Edinburgh Castle and Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle and Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. HP 532617-001 CPU fan
There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century its principal role was as a military base with a large garrison. HP 534676-001 CPU fan
HP 657529-001 CPU fanIts importance as a historic monument was recognised from the 19th century, and various restoration programmes have been carried out since. As one of the most important fortresses in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts, from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, HP 534684-001 CPU fan
HP 642731-001 CPU fan up to the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions.
Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel, HP 576837-001 CPU fan
which dates from the early 12th century and is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh,[2] the Royal Palace, and the early-16th-century Great Hall. The castle also houses the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish National War Memorial, and the National War Museum of Scotland. HP 579158-001 CPU fan
Edinburgh Castle is in the care of Historic Scotland, and is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 1.3 million visitors in 2011.[3] The British Army is responsible for some parts of the castle, HP 602472-001 CPU fan
HP 637607-001 CPU fanalthough its presence is largely ceremonial and administrative, including a number of regimental museums. As the backdrop to the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo it has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh and of Scotland. HP 603690-001 CPU fan
Diagram of a crag and tail feature, such as the Castle Rock: A is the crag formed from the volcanic plug, B is the tail of softer rock, and C shows the direction of ice movement. In the case of Edinburgh, the castle stands on the crag (A) with the Royal Mile extending along the tail (B) HP 604787-001 CPU fan
The castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, which is estimated to have risen some 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a volcanic pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock, HP 606574-001 CPU fan
HP 622028-001 CPU fan before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a type of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation.[4] HP 606729-001 CPU fan
The summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north, rearing up to 80 metres (260 ft) from the surrounding landscape.[5] This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. HP 608010-001 CPU fan
The defensive advantage of such a site is clear, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is an extremely poor aquifer. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28-metre (92 ft) deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege,[6] for example during the Lang Siege of 1573.[7] HP 608095-001 CPU fan
Earliest habitation[edit]
See also: Prehistoric Scotland
The castle is built on a volcanic rock, as seen here from the West Port area
Documentary reference to occupation of the Castle Rock can be found as early as the mid-2nd century AD.[8] Ptolemy (c. 83 – c. 168) refers to a settlement of the Votadini known to the Romans as "Alauna", meaning "rock place",Sony PCG-41111M Keyboard
which may be the earliest known name for the Castle Rock.[9] The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun (c. 1350 – c. 1423), an early chronicler of Scottish history, alludes to "Ebrawce" (Ebraucus), a legendary King of the Britons, who "byggyd [built] Edynburgh".[10] According to the earlier chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155), Sony PCG-41112M Keyboard
Sony PCG-81411M KeyboardEbraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, and was the founder of "Kaerebrauc" (York), "Alclud" (Dumbarton), and the "Maidens' Castle".[11] John Stow (c. 1525 – 1605), credited Ebraucus with building "the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough" in 989 BC.[
Sony PCG-81111M Keyboard
12]
The name "Maiden Castle", or Castellum Puellarum in Latin, was commonly used until at least the 16th century.[13] It appears in charters of David I (ruled 1124–1153) and his successors,[14] although its origins are obscure. Sony PCG-81212M Keyboard
Sony PCG-81313M KeyboardWilliam Camden's 1607 Britannia records that "the Britans called [it] Castle Myned Agned, the Scots, the Maidens Castle and the Virgins Castle, of certaine young maidens of the Picts roiall bloud who were kept there in old time".[1Sony PCG-81112M Keyboard
Sony PCG-81311M Keyboard5] According to the 17th-century antiquarian Father Richard Hay, the "maidens" were a group of nuns, who were ejected from the castle and replaced by canons, considered "fitter to live among soldiers".[1Sony PCG-21313M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7143M Keyboard6] However, this story has been considered "apocryphal" by Daniel Wilson and later historians.[17] Possibly the name derives from a "Cult of the Nine Maidens" type of legend. Arthurian legends suggest that the site once held a shrine to Morgain la Fee, one of nine sisters.[18] Sony PCG-31311M Keyboard
Sony PCG-51512M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7162M KeyboardLater, St Monenna is said to have invested a church at Edinburgh, as well as at Dumbarton and other places, and is also said to have been one of nine companions.[19] More simply, the term "Maiden Castle" may refer to a castle which has never been taken by force.[20]
The Castle seen from the North
An archaeological survey of the castle in the late 1980s shows evidence of the site having been settled during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, potentially making the Castle Rock the longest continually occupied site in Scotland.[2Sony PCG-51111M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7153M Keyboard1] However, the extent of the finds was not particularly significant and was insufficient to draw any certain conclusions about the precise nature or scale of this earliest known phase of occupation.[22] Sony PCG-51112M Keyboard
