Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of

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 the ...

, lying in the shadow of

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of 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 ...

and building of the

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, beginning in the 1760s. The

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

, situated on the north side of the town, was originally an artificial creation forming part of its medieval defences and made expansion northwards difficult. The water was habitually polluted from

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

draining downhill from the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

. The gardens run along the south side of

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

and are divided by

The Mound The Mound is an artificial slope in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New and Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations ...

, on which the

National Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by Wi ...

and the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

buildings are located. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover . The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover and extend to the adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's, near Lothian Road in the west. In 1846 the railway was built in the valley to connect the Edinburgh-Glasgow line at

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

with the new northern terminus of the North British line from

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

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 Gardens are the best known parks in Edinburgh, having the highest awareness and visitor figures for both residents and visitors to the city.

Railway

In 1846, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway company constructed a sunken railway line along the southern edge of the Gardens to join its Haymarket terminus to a new General Station adjoining the North British Railway Company's North Bridge terminus (both stations later renamed

). This involved constructing the Haymarket Tunnel (comprising separate north and south tunnels), 910 metres long, between the western end of the gardens and Haymarket Station. A shorter tunnel (again comprising two separate tunnels) was also dug through

which separated the East and West Gardens.

East Princes Street Gardens

History

East Princes Street Gardens originated after a dispute between Edinburgh Corporation (town council) and the early

proprietors, among whom was the philosopher

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

who resided in St. David Street, a side street off Princes Street. In 1771 the council acquired the land as part of the First New Town development. It began feuing ground on the south side of Princes Street (on the site of the current Balmoral Hotel and

Waverley Market Waverley Market (formerly also known as Waverley Shopping Centre, Princes Mall, and Waverley Mall) is a shopping centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. The old Waverley Market The old Waverley Market occupied the same site as the current shopping cent ...

) for the building of houses and workshops for a coach-builder and a furniture-maker. After a failed petition to the council the proprietors raised two actions in the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

to halt the building and to condemn the Corporation for having contravened their feuing terms by which they had pre-supposed open ground and a vista south of the street. After the Court found in favour of the council on the first point the decision was quickly appealed to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

and overturned, but when the Court again supported the council on the second point, the matter was submitted to judicial arbitration. This resulted in a judgement that the houses could be completed which later allowed the North British Hotel (Balmoral Hotel) to be built on the site, that the adjacent furniture-maker's premises must not rise above the level of Princes Street (which is the reason the roof of Waverley Market is at street level) and that the ground westwards for half the length of Princes Street "shall be kept and preserved in perpetuity as pleasure-grounds to be dressed up at the expense of the town council as soon as may be."

Monuments

Along the south side of Princes Street are many statues and monuments. In the East Gardens most prominent is the

Scott Monument The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the second largest monument to a writer in the world after the José Martí monument in Havana. It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, opp ...

, a Neo-Gothic spire built in 1844 to honour Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

. Within East Princes Street Gardens there are statues of the explorer

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

, the publisher and Lord Provost

Adam Black Adam Black (20 February 178424 January 1874) was a Scottish publisher and politician. He founded the A & C Black publishing company, and published the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Life Black was born in Ch ...

and the essayist Professor John Wilson, who wrote under the pseudonym ''Christopher North''. There is also a small commemorative stone honouring the volunteers from the Lothians and Fife who fought in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

Winter Wonderland

Every year, in the weeks leading up to

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, the East Gardens are transformed into 'Winter Wonderland'. This includes a variety of amusement park rides and the Christmas Market, which has food and gifts from all around the world. The most notable attractions are the ice rink and the 33 metre (108 feet) high Ferris wheel, often dubbed 'The Edinburgh Eye'.

