121-538: Dean Village (from dene , meaning 'deep valley') is a former village immediately northwest of the city centre of Edinburgh , Scotland . It is bounded by Belford Road to the south and west, Belgrave Crescent Gardens to the north and below the Dean Bridge to the east. It was formerly known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by water from
242-479: A port several miles away (respectively, Leith and Piraeus ). Intellectually, the Scottish Enlightenment , with its humanist and rationalist outlook, was influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy . In 1822, artist Hugh William Williams organized an exhibition that showed his paintings of Athens alongside views of Edinburgh, and the idea of a direct parallel between both cities quickly caught
363-465: A royal charter , c. 1124–1127 , by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline . The shire of Edinburgh seems to have also been created in the reign of David I, possibly covering all of Lothian at first, but by 1305 the eastern and western parts of Lothian had become Haddingtonshire and Linlithgowshire , leaving Edinburgh as the county town of
484-556: A Class A listed building, it was possible to add lifts and escalators. The accessible entrance is at the corner tower of the Scottish History and Archaeology building. The building is designed by Benson & Forsyth . Made up of geometric, Corbusian forms, it has numerous references to Scotland, such as brochs and castellated defensive architecture. It is clad in golden Moray sandstone , which one of its architects, Gordon Benson, has called "the oldest exhibit in
605-538: A centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law , literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh , founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and
726-483: A fictitious bird called the Bare-fronted Hoodwink (known for its innate ability to fly away from observers before they could accurately identify it) was put on display. The exhibit included blurred photographs of birds flying away. To make the exhibit more convincing, a mount of the pretend bird was sewn together by a taxidermist from various scraps of real birds, including the head of a carrion crow ,
847-585: A new teaching laboratory and museum was opened in 1929 at the King's Buildings campus. In 1871 work began on widening the street to the north of the university and museum to form Chambers Street, linked to George IV Bridge . The central section of the Museum of Science and Art building, including the rest of the Great Hall, was completed in 1874 and formally opened to the public on 14 January 1875. The west wing
968-523: A population in 2014 of 1,339,380. Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate ( Cfb ) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador . The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in
1089-789: A population of 912,490 in the same year. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government , the Scottish Parliament , the highest courts in Scotland , and the Palace of Holyroodhouse , the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . The city has long been
1210-634: A series of small summits to the south of the city centre that command expansive views looking northwards over the urban area to the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is drained by the river named the Water of Leith , which rises at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 18 miles (29 km) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The nearest
1331-585: A shire covering the central part of Lothian, which was called Edinburghshire or Midlothian (the latter name being an informal, but commonly used, alternative until the county's name was legally changed in 1947). Edinburgh was largely under English control from 1291 to 1314 and from 1333 to 1341, during the Wars of Scottish Independence . When the English invaded Scotland in 1298 , Edward I of England chose not to enter Edinburgh but passed by it with his army. In
SECTION 10
#17327831825441452-433: A three-year, £47 million project to restore and extend the building led by Gareth Hoskins Architects along with the concurrent redesign of the exhibitions by Ralph Appelbaum Associates . The National Museum incorporates the collections of the former National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. As well as the national collections of Scottish archaeological finds and medieval objects, the museum contains artefacts from around
1573-591: A tower house dating from around the 16th or early 17th century. The area remained a separate village until the 19th century, but due to the development of much larger and more modern flour mills at Leith , Dean Village's trade diminished. In 1826, John Learmonth, a future Lord Provost of Edinburgh, purchased the Dean Estate from the Nisbets of Dean with the hope of expanding the Western New Town into
1694-431: A tranquil oasis, very close to the city centre, and redevelopment and restoration began, converting workers' cottages, warehouses and mill buildings. This included development on a cleared former industrial site on the north side of the river. The area has now become a desirable residential area. The Water of Leith Walkway running from Balerno to Leith was created through the area in 1983. Dean Bridge which passes over
1815-655: A war band from across the Brittonic world who gathered in Eidyn before a fateful raid; this may describe a historical event around AD 600. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria , and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles . Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of Indulf , son of Constantine II ,
1936-534: Is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It 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 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, renamed in 1904, and for the period between 1985 and the merger named the Royal Museum of Scotland or simply