Sony PCG-51211M Keyboard
The archaeological evidence becomes more compelling in the Iron Age. Traditionally, it had been supposed that the tribes which inhabited this part of central Scotland had made little or no use of the Castle Rock. Excavations at nearby Traprain Law, Sony PCG-5S1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7171M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard Dunsapie Hill, Duddingston and Inveresk had revealed relatively large settlements and it was supposed that these sites had, for some reason, been chosen in preference to the Castle Rock. However, the excavations of the 1980s suggested that there was probably an enclosed hill fort on the rock, although only the fringes of the site were excavated. Sony PCG-5P1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7141M KeyboardHouse fragments revealed were similar to Votadini houses previously found in Northumbria.[23]
The dig revealed clear signs of habitation from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, consistent with Ptolemy's reference to "Alauna". Signs of occupation included a good deal of Roman material, including pottery, bronzes and brooches, Sony PCG-5N2M Keyboard
Sony PCG-3C2M Keyboard
potentially reflecting a trading relationship between the Votadini and the Romans beginning with Agricola's foray north in AD 80, and continuing through to the establishment of the Antonine Wall around AD 140, when the Romans temporarily established themselves nearby at Cramond. Sony PCG-7195M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7144M KeyboardThe nature of the settlement at this time is inconclusive, but Driscoll and Yeoman suggest it may have been a broch, similar to the one at Edin's Hall in the Borders.[24] There is no evidence that the Romans actually occupied the Castle Rock, as they did at nearby Traprain Law.[
Sony PCG-7194M Keyboard25] From this point onwards there is strong evidence pointing towards continuous habitation of the site through to the present, albeit with fluctuations in population levels.[26] Sony PCG-7196M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7192M Keyboard
Early Middle Ages[edit]
The castle does not re-appear in contemporary historical records from the time of Ptolemy until around AD 600. Then, in the Brythonic epic Y Gododdin, there is a reference to Din Eidyn, "the stronghold of Eidyn". This has been viewed as an early reference to the Castle Rock.[27] The poem tells of the Gododdin King Mynyddog Mwynfawr,[28Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard
Sony PCG-3G2M Keyboard
] and his band of warriors, who, after a year of feasting in their fortress, set out to do battle with the Angles somewhere in contemporary Yorkshire. Despite performing glorious deeds of valour and bravery, the poem relates that the Gododdin were massacred.[29] Sony PCG-7161M Keyboard
The Irish annals record that in 638, after the events related in Y Gododdin, "Etin" was besieged by the Angles under Oswald of Northumbria, and the Gododdin were defeated.[30] The territory around Edinburgh then became part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, Sony PCG-7181M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7186M Keyboard
which was itself absorbed by England in the 10th century, when Athelstan of England, according to the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "spoiled the Kingdom to Edinburgh".[31] The English withdrew, and Lothian became part of Scotland, during the reign of Indulf (ruled 954–962).[32] Sony PCG-3F1M Keyboard
The archaeological evidence for the relevant period is entirely based on analysis of midden heaps, with no evidence of structures. Few conclusions can therefore be derived about the status of the settlement during this period, although the midden deposits show no clear break since Roman times.[26]
Sony PCG-3C1M Keyboard
St Margaret, depicted in a stained glass window in the chapel of Edinburgh Castle
High Middle Ages[edit]
Further information: Scotland in the High Middle Ages
The first documentary reference to a castle at Edinburgh is in John of Fordun's account of the death of King Malcolm III. Fordun places his widow, the future Saint Margaret, at the "Castle of Maidens", where she learns of his death in November 1093. Sony PCG-3H1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-3J1M Keyboard Fordun's account goes on to relate how Margaret died of grief within days, and how Malcolm's brother Donald Bane laid siege to the castle. However, Fordun's chronicle was not written until the later 14th century, and the near-contemporary account of the life of St Margaret, by Bishop Turgot, makes no mention of a castle.[3Sony PCG-61211M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71211M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71911M Keyboard
3] During the reigns of Malcolm III and his sons, Edinburgh Castle became one of the most significant royal centres in Scotland.[34] Malcolm's son King Edgar died here in 1107.[35]
Malcolm's youngest son, King David I (ruled 1124–1153), developed Edinburgh as a site of royal power principally through his administrative reforms.[36Sony PCG-71213M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71811M Keyboard] Between 1139 and 1150, David held an assembly of nobles and churchmen, a precursor to the parliament of Scotland, at the castle.[34] Any buildings or defences would probably have been of timber,[3Sony PCG-71312M Keyboard
Sony PCG-61611M Keyboard7] although two 12th-century stone buildings are known. Of these, St. Margaret's Chapel remains at the summit of the rock. The second was a church, dedicated to St. Mary, which stood on the site of the Scottish National War Memorial.[37Sony PCG-71311M Keyboard
Sony PCG-61511M Keyboard] Given that the southern part of the Upper Ward (where Crown Square is now sited) was not suited to being built upon until the construction of the vaults in the 15th century, it seems probable that any earlier buildings would have been located towards the northern part of the rock; that is around the area where St. Margaret's Chapel stands.
