South Bridge is a road bridge and street in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, between 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 ...

and Chambers Street/Infirmary Street. It extends to North Bridge at the north and Nicolson Street at the south, forming a level roadway over the steep valley scoured parallel to the High Street when the

crag and tail A crag (sometimes spelled cragg, or in Scotland craig) is a rocky hill or mountain, generally isolated from other high ground. Origin Crags are formed when a glacier or ice sheet passes over an area that contains a particularly resistant ...

landscape was formed. 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 eleva ...

roadway along the bottom of the valley runs under the largest arch of the bridge. The

South Bridge Act 1785 The South Bridge Act 1785 (25 Geo III c.28) was a public act of the United Kingdom Parliament concerning the South Bridge, for rebuilding or improving the University of Edinburgh, for enlarging the public markets, for lighting the said city, for ...

was passed in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 ...

on 21 April 1785 and in 1789 taxes were raised to fund the South Bridge to a plan prepared by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

. The bridge was completed in 1788. It is constructed of nineteen arches, but is almost entirely enclosed by buildings on both sides, exposing only the largest arch where the street crosses the Cowgate. Below deck level are many buildings and vaults, the latter are now something of a tourist attraction. Most of the buildings on the deck level have separate entrances (and sometimes entirely separate functions) at the level of the street passing below (the Cowgate) or parallel to the bridge (Niddry Street and Blair Street). Initially, town plans such as

John Ainslie A plaque in Castlegate in Jedburgh John Ainslie (22 April 1745 – 29 February 1828) was a Scottish surveyor and cartographer. Life Ainslie was born in Jedburgh, the youngest son of John Ainslie, a druggist, Writer to the Signet and burgess of ...

's 1804 map showed the street name as "South Bridge Street", by the 1850s the name had been shortened to "South Bridge".

References

External links

''Unbuilt Britain'': Episode 3
{{Transport in Edinburgh Streets in Edinburgh Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Edinburgh South Bridge Bridges in Edinburgh Bridges completed in 1788 1788 establishments in Scotland

See also

References

External links