2057-439: Is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie , Scots for Old Smoky , for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. A note in a collection of the works of the poet, Allan Ramsay , explains, "Auld Reeky...A name the country people give Edinburgh, from the cloud of smoke or reek that is always impending over it." In Walter Scott 's 1820 novel The Abbot , a character observes that "yonder stands Auld Reekie—you may see
2178-570: Is almost entirely within the City of Edinburgh Council boundary, merging with Musselburgh in East Lothian. Towns within easy reach of the city boundary include Inverkeithing , Haddington , Tranent , Prestonpans , Dalkeith , Bonnyrigg , Loanhead , Penicuik , Broxburn , Livingston and Dunfermline . Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region with
2299-541: Is cloudier and somewhat wetter, but differences are minor. Temperature and rainfall records have been kept at the Royal Observatory since 1764. The most recent official population estimates (2020) are 506,520 for the locality (includes Currie ), 530,990 for the Edinburgh settlement (includes Musselburgh ). National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh , Scotland
2420-426: Is encircled by a green belt , designated in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east. With an average width of 3.2 km (2 mi) the principal objectives of the green belt were to contain the outward expansion of the city and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas. Expansion affecting the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and
2541-482: Is governed by the City of Edinburgh Council , a unitary authority. The City of Edinburgh council area had an estimated population of 514,990 in mid-2021, and includes outlying towns and villages which are not part of Edinburgh proper. The city is in the Lothian region and was historically part of the shire of Midlothian (also called Edinburghshire). "Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn ,
SECTION 20
#17327831825442662-407: Is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861 and partially opened in 1866, with a Victorian Venetian Renaissance façade and a grand central hall of cast iron construction that rises the full height of the building, design by Francis Fowke and Robert Matheson . This building underwent a major refurbishment and reopened on 29 July 2011 after
2783-538: Is not to be match'd in Europe". Later editions of the book said it had rarities not to be found in the Royal Society or the Ashmolean Museum . In 1767 the museum became the responsibility of the first Regius Professor of natural history, Robert Ramsey, then in 1779 his successor John Walker recorded that he had found the collection was in poor condition. The Regius Professorship, and the museum,
2904-588: Is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas . The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills . Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom . The wider metropolitan area had
3025-440: Is typical of the old quarters of many Northern European cities. The New Town was an 18th-century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded city which had been confined to the ridge sloping down from the castle. In 1766 a competition to design a "New Town" was won by James Craig , a 27-year-old architect. The plan was a rigid, ordered grid, which fitted in well with Enlightenment ideas of rationality. The principal street
3146-641: The Athens of the North since the early 19th century. References to Athens, such as Athens of Britain and Modern Athens , had been made as early as the 1760s. The similarities were seen to be topographical but also intellectual. Edinburgh's Castle Rock reminded returning grand tourists of the Athenian Acropolis , as did aspects of the neoclassical architecture and layout of New Town . Both cities had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to
3267-661: The George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial. Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre , has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge , a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as
3388-690: The Jean Muir Collection of costume and a large kinetic sculpture named the Millennium Clock. A Scottish invention that is a perennial favourite with children visiting as part of school trips is the Scottish Maiden , an early beheading machine predating the French guillotine . In 2019, the museum received 2,210,024 visitors, making it Scotland's most popular visitor attraction that year. In 1697 Robert Sibbald presented
3509-803: The Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a Brittonic Celtic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini . The Votadini transitioned into the Gododdin kingdom in the Early Middle Ages , with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn, emerged as the kingdom's major centre. The medieval poem Y Gododdin describes
3630-668: The Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone. Similarly, suburbs such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land. One feature of the Edinburgh green belt is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated green belt, even though they do not connect with the peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill. Edinburgh includes former towns and villages that retain much of their original character as settlements in existence before they were absorbed into
3751-689: The Scotland Act , which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007 ). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, foreign affairs and some elements of income tax remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. In 2022, Edinburgh