Sony PCG-71D14M KeyboardThis has led to a suggestion that the chapel is the last remnant of a square, stone keep, which would have formed the bulk of the 12th-century fortification.[38] The structure may have been similar to the keep of Carlisle Castle, which David I began after 1135.[39]
David's successor King Malcolm IV (ruled 1153–1165) reportedly stayed at Edinburgh more than at any other location.[35] But in 1174, King William "the Lion" (ruled 1165–1214) was captured by the English at the Battle of Alnwick. Sony PCG-71313M Keyboard
He was forced to sign the Treaty of Falaise to secure his release, in return for surrendering Edinburgh Castle, along with the castles of Berwick, Roxburgh and Stirling, to the English King, Henry II. The castle was occupied by the English for twelve years, until 1186, when it was returned to William as the dowry of his English bride, Sony PCG-61212M Keyboard
Sony PCG-71411M KeyboardErmengarde de Beaumont, who had been chosen for him by King Henry.[40] By the end of the 12th century, Edinburgh Castle was established as the main depository of the national archives.[41] Sony PCG-5P2m Keyboard
Sony PCG-5R1M Keyboard
Wars of Scottish Independence[edit]
Statues of Robert the Bruce by Thomas Clapperton and William Wallace by Alexander Carrick were added to the gatehouse entrance in 1929
A century later, on the death of King Alexander III, the throne of Scotland became vacant. Edward I of England was appointed to adjudicate the competing claims for the Scottish crown, but attempted to use the opportunity to establish himself as the feudal overlord of Scotland. Sony PCG-5R2M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7186M KeyboardDuring the negotiations, Edward stayed briefly at Edinburgh Castle, and may have received homage from Scottish nobles at the castle.[42]
In March 1296, Edward I launched an invasion of Scotland, sparking the First War of Scottish Independence. Edinburgh Castle soon came under English control, surrendering after three days of bombardment.[
Sony PCG-7185M Keyboard43] Following the siege, Edward had much of the relics, records and treasure removed from the castle to England.[42] A large garrison was installed, 325 strong in 1300,[4Sony PCG-5T2M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7183M Keyboard4] and Edward brought up his master craftsmen from the Welsh castles, including Thomas de Houghton and Master Walter of Hereford, both of whom travelled from Wales to Edinburgh in the first years of the century.[ Sony PCG-5T1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7184M Keyboard45] After the death of Edward I in 1307, however, England's control over Scotland weakened. On 14 March 1314, a surprise night attack by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, recaptured the castle. Sony PCG-7181M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7182M KeyboardJohn Barbour's narrative poem The Brus relates how a party of thirty hand-picked men were guided by one William Francis, a member of the garrison who knew of a route along the north face of the Castle Rock, and a place where the wall might be scaled. Making the difficult ascent,
Randolph's men took the garrison by surprise and took control. Robert the Bruce immediately ordered the destruction of the castle's defences to prevent re-occupation by the English.[46] Shortly after, Bruce's army secured victory at the Battle of Bannockburn. Sony VPCEE2M1E keyboard
After Bruce's death in 1329, Edward III of England determined to carry on Edward I's project, and supported the claim of Edward Balliol, son of the former King John Balliol, over that of the young David II, son of the Bruce. Edward invaded in 1333, Sony VPCEE3E0E keyboard
Sony VPCEE3S1E kseyboard marking the start of the Second War of Scottish Independence, and the English forces reoccupied and refortified Edinburgh Castle in 1335,[47] holding it until 1341. This time, the Scottish assault was led by William Douglas, Sony VPCEE3L0E keyboard
Sony VPCEE3Z0E keyboard Lord of Liddesdale. Douglas's party disguised themselves as merchants from Leith bringing supplies to the garrison. Driving a cart into the castle, they halted it to prevent the gates closing. A larger force hidden nearby rushed to join them, and the castle was retaken.[40] The English garrison, numbering 100, were all killed.[47] Sony VPC EL series Keyboard
David's Tower and the 15th century[edit]
The Treaty of Berwick of 1357 brought the Wars of Independence to a close. David II resumed his rule, and set about rebuilding Edinburgh Castle, which became his principal seat of government.[48] David's Tower was begun around 1367, Sony VPCEL2S1E/B Keyboard
Sony VGN-N38M Keyboardand was incomplete when David died at the castle in 1371, being completed by his successor, Robert II, in the 1370s. The tower stood on the site of the present Half Moon Battery, and was connected by a section of curtain wall to the smaller Constable's Tower, a round tower built between 1375 and 1379 where the Portcullis Gate now stands.[40][49] Sony VPCEL3S1E/W Keyboard
A late-16th-century depiction of the castle, from Braun & Hogenberg's Civitates orbis terrarum, showing David's Tower at the centre
In the early 15th century, another English invasion, this time under Henry IV, reached Edinburgh Castle and began a siege, but due to a lack of supplies, the English withdrew.[40] From 1437, Sir William Crichton was Keeper of Edinburgh Castle,[5Sony VPCEL2S1E Keyboard
Sony VGN-N38E Keyboard0] and soon after became Chancellor of Scotland. In an attempt to gain the regency of Scotland, Crichton sought to overthrow the power of the Earls of Douglas, the principal noble family in the kingdom. The sixteen-year-old William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his younger brother David, were summoned to Edinburgh Castle in November 1440. Sony PCG-71C11M Keyboard
The so-called "Black Dinner" which followed saw the two boys summarily beheaded on trumped-up charges, in the presence of the ten-year-old King James II (ruled 1437–1460). Douglas' supporters subsequently laid siege to the castle, causing some damage.[5
Sony VGN-N31Z Keyboard1] Construction continued throughout this period, with the area now known as Crown Square being laid out over vaults in the 1430s. Royal apartments were built, forming the nucleus of the later palace block, and a Great Hall was in existence by 1458. In 1464, the access to the castle was improved, Sony PCG-7T1M Keyboard
Sony VGN-N31S Keyboard with the current approach road up the north-east side of the rock being created for easier movement of the royal artillery train in and out of the castle.[49] Sony PCG-7T2M Keyboard
