130-636: Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh , Scotland , and is the main road connecting the east end of the city centre to Leith . Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the 'Foot of the Walk' at the north-eastern end, where Great Junction Street , Duke Street, Constitution Street and the Kirkgate meet. For historical reasons
260-479: 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
390-465: 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
520-409: A body could backfire against a monarch, especially if the monarch was unpopular. The rebels Henry of Montfort and Henry of Wylynton, enemies of Edward II , were drawn and hanged before being exhibited on a gibbet near Bristol . However, the people made relics of these bloody and mutilated remains out of respect and later used the relics in violent protest. Miracles were even reported at the spot where
650-538: 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
780-472: A decent burial. James Cook was a bookbinder convicted of the murder of his creditor Paas, a manufacturer of brass instruments, in Leicester . During an attempted robbery, Cook beat Paas to death, and then took the body to his home, where he cut it into pieces and burned it to try to hide the evidence of the crime. He was executed on Friday, 10 August 1832, in front of Leicester prison. Afterwards: The head
910-553: A defensive rampart which was constructed between Calton Hill and Leith in 1650. Chambers says the attack on Edinburgh by Cromwell 's army in that year was halted at this line by the Scots under Sir David Leslie (whose army was subsequently defeated at the Battle of Dunbar ). From 1702 until 1711 a Robert Miller employed four coaches to travel between Edinburgh and Leith but his route may have employed Easter Road. From 1722 until 1743
1040-471: A gibbet can still be seen in the Westgate Museum at Winchester . The Old Testament and Torah law forbid gibbeting beyond sunrise of the next day that the body is hanged on the tree. Public crucifixion with prolonged display of the body after death can be seen as a form of gibbeting. Gibbeting was one of the methods said by Tacitus and Cassius Dio to have been used by Boudica 's army in
1170-554: A gibbet erected close to the low-water mark by the sea or a tidal section of a river. Their bodies would be left dangling until they had been submerged by the tide three times. In London , Execution Dock is located on the north bank of the River Thames in Wapping ; after tidal immersion, particularly notorious criminals' bodies could be hung in cages a little farther downstream at either Cuckold's Point or Blackwall Point , as
1300-499: A mix of rum and lemon - allegedly where the name Shrub hill originates from. Shrubhill House was a 17th-century mansion and the home of Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon and her parents Lord and Lady Maxwell. It was demolished around 1960, to be replaced with a brutalist office block built in the early 1970s. Also named Shrubhill House, the building was occupied by the city council's social work department until 2007, then quickly becoming derelict until its eventual demolition in 2015. Until
1430-523: 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
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#17327733309971560-789: 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
1690-474: A rocky outcrop within Port Jackson , is the location of Fort Denison and a former gibbeting site. Thomas Hill, a convict, was sentenced to a week on the rock in iron chains with only bread and water to consume; these conditions are said to have "literally pinched his gut", giving the island its current name. The rock was levelled in the 1790s, and a gibbet installed in 1796. Another convict, Francis Morgan,
1820-634: 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
1950-585: 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
2080-561: A smuggling gang known as the Hawkhurst Gang , operated along the South coast of England between Kent and Dorset; their violent crimes coincided with the authorities desire to punish smugglers on the South coast and deter others from smuggling. Of the 75 members of the gang that were caught and convicted 14 were sentenced to gibbeting. Unusually the bodies were distributed around the area as a deterrent, rather than near where they lived, or
2210-486: A street, is a broad causeway, or, as we call it, a foot way, very firm, and made by hand at least 20 foot broad, and continued to the town of Leith. This causeway is very well kept at the publick expence, and no horses suffer'd to come upon it." The majority of traffic was pedestrian which is why the street became known as "the Walk", the name by which it is still known locally. At the time of its creation it provided an alternative (and shorter) route to Edinburgh compared with
2340-655: 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 ,
2470-509: A warning to other waterborne criminals of the possible consequences of their actions (such a fate befell Captain William Kidd in May 1701). There were objections that these displays offended foreign visitors and did not uphold the reputation of the law, though the scenes even became gruesome tourist attractions. In some cases, the bodies would be left until their clothes rotted or even until
2600-439: 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