Dean Village - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-739: The South Bridge in the 1780s. The Southside is particularly popular with families (many state and private schools are here), young professionals and students (the central University of Edinburgh campus is based around George Square just north of Marchmont and the Meadows ), and Napier University (with major campuses around Merchiston and Morningside). The area is also well provided with hotel and "bed and breakfast" accommodation for visiting festival-goers. These districts often feature in works of fiction. For example, Church Hill in Morningside,
3993-583: The South Pacific , East Asia, and Ancient Egypt), European art and design, and science & technology. The Grand Gallery contains a variety of large objects from the collections, with a display called the "Window on the World" rising through four storeys, or about 20 metres (66 ft), containing over 800 objects reflecting the breadth of the collections. Beyond the Grand Gallery at ground level
4114-559: The Trades' Maiden Hospital girls' school beside Argyle Square. The grounds of these buildings were bounded on the north by a narrow lane connecting North College Street to the square, and on the south by the Flodden Wall . In 1854, the government chose to transfer the university's collection into an enlarged natural history museum combined with a new institution educating the public about commerce and industrial arts. It established
4235-636: The University of Edinburgh College of Medicine with a natural history collection he had put together with his friend Andrew Balfour , who had recently died. The wide range of specimens was put on permanent display in the university, as one of the first museums in the UK. Daniel Defoe , in A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain published in 1737, called it "a fine Musæum, or Chamber of Rarities, which are worth seeing, and which, in some things,
4356-525: The Water of Leith . Dean Village is one of the oldest of the villages that lay around the original Royal Burgh of Edinburgh. The village was referred to in 1535 as the miller's village and appears on the 1560 map of the Siege of Leith . In the Town Council Minutes of 1585 Water of Leith is used as the name of the village. The term 'Dean Village' initially referred to a small settlement at
4477-503: The "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as oppidum Eden , was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained, for the most part, under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the date of its charter is unknown. The first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is
4598-422: The 'Edinburgh Incorporated Trade of Baxters '. The Incorporation of Baxters (or 'Bakers') later built their ' Tolbooth ' (meeting chambers) here around 1675. The Water of Leith Bridge at the foot of the steep roadways of Bell's Brae to the south leading to Edinburgh and Path Brae to the north leading to Granton and Queensferry , in the centre of Dean Village, is believed to be on the site of ancient crossings of
4719-499: The 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes , but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed
4840-465: The 18th-century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius". Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish book trade. The highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was apprenticed there to James McEuen. From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of
4961-520: The 19th century and joined by new industries such as rubber works , engineering works and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in
Dean Village - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-565: The Board of Trade redefined duties, but curation was not his priority. For a reception in the Spring of 1871, the museum stored refreshments in the "Bridge of Sighs" corridor, but students found this and no drinks were left for the Edinburgh worthies, so a door restricted access from the university. Wyville Thomson went on the Challenger expedition for four years. The museum severed ties with
5203-646: The Board. In 1855 George Wilson was appointed as the museum's first director, he pressed ahead with preparations while the Board of Works organised designs, but died in 1859. Thomas Croxen Archer was appointed director on 10 May 1860, and the Industrial Museum (Scotland) Act 1860 was passed on 28 August. Design work was carried out by Captain Francis Fowke , Engineer and Artist of the Science and Art Department, and architect Robert Matheson of
5324-468: The British Museum", overfilled the available space. In 1852 Jameson suggested proposals, which were put forward by the university Senatus , that the natural history collections be taken over by the government to form a new National Museum adjacent to the university, and integrated into it. Jameson was seriously ill during this time, and died on 19 April 1854, shortly after the negotiated agreement
5445-512: The Byres, by James VI. In 1609, the twice later Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Nisbet, bought the barony of Dean from John, 8th Lord Lindsay of the Byres. William is said by some to have built a tower house here, however it is possible that he remodelled an existing earlier building. It is believed this is the building that would become known as Dean House. It is known that the Dean House was
5566-411: The Castle Rock, giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome . Occupying a narrow gap between the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills and their outrunners to the south, the city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation. Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting , led to
5687-690: The Commissioners for the College Buildings, a new museum was built in 1820 as part of new university buildings (the museum is now occupied by the Talbot Rice Gallery , its main features still in place). The taxidermist John Edmonstone undertook work for the museum, and in 1826 gave private lessons to Charles Darwin , who later studied in the museum and befriended its curator, the ornithologist William MacGillivray . The collections, noted as "second only to those of