Gallery

File:Princes Street, Edinburgh, 4 April 2010.jpg, Princes Street and the gardens in 2010 File:Scott Monument Statue 9.JPG, Sir Walter Scott,

File:Adam Black Statue Edinburgh.jpg, Statue of Adam Black File:David Livingstone statue, Princes Street Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 1777108.jpg, Statue of David Livingstone File:East Princes Street Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 1193321.jpg, East Princes Street Gardens File:East End of Prince's Street Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 950222.jpg, East End of Princes Street Gardens File:Christmas Market - 2012 (geograph 3269957).jpg, The Christmas Market in 2012

West Princes Street Gardens

Early history

West Princes Street Gardens were originally the private property of "the Princes Street Proprietors" who overlooked them from their houses on the western half of the street. This was passed to them from the council in 1816 and the gardens were opened to subscribers generally in the New Town in 1821. Dogs, cricket, perambulators and smoking were prohibited under their rules, and people using bath-chairs had to present a doctor's certificate to the Committee of the garden attesting to their ailment not being contagious. An application by the Scottish Association for Suppressing Drunkenness that the gardens be opened during Christmas and New Year "with the object of keeping parties out of the dram shops (i.e. illegal drinking premises)" led eventually to them being opened to the general public on Christmas Day, New Year's Day and one other day in the year.

Public park

In 1876, despite much opposition from residents, the town council reacquired the ground for use as a public park. The new park was laid out by the City Architect

Robert Morham Robert Morham (31 March 1839 – 5 June 1912) was the City Architect for Edinburgh for the last decades of the nineteenth century and was responsible for much of the “public face” of the city at the time. His work is particularly well re ...

including the building of a very picturesque gardeners cottage at the east end of the West Gardens. As part of a later agreement (c.1880) the council widened Princes Street (resulting in a far steeper embankment on that side). A series of statues were erected along the edge of the widened road. Modernization of the gardens is currently under discussion with the launch of The Quaich Project fundraising campaign from the Ross Development Trust. The new design will improve accessibility and provide new pathways and connections across the city.

Shelters

In 1939 four huge air-raid shelters were created within this northern embankment. The distinctive shelters now on the upper walkway date from 1950 and were designed by Alexander Garden Forgie. As with most structures in the gardens they are listed buildings.

Ross Bandstand and Ross Fountain

The Ross Bandstand in the centre of the West Gardens is named after William Henry Ross, Chairman of the Distillers Company Ltd., who gifted the first bandstand on the site in 1877. The present building and terraces date from 1935. Ross Bandstand, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

Ross Bandstand, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

The Princes Street proprietors contributed £500 as a goodwill gesture to the cost of the bandstand. Various concerts and other events are held at the Ross Bandstand including the

Festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

Fireworks Concert, Men's Health Survival of the Fittest, and during the city's

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...

celebrations. The Ross Development Trust proposed to rebuild the bandstand as a Ross Pavilion based on design by architects wHY following an international competition in 2017. The Ross Fountain is the focus of the western end of the gardens. Gifted by Edinburgh

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

Daniel Ross, it was originally installed in 1872 and restored in 2018 with the help of the Ross Development Trust.

Monuments

Along the south side of Princes Street are statues of the poet Allan Ramsay, the church reformer

Thomas Guthrie Thomas Guthrie FRSE (12 July 1803 – 24 February 1873) was a Scottish divine and philanthropist, born at Brechin in Angus (at that time also called Forfarshire). He was one of the most popular preachers of his day in Scotland, and was associa ...

, and the obstetric pioneer

James Young Simpson Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans ...

. Other monuments are the

Royal Scots Greys The Royal Scots Greys was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guard ...

Memorial, the Scottish American War Memorial, the Norwegian Brigade War Memorial, and Wojtek the Bear. The statuary group on the lower path represents The Genius of Architecture crowning the Theory and Practice of Art and is by

William Brodie William Brodie (28 September 1741 – 1 October 1788), often known by his title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a housebreaker, partly for ...

originally for the garden of Rockville, the home of his maverick architect son-in-law Sir James Gowans. It was moved here in the 1960s following the demolition of Rockville. Edinburgh, Princes Street Gardens, Royal Scots Monument

Edinburgh, Princes Street Gardens, Royal Scots Monument

The Swedish

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

U 1173 was located beneath the

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

walls (), however due to security concerns it was removed from its location in November 2017 and was moved to George Square, outside the school of Scandinavian studies in 2020. At the eastern entrance to the Gardens there is the world's first

floral clock A floral clock, or flower clock, is a large decorative clock with the clock face formed by carpet bedding, usually found in a park or other public recreation area. Most have the mechanism set in the ground under the flowerbed, which is then pl ...

dating from 1903.

