re-let to people from Inverkeithing, Dunfermline, North Queensferry, railway employees, labourers from various parts of the District, retired people, disabled soldiers, pensioners, professional and businessmen and commercial travellers. It is difficult to comprehend just what a change this would have made to the character of the town. In 1924, the tenants were all Dockyard employees of working age, many of them from England. Two years later Rosyth had become a Scottish town with tenants from many different walks of life, a number of them being of pensionable age.

Nowadays, Rosyth may not seem anything special - simply an older version of many of our modern housing estates but, when it was built, it was very different from the type of housing being provided in towns and cities at that time. The novelty of Rosyth attracted many visitors in the early days and, indeed, even some 10 years after the houses had been completed. In 1929, the local paper reported that there were numerous visitors from Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Spring holiday despite a bleak, cold and sunless day. They were interested in the displays in the shops and the houses and gardens were a source of attraction.

With the possible threat of war looming, it was announced at the end of 1938 that the Dockyard was to be re-opened. The wheel had turned full circle. Once again the Dockyard was needed to support the Royal Navy and there was the same need to house incoming workers from the southern Dockyards. More houses were required in Rosyth to cope with the demand and the Housing Company were authorised to build a further 134 houses. These were somewhat similar to the original Garden City houses but of plainer design. In 1942, the Admiralty themselves were responsible for the building of an estate of 650 single storey (mostly brick built) houses popularly known as Dollytown. The houses were flat roofed rectangular boxes with none of the architectural features of the Garden City houses. They were intended to be temporary housing but it was some 30 years before they were demolished and replaced with Council housing.

Today

So what of Rosyth Garden City today? All of the 1700 original houses have stood the test of time and are still there some 90 years later. The Scottish National Housing Company (later the Scottish Special Housing Association) factored the houses for many years. Rosyth expanded into areas such as Camdean during the 1950s and 60s. In the mid 1980s, Dunfermline District Council designated the original Garden City part of Rosyth as a Conservation Area with the aim of preserving the character of the area.

The Conservation Area designation soon came under criticism as the owners of properties found that they were unable to alter their properties in the way they wanted. In a referendum held in 1989 among the residents in the designated area, a significant majority of those voting favoured the withdrawal of the Conservation Area status. The District Council bowed to this expression of public opinion and removed the designation in 1990. The town now represents a community of around 12,000 people.

This is an abridged version of an article written by Martin Rogers for the Summer 2009 edition of the Scottish Local History Forum.