To the north of the Africa Pavilion Buildings, at David Livingstone Birthplace, Blantyre is a large, open and flat grassy field. It slopes steeply down towards the river and at present in 2022 is closed off to the public.
Though just woodland and fields today, this was once the location of Blantyre’s outdoor arena. A circular outdoor, grassy auditorium once existed, open to the elements, and shaped in a horseshoe on raised earthworks to give the best possible view of the arena platform.
The open air theatre was created for the launch of David Livingstone Centre National Memorial in 1929. Over the next decade or so, it featured concerts, pageants and plays, all outside, all most probably very cold!
I’ve coloured the photo to show perhaps how it looked.
what a great colouring Paul, oh how I miss Blantyre