2730-570: 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
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#17327733309972860-474: Is arguably the most architecturally distinguished building on the Walk. Originally a Nelson Hall, funded by its benefactor, the publisher and printer Thomas Nelson , it is now a public library run by the City of Edinburgh Council. It was built in 1902 in a Baronial Renaissance style to designs by H Ramsay Taylor. Several notable buildings have disappeared in the past half century. The Alhambra Cinema, which stood at
2990-472: 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 ). Gibbeting Gibbeting is the use of a gallows -type structure from which
3120-426: 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
3250-482: 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 ,
3380-588: 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
3510-440: 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
3640-530: Is visible along the entire length of Leith Walk. It was designed by architects Peddie and Kinnear and constructed (1861–63) originally for the Free Church of Scotland. It has a fine interior, including early examples of stained glass by Daniel Cottier and a historic organ by Forster and Andrews (1903). The hall to the rear blends in perfectly but is a later addition from 1892 On the upper Elm Row section, midway between Brunswick Street and Montgomery Street, are
3770-473: The Abbasid Caliphate and was then gibbeted alive while sewn into a cow's skin with the horns at ear level to crush his head gradually as the skin dried out. On 4 February 1820, six British pirates were hanged on their vessel in the middle of the harbour at Valletta . Thereafter, their bodies were hung in gibbets erected at the bastions of Fort Ricolli . Lieutenant Hobson of HMS Spey , in
3900-641: 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
4030-661: 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
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4160-637: The Omni Centre and St James Quarter at its southern end. The lower northern end terminates where Great Junction and Duke streets meet. Iona Street was originally called Falshaw Street after Lord Provost James Falshaw , Dalmeny Street was Colston Street and a section of Buchanan Street between them was Cross Street. All three names only lasted from 1876 to 1885. Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] )
4290-803: 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
4420-668: 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
4550-689: 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
4680-739: 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,
4810-495: The Trams to Newhaven extension of the line was re-approved, and opened to passengers on 7 June 2023. Leith Walk is served by two tram stops: The Foot of the Walk tram stop is actually located on the south end of Constitution Street . Before the sudden surge of tenement construction in the 1870s the street was largely rural in character with several nurseries along its length. The separate mansion houses which had been built in
4940-775: The tender Frederick , had apprehended them and their vessel in the harbour at Smyrna. During the colonial era , Bird Island and Nix's Mate island in Boston Harbor were used for gibbeting pirates and sailors executed for crimes in Massachusetts. Their bodies were left hanging as a warning to sailors coming into the harbor and approaching Boston. In 1755, a slave named Mark was hanged in Cambridge, Massachusetts , and then gibbeted in chains in Charlestown, Massachusetts ; twenty years later, Paul Revere passed
5070-451: 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
5200-499: 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
5330-465: 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
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5460-520: 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
5590-744: The Anglo-Dutch army, the English dug up the body of the former English commander Rowland York and hanged and gibbeted it as a reminder of York's treachery in 1587. He had handed over the Zutphen sconce to the Spaniards after the English army under the Earl of Leicester was defeated by the Spaniards in the Battle of Zutphen . In 838, the Iranian hero Babak Khorramdin had his hands and feet cut off by
5720-546: The Aylestone Tollgate. According to The Newgate Calendar : Thousands of persons were attracted to the spot, to view this novel but most barbarous exhibition; and considerable annoyance was felt by persons resident in the neighbourhood of the dreadful scene. Representations were in consequence made to the authorities, and on the following Tuesday morning instructions were received from the Home Office directing
5850-411: 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
5980-818: The City Centre and Edinburgh Airport (EDI). Trams were tested daily for several weeks before opening to the public in June 2023. Shrubhill is a distinct area of Leith Walk just south of Pilrig. It was once the site of a gibbet known as the Gallow Lee , literally the "field with the gallows" Several infamous executions took place on the site including that of five Covenanters (Robert Garnock, Patrick Forman, David Farrie, James Stuart and Alexander Russel) in 1681, and of Norman Ross, servant and murderer of Lady Margaret Billie, in 1752. In 1670, Major Thomas Weir , who had admitted to several sex crimes and accused of witchcraft,