In 1479, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, was imprisoned in David's Tower for plotting against his brother, King James III (ruled 1460–1488). He escaped by getting his guards drunk, then lowering himself from a window on a rope. Sony PCG-7X1M Keyboard
Sony VGN-N31L Keyboard [51] Albany fled to France, then England, where he allied himself with King Edward IV. In 1482, Albany marched into Scotland with Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) and an English army. James III was shut up in the castle from 22 July to 29 September 1482 until he negotiated a settlement with his brother.[51] Sony PCG-7X2M Keyboard
Edinburgh Castle as it may have looked before the Lang Siege of 1573, with David's Tower and the Palace block, centre and left
During the 15th century the castle was increasingly used as an arsenal and armaments factory. The first known purchase of a gun was in 1384, and the "great bombard" Mons Meg was delivered to Edinburgh in 1457.[5Sony PCG-7Y1M Keyboard
Sony VGN-N21Z Keyboard2] The first record of an armoury for the manufacture of guns occurs in 1474, and by 1498 the master gunner Robert Borthwick was casting bronze guns at Edinburgh.[53] By 1511 Edinburgh was the principal foundry in Scotland, supplanting Stirling Castle, with Scottish and European smiths working under Borthwick, Sony PCG-7Y2M Keyboard
Sony VGN-N21S Keyboardwho by 1512 was appointed "master melter of the king's guns".[54] Their output included guns for the Scottish flagship, Great Michael, and the "Seven Sisters", a set of cannon described by a Venetian writer as powerful and beautiful weapons which were captured by the English at Flodden in 1513.[ Sony VGN-N11M Keyboard
Sony VGN-N21M Keyboard55] From 1510 Dutch craftsmen were also producing hand culverins, an early firearm.[56] After Flodden, Borthwick continued his work, producing an unknown number of guns, of which none survive. He was succeeded by French smiths, who began manufacturing hagbuts (another type of firearm) in the 1550s,[5Sony VGN-N11SR Keyboard
Sony VGN-N21E Keyboard7] and by 1541 the castle had a stock of 413 hagbuts.[58] Sony VGN-N11S Keyboard
Meanwhile, the royal family began to stay more frequently at the Abbey of Holyrood, at the opposite end of Edinburgh's "Royal Mile". Around the end of the fifteenth century, King James IV (ruled 1488–1513) built Holyroodhouse, by the abbey, for his principal Edinburgh residence, and the castle's role as a royal home subsequently declined.[51] Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard
James IV did, however, construct the present Great Hall, which was completed in the early 16th century.[49]
16th century and the Lang Siege[edit]
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange, painted by Jean Clouet
James IV was killed in battle at Flodden Field, on 9 September 1513. Expecting the English to press their advantage, the Scots hastily constructed a town wall around Edinburgh and augmented the castle's defences. Sony VGN-NW20ZF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS20EF/P keyboard Robert Borthwick and a Frenchman, Antoine d'Arces, were involved in designing new artillery defences and fortifications in 1514, although little work appears to have been carried out.[59] Three years later, King James V (ruled 1513–1542), still only five years old, was brought to the castle for safety.[5Sony VGN-NW24S Keyboard
Sony VGN-NW26M Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS30Z keyboard1] Upon James' death 25 years later, the crown passed to his week-old daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. English invasions followed, as King Henry VIII attempted to force a dynastic marriage on Scotland, although Edinburgh Castle remained largely unaffected.[49] Sony VGN-NW20EF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS30E keyboardFollowing these campaigns, refortifications included an earthen angle-bastion, known as the Spur, of the type known as trace italienne, one of the earliest examples in Britain.[60] It may have been designed by Migiliorino Ubaldini, an Italian engineer from the court of Henry II of France,[60Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NW24EG Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS20M keyboard] and was said to have the arms of France carved on it.[61] James V's widow, Mary of Guise, acted as regent from 1554 until her death at the castle in 1560.[51] The following year, her daughter Mary returned from France to begin her reign. Sony VGN-NW24JG Keyboard
The reign of the Catholic Queen Mary was marred by crises and quarrels amongst the powerful Protestant Scottish nobility. In 1565, the Queen married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and the following year, in a small room of the Palace at Edinburgh Castle, she gave birth to James, who would later be King of both Scotland and England. Sony VGN-NW24MG Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS20J keyboard Mary's own reign, however, was already drawing to a close. Three months after the murder of Darnley at Kirk o' Field in 1567, she married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, one of the murder suspects. Sony VGN-NW24MR Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS20E keyboard A large proportion of the nobility rebelled, resulting ultimately in the imprisonment and forced abdication of Mary at Loch Leven Castle. She escaped and fled to England, and some of the nobility remained faithful to her cause. Sony VGN-NW26EG Keyboard
Sony VGN-NW26JG Keyboard
Edinburgh Castle was initially handed by its Captain, James Balfour, to the Regent Moray, who had forced Mary's abdication, and now held power in the name of the infant King James VI. Moray appointed Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange as Keeper of the Castle.[51] Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NW21MF/P Keyboard
Detail of a contemporary drawing of Edinburgh Castle under siege in 1573, showing the attacking batteries constructed around it
Kirkcaldy of Grange was a trusted lieutenant of the Regent, but after Moray's murder in January 1570 his allegiance to the King's cause began to waver. Intermittent civil war continued between the supporters of the two monarchs, Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS11J keyboard and in April 1571 Dumbarton Castle fell to the King's men. Under the influence of William Maitland of Lethington, Mary's secretary, Grange changed sides, occupying the town and castle of Edinburgh for Queen Mary, and against the new regent, the Earl of Lennox.[