5808-677: The Dean Village altogether. The four-arched Dean Bridge spans a width of over 400 feet and is 106 feet above the water level. It carries the Queensferry Road over the Dean Gorge and over the village, and was built at the joint expense of John Learmonth and the Cramond Road Trustees. The contractors were John Gibb & Son , from Aberdeen. The bridge transformed access westwards from the city and opened up
5929-665: The English in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant . In 1582, Edinburgh's town council was given a royal charter by King James VI permitting the establishment of a university; founded as Tounis College (Town's College), the institution developed into the University of Edinburgh , which contributed to Edinburgh's central intellectual role in subsequent centuries. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to
6050-620: The English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns , though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart 's restoration to
6171-555: The Industrial Museum of Scotland under the direction of the Board of Trade 's Science and Art Department in London, and approved purchase of the site. The brief was to emulate The Museum of Practical Geology of "London, but embracing, in addition, the economic products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms". The general director of the museum would be responsible to the Board. The university's Regius Professor of natural history continued as Keeper of its collection, with access to specimens to illustrate lectures, and also reported directly to
SECTION 50
#17327831825446292-446: The Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden , there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans . In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, reaffirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for
6413-411: The Museum of Scotland (now the Scottish History and Archaeology department), linked internally to the main building. The major redevelopment completed in 2011 by Gareth Hoskins Architects uses former storage areas to form a vaulted Entrance Hall of 1,400 m (15,000 sq ft) at street level with visitor facilities. This involved lowering the floor level by 1.2 metres (4 ft). Despite being
6534-425: The National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Museum took place in 1985, but the two collections retained separate buildings until 1995 when the Queen Street building closed, to reopen later occupied solely by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In 1998 the new Museum of Scotland building opened, adjacent to the Royal Museum of Scotland building, and connected to it. The masterplan to redevelop
6655-424: The North". Robert Louis Stevenson, also a son of the city, wrote that Edinburgh "is what Paris ought to be". The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond , where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat , Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills . When
6776-502: The Office of Works in Edinburgh. Contract documents were signed in May 1861, and construction began. In ceremonies on 23 October 1861, Prince Albert laid the foundation stone of the General Post Office on Waterloo Place, then the foundation stone of the museum. This was his last public appearance before his death six weeks later. The institution became the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1864, with two divisions; Natural History, and Industrial Arts. The natural history collection
6897-522: The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles , Greyfriars and the Canongate , and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. Edinburgh
7018-438: The Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office." Despite being burnt by
7139-414: The Royal Museum), with international collections covering science and technology, natural history , and world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street , by the junction with the George IV Bridge , in central Edinburgh. The museum is part of National Museums Scotland and admission is free. The two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland
7260-438: The United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park , a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration. In 1998,
7381-515: The Victorian building and further integrate the architecture and collections was launched in 2004. The split naming caused confusion to visitors, and in 2006 permission was granted to remove "Royal" to achieve a unified brand. On 2006 the two museums were formally merged as the National Museum of Scotland. The naming had been changed for practical reasons, including strategy and marketing. The old Chambers Street Museum building closed for redevelopment in 2008, before reopening in July 2011. Staff at
SECTION 60
#17327831825447502-430: The adjectival forms Edinburgensis and Edinensis are used in educational and scientific contexts. Edina is a late 18th-century poetical form used by the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns . "Embra" or "Embro" are colloquialisms from the same time, as in Robert Garioch 's Embro to the Ploy . Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of
7623-405: The architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century. Bute House , the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland , is on the north side of Charlotte Square. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch , which was created for the town's defence but came to be used by the inhabitants for dumping their sewage . It was drained by the 1820s as part of