6110-668: 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
6240-620: 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
6370-673: 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
6500-424: 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
6630-679: 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
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#17327733309976760-548: 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
6890-533: The Shrubhill tram depot. Leith Walk was intended to be part of the Edinburgh Trams light rail route, which opened in 2014. However, this section of the line was scrapped in June 2011 after major delays and cost overruns, with the line terminating at York Place just short of Leith Walk. 55°57′49″N 3°10′43″W / 55.96361°N 3.17848°W / 55.96361; -3.17848 In 2019,
7020-438: 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,
7150-430: 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
7280-437: The ankles, the knees, the thighs, the bowels the breast and the shoulders; the hands were hung by the side and covered with pitch, the face was pitched and covered with a piece of white cloth. The gibbet was a one-foot (30 cm) in diameter with strong bars of iron up each side. The post was fixed into a one-and-a-half-long-ton (1,500 kg) stone base sunk into the Slake. The body was soon removed by fellow miners and given
7410-405: 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
7540-483: 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
7670-423: The authority of the United States. However, a gang of Cuban pirates were gibbeted in New York c. 1815 . The January 1921 issue of The National Geographic Magazine contains two photographs of gibbet cages, referenced as "man-cages," in use in Afghanistan. Commentary included with the photograph indicates that the gibbet was a practice still in active use. Persons sentenced to death were placed alive in
7800-486: 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
7930-409: The bodies were almost completely decomposed, after which the bones would be scattered. In cases of drawing and quartering , the body of the criminal was cut into four or five portions, with the several parts often gibbeted in different places. So that the public display might be prolonged, bodies were sometimes coated in tar or bound in chains. Sometimes, body-shaped iron cages were used to contain
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#17327733309978060-417: The bodies were hanging. Although the intention was deterrence, the public response was complex. Samuel Pepys expressed disgust at the practice. There was Christian objection that prosecution of criminals should end with their death. The sight and smell of decaying corpses was offensive and regarded as "pestilential", so it was seen as a threat to public health. Pirates were sometimes executed by hanging on
8190-414: The cage and remained there until some undefined time weeks or months after their deaths. In 1837, five years after the practice had ceased in England, the body of John McKay was gibbeted near the spot where he had murdered Joseph Wilson near Perth , in the colony of Van Diemen's Land . There was a great outcry, but the body was not removed until an acquaintance of Wilson passed the spot and, horrified by
8320-437: The cage variation is the gibbet iron, on display at the Atwater Kent Museum in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. The cage, created in 1781, was intended to be used to display the body of convicted pirate Thomas Wilkinson, so that sailors on passing ships might be warned of the consequences of piracy; Wilkinson's planned execution never took place, so the gibbet was never used. An example of an iron cage used to string up bodies on
8450-532: The carriageway is known as Leith Walk but the upper half has several stretches with side names including some parts having different names on opposite sides of the street. Running from its upper (south west) end, on the west side of the street the sections are Picardy Place, Union Place, Antigua Street, Gayfield Place and Haddington Place; on the east side, sections are titled Greenside Place , Baxter's Place, Elm Row and Brunswick Place. It continues (on both sides) as Croall Place, Albert Place, Crighton Place and, after
8580-439: The changing attitudes toward the practice. William Jobling was a miner hanged and gibbeted for the murder of Nicholas Fairles, a colliery owner and local magistrate , near Jarrow , Durham . After being hanged, the body was taken off the rope and loaded into a cart and taken on a tour of the area before arriving at Jarrow Slake, where the crime had been committed. Here, the body was placed into an iron gibbet cage. The cage and
8710-423: 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,
8840-423: 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
8970-473: 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
9100-410: The corpse of Jewish financier Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was gibbeted in a human-sized bird cage that hung outside of Stuttgart on the so-called Pragsattel (the public execution place at the time) for six years, until the inauguration of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg , who permitted the hasty burial of his corpse at an unknown location. After the siege and capture of the city of Zutphen in 1591 by
