Wardie Playing Fields. Fourteen acres of windswept turf in the north of Edinburgh where generations of school children have loved or loathed muddy games of football, sports days and the dreaded "cross country" runs. But there's rather more to the story of this place than just that. It had a brief but very important role to play during World War 2 and for over 10 years afterwards it was the site of some of the most desperately needed but most deplorable housing in the city.