Royal Scots Monument

The large curved monument to the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regimen ...

stands slightly hidden just south of the gardener’s cottage. It was designed by Sir Frank Mears with sculpture by

Pilkington Jackson Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson RSA, FRBS, FRSA (11 October 1887 – 20 September 1973) was a British sculptor prominent in Scotland in the 20th Century. Throughout his career he worked closely with the architect Sir Robert Lorimer. He ...

. Described as a "modern henge" it dates from 1950 but was added to and "finalised" in May 2007 following the termination of the Royal Scots in 2006. This added additional Battle Honours gained since the 1950s.

Mortonhall Baby Ashes Memorial

A new monument, in the form of a baby elephant by sculptor Andy Scott, was added to the gardens on 2 February 2019. Located by The Genius of Architecture, this is a permanent reminder of the 250 babies and their families affected by the Mortonhall scandal, which was uncovered in 2012.Baby ashes scandal: Elephant sculpture to 'never forget', BBC, 2 February 2019
/ref>

Gallery

File:PATERSON(1875) p030 WEST PRINCES STREET GARDENS.jpg, West Princes Street Gardens in 1875 File:"Még nyílnak a völgyben a kerti virágok..." - panoramio.jpg, West Princes Street Gardens from the Edinburgh Castle slopes in 2011 File:Blumenuhr, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Zeiger und Zifferblatt.jpg, The Floral Clock File:Gardener's Cottage in West Princes Street Gardens.jpg, The Gardener's Cottage in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh File:WPSG Summer Sessions 2018.jpg, Temporary stage at the Ross Bandstand, August 2018 File:Wojtek (bear) statue in Princes Street Gardens.jpg, Wojtek the bear statue File:Edinburgh 2013 (10140765365).jpg, West Princes Street Gardens in 2013 File:Re-starting the Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens.jpg, Switching on the newly-restored Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh on 8 July 2018 File:Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens.jpg, The newly-restored Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh File:Allan Ramsay statue, Princes Street Gardens Edinburgh.JPG, Allan Ramsay statue File:The genius of architecture crowning the theory and practice of art.jpg, The Genius of Architecture crowning the Theory and Practice of Art File:Royal Scots Greys memorial, Princess St. Gardens Edinburgh (geograph 2474176).jpg, Royal Scots Greys Memorial File:Edinburgh princes Street Gardens The Call 1914 04.JPG, Scottish-American War Memorial by was designed by R. Tait McKenzie, erected in 1927 File:Norwegian Brigade Stone, Princes Street Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 1347900.jpg, Norwegian Brigade Stone, donated in 1978 by Norwegian veterans trained in Scotland during the Second World War File:James Young Simpson statue.jpg, Statue of James Young Simpson statue File:Thomas Guthrie.jpg, Statue of Thomas Guthrie File:RLS Memorial by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Edinburgh.JPG, Memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson by

Ian Hamilton Finlay Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE (28 October 1925 – 27 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener. Life Finlay was born in Nassau, Bahamas, to James Hamilton Finlay and his wife, Annie Pettigrew, both of Scots descent. He was ...

(1987–9) File:WPSG amphiteatre2019 1.jpg, Amphitheatre of the Ross Bandstand, Edinburgh File:Wpsg mortonhall1.jpg, Memorial Plaque for the Mortonhall Baby Ashes Memorial File:Wpsg mortonhall2.jpg, Mortonhall Baby Ashes Memorial

References

External links

Bartholomew's ''Chronological Map of Edinburgh'' (1919)Princes Street Gardens
from

Edinburgh City Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is Subdivisions of Scotland#Council areas, the second most populo ...

Ross Development Trust
{{coord, 55, 57, 0.18, N, 3, 12, 10.78, W, display=title New Town, Edinburgh Parks and commons in Edinburgh Gardens in Edinburgh

Railway

East Princes Street Gardens

History

Monuments

Winter Wonderland

Gallery

West Princes Street Gardens

Early history

Public park

Shelters

Ross Bandstand and Ross Fountain

Monuments

Royal Scots Monument

Mortonhall Baby Ashes Memorial

Gallery

See also

References

External links