9230-415: 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
9360-567: 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
9490-411: The dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. Occasionally, the gibbet ( / ˈ dʒ ɪ b ɪ t / ) was also used as a method of public execution , with the criminal being left to die of exposure, thirst and/or starvation. The practice of placing a criminal on display within a gibbet is also called "hanging in chains". Gibbeting
9620-525: The decomposing corpses. For example, in March ;1743 in the town of Rye, East Sussex , Allen Grebell was murdered by John Breads. Breads was imprisoned in the Ypres Tower and then hanged, after which his body was left to rot for more than 20 years in an iron cage on Gibbet Marsh. The cage, with Breads's skull clamped within the headframe, is still kept in the town hall. Another example of
9750-412: The district, where such a spectacle would be likely to prove a warning, and prevent a repetition of the murders which have of late been prevalent in the neighbourhood". Hanging a body in chains was a post execution punishment that was used for those criminals who had committed heinous crimes such as murder. Smugglers were not usually hung in chains post execution. However during the mid eighteenth century
9880-511: The early 19th century were more numerous on the west side than the east. When the tenements were built, it was easier (cheaper) to buy up the few mansions on the east side, which is why the two sides still have different characters to some extent. A large number of tenements were built in a very short time period, between Smiths Place and Brunswick Street, stretching eastwards to Easter Road along Albert, Dalmeny, and other streets. These are all by John Chesser (architect) . The McDonald Road Library
10010-419: The end of Springfield Street, was replaced by a Tyre and Exhaust Centre (now a wine warehouse). This Egyptian style building was originally a theatre. Now it is remembered only in the name of a pub on the opposite side of the street. The Halfway House was a coaching inn at Shrubhill, dating from the 17th century. It survived in truncated form as a pub. At the time of its demolition in 1983 the central horseshoe bar
10140-434: 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
10270-477: 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
10400-410: The first reasonably priced coach began and this was certainly on Leith Walk. This carried six passengers and had a fare of 3d in summer and 4d in winter. Respective prices rose to 4d and 6d in 1727. Daniel Defoe , writing in 1725 and recalling his time in Edinburgh in 1706, described the two features, the roadway and the rampart, as "and all along by the road side, the road itself pav'd with stones like
10530-603: The hour, from 8am to 8pm, and run by the Balfours of Pilrig House . The journey took an hour each way, with a rest at the Halfway House at Shrubhill (which existed as a pub until it closed in 1981). At this time it is stated that there were no other coaches in Scotland except the infrequent service from Edinburgh to London. In 1779, Hugo Arnot , an Edinburgh historian who was born in Leith, stated that 156 coaches travelled
10660-505: The huge columnless railway shed was demolished in the late 1980s, the building which housed the station bars and waiting rooms survives, including the Central Bar which is decorated from floor to ceiling with over 250,000 Staffordshire Potteries tiles with four tiled murals depicting sporting pursuits such as golf, mainly by Minton, Hollins & Co . The Bier Hoose bar, formerly known as The Boundary Bar and City Limits bar, stands on
10790-620: 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
10920-596: The junction with Pilrig Street, as Leith Walk. In a Charter in 1456, James II granted land at Greenside in the "valley and low ground lying between the rock commonly called Cragingalt (ie. Calton Hill ), on the east side, and the common way and road towards the town of Leith." Archaeological investigation on Leith Walk in relation to the Trams to Newhaven project uncovered evidence of a cobble-lined roadway thought to be between 900 and 600 years old. According to Robert Chambers, Leith Walk, as we know it, owes its existence to
11050-412: The late 1890s, Shrubhill housed stables for horse-drawn trams operated by Edinburgh Street Tramways . In 1898 a major tram depot with extensive workshops and a power station was built to run a new cable-tram system being rolled out by Edinburgh and District Tramways which began operating in 1905. The network was later electrified in 1926 running until the closure of the tram network in 1956. Afterwards it
11180-556: The massacre of Roman settlers in the destruction of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St. Albans) in AD 60–61. During the 17th and 18th centuries, gibbets were a common sight in Bermuda. Located in Smith's Parish at the entrance to Flatt's Inlet is Gibbet Island , which was used to hang the bodies of escaped slaves as a deterrent to others. The small island
11310-535: 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
11440-623: 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
