Opening gates to Adam Smith’s garden to create new community space in heart of Kirkcaldy

The Adam Smith Global Foundation has a new general manager, to be followed by a new centre manager as it aims to bring its heritage centre, and his former garden back into use.

Fife acting legend Dougray Scott brings some Hollywood glamour to this summer’s festival weekend, but the bigger picture is getting the town’s physical assets around Smith up and running again. The heritage centre at 1 Adam Smith Close was opened in 2016 after a derelict building was refurbished, but it has been largely closed since lockdown.

The garden adjacent to it was once part of Smith’s family home, and a largely forgotten, hidden from view green space - the largest in the High Street - is now being opened up for use by the community. An outdoor yoga class launches this week, and that could be the forerunner to more events and initiatives as the foundation looks to bringing the garden back into public use - and getting people back into the heritage centre.

Gordon Povey, the foundation’s new general manager, wants to see the town tap into Smith’s global fame.

“The world and world leaders know about Adam Smith,” he said. “We have an amazing asset in him. We have physical assets and we have the fact this is where he was born and where he worked on his books. We need to put it all together in the right way.”

The foundation has set up a USA arm for academics and businesses to get involved, and identify the opportunities which could benefit the Lang Toun where Smith grew up and wrote his seminal book The Wealth Of Nations.

“He wrote the majority of the book here, and we can reasonably assume he wandered around his mother’s garden contemplating his ideas,” said Gordon. “This was his birthplace and we want to make much more of that. Edinburgh and Glasgow certainly have claims on parts of Smith’s life but he grew up here, his mother gave him a good education here. The foundations of a treat man came from here. We want to make the Wealth of Nations specific to Kirkcaldy- the first edition was published while he lived here.”

With the landmark anniversary set for 2026, the foundation has time to work on restoring the garden to how it may have looked during Smith’s time, and making it a viable space for community use, as well as re-opening the heritage centre. It has access issues to address to make the garden usable, but has a plan to start slowly and build it up.

“We can’t host large events just now, but we are starting with an outdoor yoga class which will give us an opportunity to see how it goes and get feedback,” said Gordon. “We do want community groups to come and speak to us about using the garden, because most people do not know it is here.

“We do want to make it a community space - it is the largest private garden in the High Street, and it is an asset to be used by the community. It will take us until next year to get everything in place, but we are looking ahead.”

The Festival of Ideas, which takes place on the weekend of June 7-8, will raise Smith’s profile with Scott in conversation at St Bryce Kirk, and a host of academics taking part on a day of debate and discussion. Comedian Kieran Hodgson also brings his acclaimed Fringe show, Big In Scotland, to the church.

Tickets for for both shows are available from St Bryce Kirk and also online at https://www.adamsmithglobalfoundation.com/events-1