Edinburgh City Chambers from Cockburn Street

Cockburn Street ( ) is a street in Edinburgh's Old Town, created as a serpentine link from the

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

to Waverley Station in 1856. Originally named Lord Cockburn Street after the then recently deceased Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure Henry, Lord Cockburn who was influential in urging his fellow citizens to remain vigilant in ensuring that early-Victorian expansion, e.g. improvements such as Cockburn Street, did not irrevocably damage or obliterate the built heritage and environment. Lord Cockburn's head is carved over the entrance to 1 Cockburn Street (the former Cockburn Hotel) which now serves as offices for the

Edinburgh Military Tattoo The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands, and artistic performance teams on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the capital of ...

. The street contains a series of small specialist shops.

History

The street was sliced through the previous medieval pattern of closes in order to give a more gentle gradient and wider thoroughfare to Waverley Station (opened in 1846 but then only accessible via narrow and steep lanes from the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

). The truncated ends of the closes were remodelled in the Scots Baronial style from 1859 to 1864. The majority of buildings are by the firm of Peddie & Kinnear. It was originally called Lord Cockburn Street but the "Lord" was abandoned within ten years.Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 ch.34 The street is largely 4 storeys high but is dominated by the huge rear edifice of the City Chambers, which tower 12 storeys above the street as seen from this side. Given that the building dates from 1761, this is evidence to Edinburgh's fondness for high-rise structures dating back to the 18th century.

Medieval remnants

All closes to north and south retain the medieval street pattern. Most closes on the south side (leading to the

) contain remnants from the 16th century. The most impressive are Warriston Close and Advocates Close. Closes on the north side are generally 19th century.

Notable features

One of the buildings on the north side has high level carvings of an owl and pussycat, linking to the then contemporary poem ''

The Owl and the Pussycat "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" is a nonsense verse, nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine ''Our Young Folks'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets ...

'' by Edward Lear. Several shops retain huge timber shutters which uniquely drop below ground level when the shops are open.

Featured in film

The doorway, roofscape and top flats of 51 Cockburn Street appear prominently in the film '' Hallam Foe''. Scenes for the movie Avengers: Infinity War were filmed in the street in April 2017. The chase seen between Mark and Begbie in

Trainspotting 2 ''T2 Trainspotting'' is a 2017 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' and ...

includes a sequence on Cockburn Street.

References

{{Streets and Squares in Edinburgh, state=collapsed Old Town, Edinburgh Streets in Edinburgh Shopping streets in Scotland Tourist attractions in Edinburgh