Sony VGN-NS10L keyboard62] The stand-off which followed was not resolved until two years later, and became known as the "Lang Siege", from the Scots word for "long". Hostilities began in May, with a month-long siege of the town, and a short second siege in October. Blockades and skirmishing continued meanwhile, Sony VGN-NW31ZF/S Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS10E keyboard and Grange continued to refortify the castle. The King's party appealed to Elizabeth I of England for assistance, as they lacked the artillery and money required to reduce the castle, and feared that Grange would receive aid from France. Elizabeth sent ambassadors to negotiate,
Sony VGN-NR21S/T Keyboard and in July 1572 a truce was agreed and the blockade lifted. The town was effectively surrendered to the King's party, with Grange confined to the castle.[63] Sony VGN-NR31E Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR31ER Keyboard
The truce ran out on 1 January 1573, and Grange began bombarding the town. His supplies of powder and shot, however, were running low, and despite having 40 cannon available, there were only seven gunners in the garrison.[6Sony VGN-NR31J Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR31MR Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR21S Keyboard4] The King's forces, now with the Earl of Morton in charge as regent, were making headway with plans for a siege. Trenches were dug to surround the castle, and St Margaret's Well was poisoned. Sony VGN-NR31S Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR31SR Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR21J Keyboard [65] By February, all Queen Mary's other supporters had surrendered to the Regent, but Grange resolved to resist, despite water shortages within the castle. The garrison continued to bombard the town, killing a number of citizens. They also made sorties to set fires, burning 100 houses in the town, and then firing on anyone attempting to put out the flames.[6Sony VGN-NR31Z Keyboard
Sir William Drury, painted by an unknown artist
In April, a force of around 1,000 English troops, led by Sir William Drury, arrived in Edinburgh. They were followed by 27 cannon from Berwick-upon-Tweed,[64] including one that had been cast within Edinburgh Castle and captured by the English at Flodden. Sony VGN-NR31Z/T Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR31ZR Keyboard
6]
[51] The English troops built a battery on Castle Hill, immediately facing the east walls of the castle, and five other batteries to the north, west and south. By 17 May these were ready, and the bombardment began. Over the next 12 days, the gunners dispatched around 3,000 shots at the castle.[7]
Sony VGN-NR21E Keyboard On 22 May, the south wall of David's Tower collapsed, and the next day the Constable's Tower also fell. The debris blocked the castle entrance, as well as the Fore Well, although this had already run dry.[7Sony VGN-NR38E Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Keyboard] On 26 May, the English attacked and captured the Spur, the outer fortification of the castle, which had been isolated by the collapse. The following day, Grange came out, calling a ceasefire while surrender could be negotiated. When it was made clear that he would not be allowed to go free, Grange resolved to continue the resistance, but the garrison threatened to mutiny. Sony VGN-NR38M Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR38S Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR11Z KeyboardHe therefore arranged for Drury and his men to come into the castle on 28 May, surrendering to the English rather than to the Regent Morton.[67] Edinburgh Castle was handed over to George Douglas of Parkhead, the Regent's brother, and the garrison were allowed to go free.[68] William Kirkcaldy of Grange,
Sony VGN-NR11S Keyboardhis brother James, with the two jewellers Mossman and James Cokke who had been minting coins in Mary's name inside the castle, were hanged at the mercat cross on 3 August.[69]
Sony VGN-NR11M Keyboard
Nova Scotia and Civil War[edit]
Much of the castle was subsequently rebuilt by Regent Morton, including the Spur, the new Half Moon Battery, and the Portcullis Gate. Some of these works were supervised by William MacDowall, the master of work who fifteen years earlier had repaired David's Tower.[7Sony VGN-NR38Z Keyboard
Sony VGN-NR38Z/T Keyboard0] The Half Moon Battery, while impressive in size, is considered by historians as an ineffective and dated artillery fortification.[71] This may be due to a shortage of resources, although the battery's position: obscuring the ancient David's Tower; and enhancing the prominence of the palace, has been seen as a significant decision.[7Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard
The battered palace block remained unused, particularly after James VI departed to become King of England in 1603.[73] James had repairs carried out in 1584, and in 1615–1616 more extensive repairs were carried out in preparation for his return visit to Scotland.[74] The mason William Wallace and master of works James Murray introduced an early Scottish example of the double-pile block.[75Sony VPCF11C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13M1E/H Keyboard] The principal external features were the three, three-storey oriel windows on the east façade, facing the town and emphasising that this was a palace rather than a place of defence.[76] During his visit of 1617, James held court in the refurbished palace, but still preferred to sleep at Holyrood.[49] Sony VPCF11D4E Keyboard
Sony VPC-F11M1E/H Keyboard
Memorial plaque to Sir William Alexander, on the Castle Esplanade
In 1621, King James granted Sir William Alexander the land in North America between New England and Newfoundland, as Nova Scotia ("New Scotland"). To promote the settlement and plantation of Nova Scotia, Sony VPCF11S1E/B Keyboard
Sony VPC-F2 Keyboard
Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboardthe Baronetage of Nova Scotia was created in 1624. Under Scots Law, baronets had to "take sasine" by symbolically receiving the earth and stone of the land of which they were baronet. To make this possible, since Nova Scotia was far distant, the King declared that sasine could be taken either in Nova Scotia or, alternatively, "at the castle of Edinburgh as the most eminent and principal place of Scotland."[77Sony VPC-F21Z1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF22J1E Keyboard
]