11570-538: 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
11700-537: 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
11830-475: 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
11960-438: The old boundary line between Leith and Edinburgh. Prior to 1920, when Leith and Edinburgh merged, it was necessary to use both entrance doors because Leith and Edinburgh magistrates set different licensing rules. The main effect of this was that the bar on the Leith side served until 9.30pm and after that the customers could adjourn to the Edinburgh side to enjoy additional drinking time. Pilrig Church (now Pilrig St Paul's Church)
12090-469: The older Easter Road and its counterpart Wester Road (present-day Bonnington and Broughton roads) although it did not supersede these routes as the main road to Leith until after the building of the North Bridge , traversable from 1769 and completed in 1772. From 1769 both carriages and horses with riders were permitted on Leith Walk. To deflect possible opposition to the building of the bridge if it
12220-515: 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
12350-522: 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
12480-549: The rear and contained a fascinating combination ranging from stained glass to stables. The huge rear college complex was demolished in 2014 to make room for student housing. Other recent losses include the "Craig and Rose" paint and varnish works at Steads Place and Springfield Street, famous suppliers of the red paint used on the Forth Bridge (which was used as their company logo). This site has been redeveloped as housing. Leith Walk terminates (in colloquial terms at least) at
12610-475: The remains of Mark on his famous ride. Six men were executed by gibbeting under civil authority in the Southern Colonies . In Virginia, three men accused of piracy were executed by gibbeting in 1700. In South Carolina, three men were executed by gibbeting: one accused of poisoning in 1744, and two accused of murder in 1754 and 1759. There have been no recorded executions using this method under
12740-492: The remains of what was built as William Williams ' New Veterinary College . Only the front building remains, as the complex of stables and support buildings were demolished to create student housing in 2014. The front building was designed in 1872 by William Hamilton Beattie with sculpture by John Rhind . The sculpture was removed and ornate ground floor lost in the 1970s when converted into studio space for Scottish Television's Gateway Studios. The main college structure stood to
12870-413: 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
13000-446: The route daily, each carrying 4 passengers at a cost of 2.5d or 3d per person. The road apparently fell into disrepair because of its frequent use by coaches and was not repaired until 1810 when it was relaid as a "splendid causeway" raising the road level by around 6 feet. This was "at great expense by the City of Edinburgh and had a toll erected for its payment". In April 2023, the tramline was completed, connecting Leith and Newhaven to
13130-599: The scene of the crime. In 1751, an Act of Parliament stipulated that "in no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried"; the cadaver was either to be publicly dissected or left "hanging in chains". The use of gibbeting had been in decline for some years before it was formally repealed by statute in 1834. In Scotland, the final case of gibbeting was that of Alexander Gillan in 1810. The last two men gibbeted in England were William Jobling and James Cook, both in 1832. Their cases are good examples of
13260-418: The scene were described thus: The body was encased in flat bars of iron of two and a half inches in breadth, the feet were placed in stirrups, from which a bar of iron went up each side of the head, and ended in a ring by which he was suspended; a bar from the collar went down the breast, and another down the back, there were also bars in the inside of the legs which communicated with the above; and crossbars at
13390-403: 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
13520-431: 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
13650-427: 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
13780-548: 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
13910-546: 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
14040-553: 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
14170-766: The spectacle of McKay's rotting corpse, pleaded with the authorities to remove it. The place where this occurred was just to the right (when travelling towards Launceston, not to be confused with the private road with the same name) on the Midlands Highway on the northern side of Perth. In the Colony of Western Australia , gibbeting of executed Indigenous people continued into the mid-1850s. In 1855, Aboriginal men Yandan and Yoongal were executed in Perth for separate murders, with their bodies then "conveyed under escort to York , there to be suspended in some conspicuous part of
14300-456: 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
14430-783: 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 ,
14560-501: 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
14690-538: 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
14820-473: 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
