![Edinburgh map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Edinburgh_map.png)
The Old Town ( sco, Auld Toun) is the name popularly given to the oldest part of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
's capital city of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
. The area has preserved much of its
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
street plan and many
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
-era buildings. Together with the 18th/19th-century
New Town, and
West End, it forms part of a protected
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
.
Royal Mile
The "
Royal Mile" is a name coined in the early 20th century for the main street of the Old Town which runs on a downwards slope from
Edinburgh Castle to
Holyrood Palace and the ruined
Holyrood Abbey. Narrow ''
closes'' (alleyways), often no more than a few feet wide, lead steeply downhill to both north and south of the main spine which runs west to east.
Significant buildings in the Old Town include
St. Giles' Cathedral, the
General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland
The Assembly Hall is located between Castlehill and Mound Place in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the meeting place of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
History
Following the Disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843, the emer ...
, the
National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
, the
Old College of the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
and the
Scottish Parliament Building
; sco, Scots Pairlament Biggin
, native_name_lang =
, former_names =
, alternate_names = Holyrood
, image = Scottish Parliament building - geograph.org.uk - 2469654.jpg
, image_alt =
, caption ...
. The area contains underground vaults and hidden passages that are relics of previous phases of construction.
No part of the street is officially called The Royal Mile in terms of legal addresses. The actual street names (running west to east) are Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand.
Street layout
The street layout, typical of the old quarters of many northern European cities, is made especially picturesque in Edinburgh, where the castle perches on top of a
rocky crag, the remnants of an
extinct volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
, and the main street runs down the crest of a ridge from it. This "
crag and tail" landform was created during the
last ice age when receding
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
s scoured across the land pushing soft soil aside but being split by harder crags of volcanic rock. The hilltop crag was the earliest part of the city to develop, becoming fortified and eventually developing into the current Edinburgh Castle. The rest of the city grew slowly down the tail of land from the Castle Rock. This was an easily defended spot with marshland on the south and a man-made
loch, the
Nor Loch
The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Waverley station which lie between the Royal Mile and Princes Street.
G ...
, on the north. Access to the town was restricted by means of various gates (called ports) in the
city walls, of which only fragmentary sections remain.
The original strong linear spine of the Royal Mile only had narrow closes and wynds leading off its sides. These began to be supplemented from the late 18th century with wide new north–south routes, beginning with the
North Bridge/
South Bridge route, and then
George IV Bridge
George IV Bridge is an elevated street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is home to a number of the city's important public buildings.
History
A bridge connecting the Royal Mile to the south was first suggested as early as 1817, but was first p ...
. These rectilinear forms were complemented from the mid-19th century with more serpentine forms, starting with Cockburn Street, laid out by Peddie and Kinnear in 1856, which specifically improved access between the Royal Mile and the newly rebuilt
Waverley Station
Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...
.
The Edinburgh City Improvement Act of 1866 further added to the north south routes. This was devised by the architects
David Cousin
David Cousin (19 May 1809 – 14 August 1878) was a Scottish architect, landscape architect and planner, closely associated with early cemetery design and many prominent buildings in Edinburgh. From 1841 to 1872 he operated as Edinburgh’s ...
and
John Lessels
John Lessels (9 January 1809 – 12 November 1883) was a Scottish architect and artist, notably active in Edinburgh and also the Scottish Borders (he was responsible for numerous buildings and alteration projects in Berwickshire).
Life
He w ...
. It had quite radical effects:
*St Mary's Wynd was demolished and replaced by the much wider St Mary's Street with all new buildings.
*Leith Wynd which descended from the High Street to the Low Calton was demolished. Jeffrey Street started from Leith Wynd's junction with the High Street, opposite St Mary's Street, but bent west on arches to join Market Street.
*East Market Street was built to connect Market Street and New Street.
*Blackfriars Street was created by the widening of Blackfriars Wynd, removing all the buildings on the east side.