James' successor, King Charles I, visited Edinburgh Castle only once, hosting a feast in the Great Hall, and staying the night before his coronation as King of Scots in 1633, the last occasion that a reigning monarch has resided in the castle.[51] In 1639, in response to Charles' attempts to reform the Scottish Church, Sony VPCF22L1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF22M1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13Z8E/BI Keyboard civil war broke out between the King's forces and the Presbyterian Covenanters. The Covenanters, led by Alexander Leslie, captured Edinburgh Castle after a short siege, although it was restored to Charles after the Peace of Berwick of June the same year. The peace was short lived, however, Sony VPCF22S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF22S8E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13Z8E Keyboardand the following year the Covenanters took the castle again, this time after a three-month siege, during which the garrison ran out of supplies. The Spur was badly damaged, and was demolished in the 1640s.[4Sony VPCF23M1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard9] The Royalist commander James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, was imprisoned here after his capture in 1650.[78]
In May 1650, the Covenanters signed the Treaty of Breda, allying themselves with King Charles II against the English Parliamentarians, who had executed King Charles I the previous year. In response,
Sony VPCF13M1E/B KeyboardOliver Cromwell launched an invasion of Scotland, defeating the Covenanter army at Dunbar in September. Edinburgh Castle was taken after a three-month siege, which caused further damage. The Governor of the Castle, Colonel Walter Dundas, surrendered to Cromwell despite having enough supplies to hold out, allegedly because he wished to change sides.[78]
Sony VPCF13J0E/H Keyboard
Sony VPCF1318E/H Keyboard
Garrison fortress: Jacobites and prisoners[edit]
An engraving of Edinburgh Castle made in about 1753
After his Restoration as King of England and Scotland in 1660, Charles II opted to maintain a full-time standing army based on Cromwell's New Model Army. From this time until 1923, a garrison was continuously maintained at the castle.[79Sony VPCF23Q1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF231S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13E8E Keyboard] The medieval royal castle was transformed into a garrison fortress, but continued to see military and political action. The Marquis of Argyll was imprisoned here in 1661, during the mopping up of the King's enemies after the Restoration. Twenty years later, his son, the Earl of Argyll,
Sony VPCF13E4E Keyboard was also imprisoned in the castle for religious Nonconformism. He escaped by disguising himself as his sister's footman, but was brought back to the castle after his failed rebellion against King James VII in 1685.[78] Sony VPCF23S1E Keyboard
James VII was deposed and exiled by the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, which installed William of Orange as King of England. The Parliament of Scotland also accepted William as their new king, and required the Duke of Gordon, Governor of the Castle, to surrender the fortress. Gordon, who had been appointed by James VII as a fellow Catholic, Sony VPCF24M1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF12F4E/H Keyboard refused. In March 1689, the castle was blockaded by 7,000 troops, against a garrison of 160 men, who were further weakened by religious disputes. On 18 March, Viscount Dundee climbed up the western side of the Castle Rock, and attempted to persuade Gordon to ride out with him in rebellion against the new King.[80Sony VPCF11S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF12E1E/H Keyboard] Gordon chose to stay, but during the ensuing siege he refused to fire upon the town, while the besiegers inflicted little damage on the castle. Despite Dundee's initial successes in the north, Gordon eventually surrendered on 14 June, due to dwindling supplies, and having lost 70 men during the three-month siege.[81][8Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCF11Z1E/BI Keyboard] Under the terms of the Acts of Union, which joined England and Scotland in 1707, Edinburgh was one of the four Scottish castles to be maintained and permanently garrisoned by the new British Army, along with Stirling, Dumbarton and Blackness.[83] Sony VPCF13S1E/B Keyboard
Edinburgh Castle with the Nor Loch in foreground, around 1780, by Alexander Nasmyth
The castle was almost taken in the first Jacobite rising in support of James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", in 1715. On 8 September, just two days after the rising began, a party of around 100 Jacobite Highlanders, Sony VPCF13S0E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCY11M1R Keyboard led by Lord Drummond, attempted to scale the walls with the assistance of members of the garrison. However, the rope ladder lowered by the castle sentries was too short, and the alarm was raised after a change in the watch. The Jacobites fled, while the deserters within the castle were hanged or flogged.[ Sony VPCF12Z1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCYB3V1E Keyboard 84] General Wade reported in 1728 that the castle's defences were decayed and inadequate,[78] and major refortifications were carried out throughout the 1720s and 1730s, when most of the artillery defences and bastions on the north and west sides of the castle were built. Sony VPCF12M0E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCYB3Q1R Keyboard These were designed by military engineer Captain John Romer, and built by William Adam. They include the Argyle Battery, Mills Mount Battery, the Low Defences and the Western Defences.[85] Sony VPCF13M8E/B Keyboard
The last military action at the castle was during the second Jacobite rising of 1745. The Jacobite army, under Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") captured Edinburgh without a fight in September 1745, but the castle remained in the hands of the ageing Deputy Governor, General George Preston, who refused to surrender.[8Sony VPCF13Z0E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCF13M0E/B Keyboard
6] After their victory over the government army at Prestonpans on 21 September, the Jacobites attempted to blockade the castle. Preston's response was to bombard Jacobite positions within the town. After several buildings had been demolished, and four people killed, Charles called off the blockade.[87][ Sony VPCY21S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCYB3V1E Keyboard
Sony VPCYB1S1R Keyboard 88] The Jacobites themselves had no heavy guns with which to respond, and by November they had marched on to England, leaving Edinburgh to the castle garrison.[89]
Over the next century, the castle vaults were used to hold prisoners of war during several conflicts, including the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), Sony VPCYB3V1E/R Keyboard