14950-551: 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
15080-516: Was a common law punishment, which a judge could impose in addition to execution. As a sentence for murder, this practice was codified in England by the Murder Act 1751 . It was most often used for traitors , robbers , murderers , highwaymen , and pirates and was intended to discourage others from committing similar offenses. The structures were therefore often placed next to public highways (frequently at crossroads) and waterways. Exhibiting
15210-677: Was a bus depot for Edinburgh Corporation Transport and later Lothian Region Transport, the predecessor of Lothian Buses . Some of the tramworks' exteriors now form part of a new residential-led mixed use development called The Engine Yards , and a new student accommodation block now occupies the old council offices site, with retail units on Leith Walk. Leith Walk was one of the first and last places in Edinburgh and Leith to see trams. Leith had Scotland's first electric tram in 1905, operated by Leith Corporation Tramways . On Leith Walk this terminated at Pilrig Church and passengers had to change to Edinburgh's cable-drawn cars. This inconvenient changeover
15340-463: 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
15470-523: Was admitted to be for access to the New Town , the development of which was still controversial, the foundation stone of the bridge, laid by Lord Provost George Drummond , bore the inscription that it was part of "a new road to Leith". As early as 1763 (when work began on building the North Bridge) the Walk had become a coach route with a regular service running from Leith to Edinburgh, departing on
15600-469: 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
15730-511: Was displayed on a spike after his death, after monarchists disinterred his body during the restoration of the monarchy. The leaders of the Anabaptist movement in Münster were executed in 1536; their dead bodies were gibbeted in iron cages hanging from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church, and the cages are still on display there today. Similarly, following his execution by hanging in 1738,
15860-458: Was garroted and burnt at the stake at nearby Greenside . His remains were later taken to the Gallow Lee and hung on display in the gibbet. The bodies of the condemned were buried at the base of the gallows, or their ashes scattered if burnt. The piles of sand and bones at the foot of the gallows were sold to builders constructing the New Town, with the proceeds being used to purchase shrub ,
15990-722: Was hanged for it, and her body hung in chains. Her story has become legendary in Quebec , and she is the subject of numerous books and plays. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy used Hangman's Beach on McNab's Island in Halifax Harbour to display the hanged bodies of deserters, in order to deter the crews of passing warships. Pinchgut Island (originally Mat-te-wan-ye in the local Aboriginal language ; later, Rock Island when renamed by Governor Arthur Phillip ),
16120-578: Was known as the Pilrig muddle. A pair of Victorian-era tram cable wheels discovered during the line excavations, were installed in 2023, as a monument to the site at the pedestrianised junction with Iona Street. Edinburgh Corporation Tramways took over Leith's trams in 1920, however they did not smooth out the problem of the muddle until 1925 when they electrified their own network. Edinburgh's last tram of this earlier era ran in November 1956 terminating at
16250-586: Was salvaged and reused in the Shrub Bar/Horseshoe Bar to the north. The Gardener's Cottage at Haddington Place, dating from 1765, originally served the first Edinburgh Botanic Garden to its rear. It was demolished in 2009 and has been re-assembled in the current Botanic Garden in Inverleith . The main station building of Leith Central Station still stands at the Foot of the Walk. Although
16380-405: Was sent to New South Wales for life following a murder conviction in 1793; he later killed again in 1796 and was hanged in chains on Pinchgut in November 1796. Morgan's dead body and, later, skeleton remained on display on the island for four years. Robert Aske , who led the rebellion against Henry VIII known as Pilgrimage of Grace , was hanged in chains in 1537. The head of Oliver Cromwell
16510-497: Was shaved and tarred, to preserve it from the action of the weather; and the cap in which he had suffered was drawn over his face. On Saturday afternoon his body, attired as at the time of his execution, having been firmly fixed in the irons necessary to keep the limbs together, was carried to the place of its intended suspension. His body was to be displayed on a purpose-built gallows 33 feet (10 m) high in Saffron Lane near
16640-572: 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
16770-576: 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
16900-534: Was used for this purpose because it was not on the mainland and therefore satisfied the beliefs of locals who did not want gibbets near their homes. Marie-Josephte Corriveau (1733–1763), better known as "La Corriveau", is one of the most popular figures in Québécois folklore. She lived in New France, was sentenced to death by a military tribunal of twelve British officers for the murder of her second husband,
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