The New Town Gardens are a collection of around 30 mostly private gardens and parks within the Edinburgh New Town Conservation Area spread across the New Town and the West End, listed as a heritage designation since March 2001. The gardens comprise a series of 18th and 19th century town gardens, squares and walks, established contemporaneously with the New Town of Edinburgh between 1767 and around 1850. The gardens typically belong to the town houses and tenement flats that overlook them, and serve as a private outdoor space for the residents who often lack individual back gardens due to the proclivity of drying greens and carriage houses.