Sony VPCYB1S1E Keyboard the American War of Independence (1775–1783) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).[90] During this time, several new buildings were erected within the castle, including powder magazines, stores, the Governor's House (1742), and the New Barracks (1796–1799). Sony VPCY11M1E Keyboard
19th century to the present[edit]
King George IV waves from the battlements of the Half Moon Battery in 1822, drawn by James Skene
A mass prison break in 1811, in which 49 prisoners of war escaped via a hole in the south wall, persuaded the authorities that the castle vaults were no longer a suitable prison. This use ceased in 1814,[91] and the castle began to take on a different role as a national monument. In 1818, Sony VPCY11S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCYA1V9E Keyboard Sir Walter Scott was given permission to search the castle for the Crown of Scotland, which had been stored away since the union of Scotland and England in 1707. Breaking open the Crown Room, he retrieved the Honours of Scotland, which were then put on public display, with an entry charge of one shilling.[9Sony VPCY11S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCW1E8R/BU Keyboard
Sony VPCYA1C5E Keyboard 2] In 1822, King George IV made a visit to Edinburgh, becoming the first reigning monarch to visit the castle since Charles II in 1651. In 1829, the cannon Mons Meg was returned from London, and the palace began to be opened up to visitors during the 1830s.[93] St Margaret's Chapel was "rediscovered" in 1845, Sony VPCY11V9E Keyboard
Sony VPCY22C5E Keyboard having been used as a store for many years.[92] Works in the 1880s, funded by the publisher William Nelson and carried out by Hippolyte Blanc, saw the Argyle Tower built over the Portcullis Gate, and the Great Hall restored after years of use as a barracks.[49] A new gatehouse was built in 1888. Sony VPCY11V9E/S Keyboard
Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard
Sony VPCY21V9E Keyboard During the 19th century, several schemes were put forward for rebuilding the whole castle as a Scottish Baronial style château. Work began in 1858, but was soon abandoned, Sony VPCY21S1E/P Keyboard
Sony VPCY21S1E/SI Keyboard
and only the hospital building was eventually remodelled in 1897.[49] Following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, the architect David Bryce put forward a proposal for a 50-metre (160 ft) keep as a memorial, although Queen Victoria objected, and the scheme was not pursued.[94]
Soldiers of the Castle garrison in an early photograph c.1845
In 1905, responsibility for the castle was transferred from the War Office to the Office of Works,[95] although the garrison remained until 1923, when the troops moved to Redford Barracks in south-west Edinburgh. Sony VPCY21A7E Keyboard
The castle again became a prison during the First World War, when "Red Clydesider" David Kirkwood was confined here, and during the Second World War, when it housed German Luftwaffe pilots.[96Sony VPCY21B7E Keyboard
Sony VPCY21C5E Keyboard ] The position of Governor of Edinburgh Castle, which had been vacant since 1876, was revived in 1935 as an honorary title for the General Officer Commanding in Scotland, the first holder being Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Cameron of Lochiel.[97] The castle passed into the care of Historic Scotland when it was established in 1991, and was designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1993.[9Sony VPCF12K4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF12B4E Keyboard8] The buildings and structures of the castle are further protected by 24 separate listings, including 13 at category A, the highest level of protection for a historic building in Scotland.[99] The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, a World Heritage Site inscribed by UNESCO in 1995, is described as "dominated by a medieval fortress".[100] Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard
Description[edit]
Edinburgh Castle is located at the top of the Royal Mile, at the west end of Edinburgh's Old Town. The volcanic Castle Rock offers a naturally defended position, with sheer cliffs to north and south, and a steep ascent from the west. The only easy approach is from the town to the east, and the castle's defences are situated accordingly, with a series of gates protecting the route to the summit of the Castle Rock.[101]
Plan of Edinburgh Castle
Key:
A Esplanade · B Gatehouse · C Ticket office · D Portcullis Gate & Argyle Tower · E Argyle Battery · F Mills Mount Battery & One o'Clock Gun · G Cartsheds · H Western Defences · I Hospital · J Butts Battery · K Scottish National War Museum · L Governors House · M New Barracks · N Military Prison · O Royal Scots Museum · P Foog's Gate ·Sony VPCF13D4E Keyboard
Q Reservoirs · R Mons Meg · S Pet Cemetery · T St. Margaret's Chapel · U Half Moon Battery · V Crown Square · W Royal Palace · X Great Hall · Y Queen Anne Building · Z Scottish National War MemorialSony VPCF13F4E Keyboard
Outer defences[edit]
In front of the castle is a long sloping forecourt known as the Esplanade. Originally the Spur, a 16th-century hornwork, was located here. The present Esplanade was laid out as a parade ground in 1753, and extended in 1845.[49] It is upon this Esplanade that the Edinburgh Military Tattoo takes place annually. From the Esplanade the Half Moon Battery is prominent, with the Royal Palace to its left.[102] Sony VPCF13G4E Keyboard
The gatehouse at the head of the Esplanade was built as an architecturally cosmetic addition to the castle in 1888.[103] Statues of Robert the Bruce by Thomas Clapperton and William Wallace by Alexander Carrick were added in 1929, and the Latin motto Nemo me impune lacessit is inscribed above the gate. Sony VPCF13J4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboard The dry ditch in front of the entrance was completed in its present form in 1742.[104] Within the gatehouse are offices, and to the north is the most recent addition to the castle; the ticket office, completed in 2008 to a design by Gareth Hoskins Architects.[105] Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11J1E/B KeyboardThe road, built by James III in 1464 for the transport of cannon, leads upward and around to the north of the Half Moon Battery and the Forewall Battery, to the Portcullis Gate. In 1990, an alternative access was opened by digging a tunnel from the north of the esplanade to the north-west part of the castle, separating visitor and service traffic.[106] Sony VPCF13L0E Keyboard
The Portcullis Gate
Portcullis Gate and Argyle Tower[edit]