*
Chambers Street was created, replacing N College Street and removing Brown Square (west) and Adam Square (east). It was named after the then
Lord Provost of Edinburgh
The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the ...
,
Sir William Chambers
__NOTOC__
Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy.
Bio ...
, and his statue placed at its centre.
*Guthrie Street was created, linking the new Chambers Street to the
Cowgate
The Cowgate ( Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, which lies below the ele ...
.
Sections
In addition to the Royal Mile, the Old Town may be divided into various areas, namely from west to east:
*
West Port, the old route out of Edinburgh to the west
*
Grassmarket
The Grassmarket is a historic market place, street and event space in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In relation to the rest of the city it lies in a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels.
Location
The Grassmarket is located direct ...
, the area to the south-west
*
Edinburgh Castle
* The Cowgate, the lower southern section of the town
*
Canongate, a name correctly applied to the whole eastern district
* Holyrood, the area containing
Holyrood Palace and
Holyrood Abbey
* Croft-An-Righ, a group of buildings north-east of Holyrood
Residential buildings
Due to the space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of the "tail", and the advantages of living within the defensive wall, the Old Town became home to some of the world's earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings became the norm from the 16th century onwards. Many of these buildings were destroyed in the
Great Fire of Edinburgh
The Great Fire of Edinburgh was one of the most destructive fires in the history of Edinburgh. It started on Monday, 15 November 1824, and lasted for five days, with two major phases.
Sequence of events
The fire broke out around 10pm on 15 No ...
in 1824; the rebuilding of these on the original foundations led to changes in the ground level and the creation of numerous passages and vaults under the Old Town. The construction of new streets including
North Bridge and
South Bridge in the 18th century also created underground spaces, such as the
Edinburgh Vaults below the latter.
Traditionally buildings were less dense in the eastern, Canongate, section. This area underwent major
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
and reconstruction in the 1950s, thereafter becoming an area largely of Council housing. From 1990 to 2010, major new housing schemes appeared throughout the Canongate. These were built to a much higher scale than the older buildings and have greatly increased the population of the area.
Archaeology
Archaeological work is usually required to be undertaken in advance of development work in the Old Town and this work has shed light on aspects of the Old Town's past. Some recent excavations have been:
* In 2012, AOC Archaeology's excavations in
Advocates Close
Advocates Close is a narrow and steep alley in Edinburgh of medieval origin, redeveloped in the early 21st century. With a multiplicity of steps it is not accessible to disabled persons.
The close leads from Market Street at the foot of Cockburn ...
found the remains of a 16th-century tenement and rare 12th/13th century deposits (which were usually removed by later building construction). The artefacts found showed the expansion of the area in 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the decline during the later 17th and early 18th centuries.
*In 2008,
Headland Archaeology conducted excavations between the High Street and Jeffrey Street and found evidence of the medieval burgage plots; the construction of multi-storey tenement buildings that characterise much of the Old Town 16th century and their later demolition; as well as a tannery that was established on part of the site by the 1830s and expanded to cover much of the site by the 1880s.
* In 1999 and 2000, archaeologists found part of the medieval boundary ditch under St Mary's Street. Work in the Canongate has also found parts of the boundary ditch, as well as in the Cowgate. In 2015, excavations by AOC Archaeology at East Market Street found the north/ north-east portion of the boundary ditch.
* The excavations at the new Parliament building found over a thousand years of development and changes to the southern tip of the Old Town.
* Excavations, also for the Parliament Building, at
Queensberry House
Queensberry House is a building of 17th-century origin which is now a Category A listed building. It stands on the south side of the Canongate, Edinburgh, Scotland, incorporated into the Scottish Parliament complex on its north-west corner ...
found evidence that
Charles Maitland, Lord Hatton may have converted the kitchen of Queensberry House into a workshop to illegally skim money from the Royal mint.
* Various excavations since the 1980s have helped to understand
St Giles Cathedral and the
City Walls.