7744-483: The area. With the redevelopment, Edinburgh has gained the business of cruise liner companies which now provide cruises to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The coastal suburb of Portobello is characterised by Georgian villas, Victorian tenements, a beach and promenade and cafés, bars, restaurants and independent shops. There are rowing and sailing clubs, a restored Victorian swimming pool, and Victorian Turkish baths . The urban area of Edinburgh
7865-486: The beginning of three centuries of Germanic influence in south east Scotland that laid the foundations for the development of Scots , before the town was ultimately subsumed in 954 by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland. As the language shifted from Cumbric to Northumbrian Old English and then Scots , the Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh , producing Edinburgh . In Scottish Gaelic din becomes dùn , producing modern Dùn Èideann . The city
7986-448: The body of a plover , and the feet of an unknown waterfowl . The bare front was composed of wax . In 1985 the museum was renamed the Royal Museum of Scotland, and its administration came under the newly formed National Museums Scotland , along with the Museum of Antiquities which in 1998 moved to a new building constructed as an extension to the Royal Museum at the west end of Chambers Street. The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
8107-567: The building", a reference to Scottish geology . There is a roof garden with Scottish species and panoramic views of the city. The building was a 1999 Stirling Prize nominee. The galleries in the newer building present Scottish history in an essentially chronological arrangement, beginning at the lowest level with prehistory to the early medieval period, with later periods on the higher levels. The Victorian building, as reopened in 2011, contains four zones (each with numerous galleries), covering natural history, world cultures (including galleries on
8228-423: The city between October and April. Located slightly north of the city centre, the weather station at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been an official weather station for the Met Office since 1956. The Met Office operates its own weather station at Gogarbank on the city's western outskirts, near Edinburgh Airport . This slightly inland station has a slightly wider temperature span between seasons,
8349-423: The city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from
8470-473: The city's northward expansion. Craig's original plan included an ornamental canal on the site of the loch, but this idea was abandoned. Soil excavated while laying the foundations of buildings in the New Town was dumped on the site of the loch to create the slope connecting the Old and New Towns known as The Mound . In the middle of the 19th century the National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy Building were built on The Mound, and tunnels for
8591-415: The creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs , which predominate over much of the area. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced the advancing ice sheet to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a 1 mi-long (1.6 km) tail of material to the east, thus creating a distinctive crag and tail formation. Glacial erosion on the north side of the crag gouged a deep valley later filled by
8712-567: The crest of a ridge from it terminating at Holyrood Palace. Minor streets (called closes or wynds ) lie on either side of the main spine forming a herringbone pattern. Due to space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of this landform, the Old Town became home to some of the earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings known as lands were the norm from the 16th century onwards with ten and eleven storeys being typical and one even reaching fourteen or fifteen storeys. Numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate
8833-434: The expanding city of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many areas, such as Dalry , contain residences that are multi-occupancy buildings known as tenements , although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been less built-up with a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas. The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided in two by the broad green swathe of Princes Street Gardens . To
8954-477: The fact that the social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 , Edinburgh was briefly occupied by
9075-632: The few in Scotland run as a non-profit making charity trust (to avoid being asset-stripped), is the resting place of many well-known people, including the railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch and David Octavius Hill . In 1887 a new bridge called Belford Bridge was built at the foot of the Bells Brae, at the site of an older crossing next to Bells Mill. Between the Belford Bridge and the Dean Bridge, travellers could now effectively bypass
9196-403: The first interactive displays in the museum: push-button working models, starting with a marine steam engine and a sectioned steam locomotive . During the period 1871-1911 much of the day-to-day running of the museum was undertaken not by the director, but by the curator. The Royal Scottish Museum has displayed practical joke exhibits on April Fool's Day on at least one occasion. In 1975,
9317-620: The influx of incomers, particularly Irish immigrants , during the Industrial Revolution . The street has several fine public buildings such as St Giles' Cathedral, the City Chambers and the Law Courts . Other places of historical interest nearby are Greyfriars Kirkyard and Mary King's Close . The Grassmarket , running deep below the castle is connected by the steep double terraced Victoria Street. The street layout
