JK GILLON

Curling has been a popular sport in Scotland since the 16th century. The Nor' Loch was Edinburgh's favourite venue, but when it was drained in the 18th century, Duddingston Loch began to attract the Edinburgh curlers.

The Duddingston Curling Society was formed in 1795 and it soon became the most important curling club in Scotland. Many hard winters in the early part of the 19th century provided perfect conditions and the sport boomed.

The membership fee for the Duddingston Society was three guineas and the club attracted the most distinguished curlers from all over Scotland. The Society had a number of officials, including a poet laureate. There was also a salaried officer, equipped with a ladder and ropes, who was responsible for the safety of curlers on the ice. The Society was the first to introduce a membership badge and members who failed to wear it on the ice were fined a shilling.

In 1803, the Society established the first code of rules for the game, 'to avoid disputes and ensure harmony amongst the members'; and these were used as the basis for the rules of modern curling. They included fines for 'uttering oaths and introducing a political subject into conversation'.

The Duddingston Curling Society flourished until 1853, when the game began to move indoors to artificial ice rinks.