* Excavations from the 1970s through till the 2000s has shed light on the tenements that existed before the
Tron Kirk
The Tron Kirk is a former principal parish church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a well-known landmark on the Royal Mile. It was built in the 17th century and closed as a church in 1952. Having stood empty for over fifty years, it was used ...
.
Major events
![Old Town lamp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Old_Town_lamp.JPG)
In 1824 a major fire, the
Great Fire of Edinburgh
The Great Fire of Edinburgh was one of the most destructive fires in the history of Edinburgh. It started on Monday, 15 November 1824, and lasted for five days, with two major phases.
Sequence of events
The fire broke out around 10pm on 15 No ...
, destroyed most of the buildings on the south side of the High Street section between St. Giles Cathedral and the Tron Kirk.
During the
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...
the High Street and Hunter Square become gathering points where performers in the
Fringe
Fringe may refer to:
Arts
* Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe"
* Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival
* Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre
* The Fringe, the ...
advertise their shows, often through street performances.
On 7 December 2002, the
Cowgate fire destroyed a small but dense group of old buildings on the Cowgate and South Bridge. It destroyed the famous comedy club,
The Gilded Balloon
Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.
The company has its origins in a venue kn ...
, and much of the
Informatics Department of the University of Edinburgh, including the comprehensive
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
library. The site was redeveloped 2013-2014 with a single new building, largely in hotel use.
Old Town Renewal Trust
In the 1990s the Old Town Renewal Trust in conjunction with the City of Edinburgh developed an action plan for renewal
Redevelopment
![Edinburgh 1120471 nevit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Edinburgh_1120471_nevit.jpg)
An area directly to the north of the Canongate has seen a large redevelopment project originally named Caltongate, but since rebranded as New Waverley. The scheme involved building of a mix of residential, hotel, retail and office buildings on the site of the former
SMT bus depot in New Street, developing the arches under Jeffrey Street, redeveloping other surrounding sites and creating a pedestrian link from the Royal Mile to Calton Hill.
The proposals were criticised by commentators including the author
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law an ...
and
Sheila Gilmore
Sheila Gilmore (born 1 October 1949) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh East from 2010 to 2015. Gilmore stood for the seat following the decision of Gavin Strang to stand down; she is a for ...
MP who regard the modern design as incompatible with the existing older architectural styles of the Old Town and inappropriate for a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Caltongate development was also opposed by the
Cockburn Association
The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh's Civic Trust) is one of the world's oldest architectural conservation and urban planning monitoring organisations, founded in 1875.
The Scottish judge Henry Cockburn (1779–1854) was a prominent campaigner t ...
and the
Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland
The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) is a society dedicated to the protection and study of the built heritage of Scotland. It has around 1000 members and five regional groups responsible for commenting on planning applications in ...
. The site developers
Artisan Real Estate Investors have stated that the completed development will be a "vibrant, exciting" place. The plans were approved by the City of Edinburgh Council in January 2014
with construction taking place in the late 2010s.
See also
*
Banknotes of Scotland (featured on design)
*
History of Edinburgh
While the area around modern-day Edinburgh has been inhabited for thousands of years, the history of Edinburgh as a definite settlement can be traced to the early Middle Ages when a hillfort was established in the area, most likely on the Cast ...
*
*
Scotland in the High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of King Alexander III in 1286, which was an indirect cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence.
At the close of the ninth ...
*
Timeline of Edinburgh history
This article is a timeline of the history of Edinburgh, Scotland, up to the present day. It traces its rise from an early hill fort and later royal residence to the bustling city and capital of Scotland that it is today.
First millennium
Pre- ...
*
World Heritage Sites in Scotland
World Heritage Sites in Scotland are locations that have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Programme list of sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humankind. Historic Environment Scotland is respo ...
References
External links
UNESCO World Heritage Site InscriptionKincaid map showing the Old Town in 1784Edinburgh Old Town Association
{{Authority control
Areas of Edinburgh
Tourist attractions in Edinburgh
Historic districts in the United Kingdom
World Heritage Sites in Scotland