9438-554: The large hall in the east wing (now Animal World), a corridor link to the university formed a " Bridge of Sighs " over West College Street. On the western half of the site, "old buildings" which had formed Argyll Square were in temporary use for agricultural and educational exhibits. George Allman became Regius Professor and Keeper of the natural history collection in 1855. Issues developed over access to specimens for teaching, particularly when some were lost, and he apparently neglected curation. Wyville Thomson took over in 1870, and
9559-540: The majority of the Dean Village entirely, and the Bells Brae Bridge became much less important as a crossing. As the West End and Wester Coates developments expanded north, their buildings began to engulf and surround the old Dean Village. Rows of Victorian crescents were built up to, and around the water of Leith. Two large Georgian properties were built north of the river as part the West End expansion, to
9680-482: The middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". In 1482 James III "granted and perpetually confirmed to the said Provost, Bailies, Clerk, Council, and Community, and their successors, the office of Sheriff within the Burgh for ever, to be exercised by
9801-623: The modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. In 1611 an act of parliament created the High Constables of Edinburgh to keep order in the city, thought to be the oldest statutory police force in the world. Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting
9922-538: The more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented." Despite an enduring myth to the contrary, Edinburgh became an industrial centre with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in
10043-603: The museum took several days of strike action at points during 2015 and 2016, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union . In August 2023, the museum began preparing for the return of the Ni'isjoohl totem pole to the Nisga'a people of British Columbia , Canada. The 36 feet (11 m) pole was carved in 1855, and arrived in Scotland in 1929 after being stolen from the Nisga'a. It
10164-537: The name for the region in Cumbric , the Brittonic Celtic language formerly spoken there. The name's meaning is unknown. The district of Eidyn was centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, the dun or hillfort of Eidyn. This stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock , now the site of Edinburgh Castle . A siege of Din Eidyn by Oswald , king of the Angles of Northumbria in 638 marked
10285-406: The north. A bridge was needed to access from one side of the high valley to the other (the low-lying village was more or less an irrelevance) to expand the New Town northward. The Cramond Road Trustees discarded plans by other engineers and insisted upon the use of Thomas Telford . They also insisted that the bridge be toll-free. This was built 1831-2 and opened in 1833 and allowed traffic to bypass
10406-475: The now drained Nor Loch . These features, along with another hollow on the rock's south side, formed an ideal natural strongpoint upon which Edinburgh Castle was built. Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano dating from the Carboniferous period , which was eroded by a glacier moving west to east during the ice age. Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to
10527-468: The one that had been bought by Sir William Nisbet in 1609. It was demolished in 1845 to create the cemetery but some sculptured stones are incorporated in the southern retaining wall (visible only from lower level). Seven surviving panels of the painted ceiling (painted between 1605 and 1627) of the great hall of Dean House are now in the National Museum of Scotland . The cemetery , which is one of
10648-567: The popular imagination. When plans were drawn up in the early 19th century to architecturally develop Calton Hill , the design of the National Monument directly copied Athens' Parthenon . Tom Stoppard 's character Archie of Jumpers said, perhaps playing on Reykjavík meaning "smoky bay", that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate. The city has also been known by several Latin names , such as Edinburgum , while
10769-514: The potential to develop the Dean estate and expand the New Town northward. The side parapet of the bridge was raised in height in 1912 as a deterrent to suicides, which were very common here in the 19th century, being more or less guaranteed success. In 1847 the Dean Cemetery was created, standing on the site of Dean House. This mansion house, which formed the centre of the Dean Estate, was
10890-522: The railway line between Haymarket and Waverley stations were driven through it. The Southside is a residential part of the city, which includes the districts of St Leonards , Marchmont , Morningside , Newington , Sciennes , the Grange and Blackford . The Southside is broadly analogous to the area covered formerly by the Burgh Muir , and was developed as a residential area after the opening of
11011-413: The river gets to the city centre is at Dean Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by Thomas Telford 's Dean Bridge , built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry . The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed-use trail that follows the course of the river for 19.6 km (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith. Excepting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh
11132-517: The river. The current bridge was built in the early 18th century as a single arch bridge wide enough for a carriage with horses. At the time, this was the main crossing of the Water of Leith on the route from Edinburgh to Queensferry. In 1592, the Dean estate "w’ the mylnes and mure thereof, and their pertinents, lyand within the Sherifdom of Edinburgh,” were given to James Lindsay, 7th Lord Lindsay of
11253-403: The second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment , when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens. In
11374-431: The smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance". In 1898, Thomas Carlyle comments on the phenomenon: "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh, for, ever since Aeneas Silvius 's time and earlier, the people have the art, very strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, and Edinburgh with its chimneys is called 'Auld Reekie' by the country people". The 19th-century historian Robert Chambers asserted that
11495-427: The sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II in the late 17th century. He attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements. "It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!". Edinburgh has been popularly called
11616-548: The south, the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, built high on Castle Rock, and the long sweep of the Old Town descending towards Holyrood Palace. To the north lie Princes Street and the New Town. The West End includes the financial district, with insurance and banking offices as well as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Edinburgh's Old and New Towns were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of
11737-546: The south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar , a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms , can affect
11858-553: The southern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city centre is 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi (4.0 km) southwest of the shoreline of Leith and 26 mi (42 km) inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar . While the early burgh grew up near the prominent Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be built on seven hills , namely Calton Hill , Corstorphine Hill , Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill , Blackford Hill , Arthur's Seat and
11979-611: The specimens collected by Royal Navy survey ships went to the museum (the other half going to the British Museum in London). Jameson's natural history course held practical classes three times a week in "the great museum he had collected for illustrating his teaching", including description of exhibits and identification of mineral specimens. With support from the University Authorities, Edinburgh Town Council and
12100-517: The streets of the New Town: for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street; and for the royal family, George Street , Queen Street , Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons). The consistently geometric layout of the plan for the extension of Edinburgh was the result of a major competition in urban planning staged by the Town Council in 1766. In
12221-719: The thirteenth largest internationally. The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland , the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery . The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe , the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle ,
12342-501: The throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell 's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650. In the 17th century, Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive town walls . As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have been described as forerunners of
12463-666: The top of Dean Path, north of the river, that formed part of the Dean estate (the area now occupied by the Dean Cemetery). The first extant mention of the Dene is in King David I 's founding charter of Holyrood Abbey , usually dated c.1145 (although the actual founding of the Abbey was in 1128), in which he granted one of his mills of Dene to the Abbey. Because of its role as a milling village, it became heavily associated with
12584-538: The two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Great Britain effective from 1 May 1707. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain , which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots, resulting in riots in the city. By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns. Visitors were struck by
12705-473: The unique character of the Old Town with its medieval street layout and the planned Georgian New Town, including the adjoining Dean Village and Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city, a higher proportion relative to area than any other city in the United Kingdom. The castle is perched on top of a rocky crag (the remnant of an extinct volcano) and the Royal Mile runs down
12826-596: The university in 1873, and appointed Ramsay Traquair as its Keeper of the Natural History Collections. The bridge was closed (at some time later it was reopened and for a while prior to the museum's temporary closure during World War II it provided limited access between the museum and University). The university had lost use of the museum specimens, so started a replacement teaching collection in its old museum space. This became intolerably cramped, eventually James Hartley Ashworth raised funds and
12947-674: The village connecting the north and south parts of the West End was featured in Ian Rankin 's fictional book Strip Jack , in which a woman is found dead in the river underneath the bridge. It also features as a location in the second book of the Peter May Lewis trilogy, The Lewis Man , in which a 1950s schoolboy dare results in a fatality. Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] )
13068-623: The west and north west of the old Bells Mill site. These were the John Watson's School in 1825 and the Dean Orphanage in 1834. The bakers' Tolbooth would be altered in 1900 by Robert Lorimer to become the Cathedral Mission for St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. For many years, the village became associated with decay and poverty, and it reached a low point by around 1960. From the mid-1970s onwards it became recognised as
13189-551: The west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags , a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the location of the early burgh. The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along a series of drumlin ridges south of the city centre, which were deposited as the glacier receded. Other prominent landforms such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of glacial erosion. The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are
13310-460: The world, encompassing geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology, art, and world cultures. The sixteen new galleries reopened in 2011 include 8,000 objects, 80% of which were not previously on display. One of the more notable exhibits is the stuffed body of Dolly the sheep , the first successful cloning of a mammal from an adult cell. Other highlights include Ancient Egyptian exhibitions, one of Sir Elton John 's extravagant suits,
13431-514: Was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the City of Edinburgh. Even today the parliamentary seat is known as "Edinburgh North and Leith". The loss of traditional industries and commerce (the last shipyard closed in 1983) resulted in economic decline. The Edinburgh Waterfront development has transformed old dockland areas from Leith to Granton into residential areas with shopping and leisure facilities and helped rejuvenate
13552-469: Was affected by the 2022 Scotland bin strikes . In 2023, Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global Plant Based Treaty , which was introduced at COP26 in 2021 in Glasgow. Green Party councillor Steve Burgess introduced the treaty. The Scottish Countryside Alliance and other farming groups called the treaty "anti-farming". Situated in Scotland's Central Belt , Edinburgh lies on
13673-533: Was also responsible for the Royal Albert Hall , and architect Robert Matheson of the Office of Works in Edinburgh. The exterior, designed in a Venetian Renaissance style, contrasts sharply with the light-flooded main hall or Grand Gallery, inspired by The Crystal Palace . Numerous extensions at the rear of the building, particularly in the 1930s, extended the museum greatly. 1998 saw the opening of
13794-621: Was completed in 1888, rooms were opened to the public when they were fitted out, until the last one opened on 14 October 1890. Administration of the museum was transferred in 1901 from the Science and Art Department to the Scottish Education Department , and in 1904 the institution was renamed the Royal Scottish Museum. Electricity was introduced, replacing the original gas lighting, and powering
13915-533: Was formalised. For a few years after the museum first opened, its frontage looked on to a narrow lane. In the 1870s this lane was widened in forming Chambers Street . Over the following century, though there were official names, it became popularly known as the "Chambers Street Museum". The site for building, bought earlier to ensure unobstructed light to the university buildings, had been occupied by two properties west of Jameson's museum; an Independent Chapel with seats for 1,000 fronting West College Street, and
14036-617: Was founded in 1780. It still continues, but in 1858 its collection of archaeological and other finds was transferred to the government as the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland , and from 1891 it occupied half of a new building in Queen Street in the New Town , with its entrance hall shared with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery which occupied the other half. The organisational merger of
14157-549: Was sold to the museum by Canadian anthropologist Marius Barbeau . Construction was started in 1861 and proceeded in phases, the eastern sections opened in 1866 before others had even begun construction. The full extent of the original design was completed in 1888. It was designed by civil engineer Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers , Engineer and Artist of the Science and Art Department in London who
14278-570: Was taken over in 1804 by Robert Jameson , a mineralogist whose course covered zoology and geology , who built it up "not a private department of the university but as a public department connected in some degree with the country of Scotland". In 1812 it was renamed the "Royal Museum of the University". An enormous number of specimens were acquired, by buying from other collections and by encouraging travellers abroad to collect and preserve their finds. Packages were delivered duty-free, and half of
14399-572: Was the home of Muriel Spark 's Miss Jean Brodie, and Ian Rankin 's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont and works in St Leonards. Leith was historically the port of Edinburgh, an arrangement of unknown date that was confirmed by the royal charter Robert the Bruce granted to the city in 1329. The port developed a separate identity from Edinburgh, which to some extent it still retains, and it
14520-576: Was to be George Street , running along the natural ridge to the north of what became known as the "Old Town". To either side of it are two other main streets: Princes Street and Queen Street. Princes Street has become Edinburgh's main shopping street and now has few of its Georgian buildings in their original state. The three main streets are connected by a series of streets running perpendicular to them. The east and west ends of George Street are terminated by St Andrew Square and Charlotte Square respectively. The latter, designed by Robert Adam , influenced
14641-546: Was transferred from the university in 1865–1866. Prince Alfred formally opened the first phase on 19 May 1866, with public access to the east wing and about a third of the Great Hall (now the Grand Gallery). A temporary wall formed the west gable of this space, displays in it included models and machinery of architecture, military and civil engineering, including lighthouses . A small hall (now Living Lands) accommodated manufactures. The natural history collection took up
#543456