The Portcullis Gate was begun by the Regent Morton after the Lang Siege of 1571–73 to replace the round Constable's Tower, which was destroyed in the siege.[107] In 1584 the upper parts of the gatehouse were completed by William Schaw,[108] Sony VPCF13S8E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11J04E/H Keyboardand these were further modified in 1750.[109] In 1886–1887 this plain building was replaced with a Scots Baronial tower, designed by the architect Hippolyte Blanc, although the original Portcullis Gate remains below. The new structure was named the Argyle Tower, in the belief that the 9th Earl of Argyll had been held here prior to his execution in 1685.[1Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11H4E Keyboard10] Described as "restoration in an extreme form",[110] the rebuilding of the Argyle Tower was the first in a series of works funded by the publisher William Nelson.[110]
Just inside the gate is the Argyle Battery overlooking Princes Street, with Mills Mount Battery, the location of the One O'Clock Gun, to the west. Below these is the Low Defence, Sony VPCF22C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11G4E Keyboardwhile at the base of the rock is the ruined Wellhouse Tower, built in 1362 to guard St. Margaret's Well.[111] This natural spring provided an important secondary source of water for the castle, the water being lifted up by a crane mounted on a platform known as the Crane Bastion.[112] Sony VPCF12D4E Keyboard
Military buildings[edit]
The New Barracks
The areas to the north and west of the Argyle Tower are largely occupied by military buildings erected after the castle became a major garrison in the early 18th century.[113] Adjacent to Mills Mount are the 18th-century cart sheds, now the tea rooms.[104Sony VPCF12H4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11E4E Keyboard] The Governor's House to the south was built in 1742 as accommodation for the Governor, Storekeeper, and Master Gunner,[114] and was used until the post of Governor became vacant in the later 19th century; it was then used by nurses of the castle hospital. Today, it functions as an officers' mess, and as the office of the Governor since the restoration of the post in 1936.[115] Sony VPCF11A4E Keyboard
South of the Governor's House is the New Barrack Block, completed in 1799 to house 600 soldiers, and replacing the outdated accommodation in the Great Hall. It now houses the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and the Regimental Headquarters and Museum of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys). Sony VPCCA Battery
The latter was first opened in 1995 by the regiment's Colonel, Queen Elizabeth II.[116] Also nearby, in the former Royal Scots drill hall, constructed in 1900, is the regimental museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment).[1Sony VPCCA1S1E Battery
Sony VPCCB4X1E Battery17] The military prison was built in 1842 for the castle garrison and was extended in the 1880s. It was last used in 1923, when the garrison moved to Redford Barracks.[93]
National War Museum of Scotland[edit]
Main article: National War Museum of Scotland
West of the Governor's House, a store for munitions was built in 1747–48, and this was later extended to form a courtyard, in which the main gunpowder magazine also stood.[11Sony VPCCA2C5E Battery
Sony VPCCB3S1E Battery8] In 1897 the area was remodelled as a military hospital, formerly housed in the Great Hall. The building to the south of this courtyard is now the National War Museum of Scotland, which forms part of the National Museums of Scotland. It was formerly known as the Scottish United Services Museum, and, prior to this, Sony VPCCA2S0E Battery
Sony VPCCB3PQE Battery the Scottish Naval and Military Museum, when it was located in the Queen Anne Building.[119] It covers Scottish military history over the past 400 years, and includes a wide range of military artefacts, Sony VPCCA2S1E Battery
Sony VPCCB3 Batterysuch as uniforms, medals and weapons. The exhibitions also illustrate the history and causes behind the many wars in which Scottish soldiers have been involved. Beside the museum is Butts Battery, named for the archery butts (targets) formerly placed here.[120] Sony VPCCA3 Battery
Sony VPCCB2S1E BatteryBelow it are the Western Defences, where a postern gate gives access to the western slope of the rock.[121]
Upper Ward[edit]
Foog's Gate
The Upper Ward occupies the highest part of the Castle Rock, and is entered via the late 17th-century Foog's Gate.[104] The origin of this name is unknown, although it was formerly known as the Foggy Gate, which may relate to the dense sea-fog, known as haar, which commonly affects Edinburgh.[122Sony VPCCA3E1E Battery
Sony VPCCB2M0E Battery] Adjacent to the gates are the reservoirs, built to reduce the castle's dependency on well water, and a former fire station, now used as a shop. The summit of the rock is occupied by St Margaret's Chapel and the 15th-century siege gun Mons Meg. Sony VPCCB Battery
Sony VPCCB2 BatteryOn a ledge below this area is a small 19th-century cemetery of soldiers' and regimental mascot dogs. Beside this, the Lang Stair leads down to the Argyle Battery, past a section of a medieval bastion,[1Sony SVE1511A1EW Keyboard
Sony SVE1513Q1E Keyboard04] and gives access to the upper part of the Argyle Tower. The eastern end of the Upper Ward is occupied by the Forewall and Half Moon Batteries, with Crown Square to the south.[102]
St. Margaret's Chapel
St. Margaret's Chapel[edit]
Main article: St. Margaret's Chapel
The oldest building in the castle, and in Edinburgh, is the small St. Margaret's Chapel.[2] One of the few 12th-century structures surviving in any Scottish castle,[39] it dates to the reign of King David I (ruled 1124–1153), Sony SVE1511L1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1513H1E Keyboardwho built it as a private chapel for the royal family and dedicated it to his mother, Saint Margaret of Scotland, who died in the castle in 1093. It survived the slighting of 1314, when the castle's defences were destroyed, and was used as a gunpowder store from the 16th century, Sony SVE1511M1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1513E9E Keyboard when the present roof was built. In 1845, when it was "discovered" by the antiquary Daniel Wilson, it formed part of the larger garrison chapel, and was restored in 1851–1852.[49] The chapel is still used for various religious ceremonies, such as weddings.[123]
Mons Meg[edit]
The siege gun Mons Meg and gun stones
Main article: Mons Meg
The 15th-century siege cannon known as Mons Meg is on display outside St. Margaret's Chapel. Mons Meg was constructed in Flanders on the orders of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1449, and was given by him to his niece's husband, King James II in 1457.[5Sony SVE1511Q1E Keyboard
2] The 6-tonne (13,000 lb) bombard is displayed alongside some of its 150-kilogram (330 lb) gun stones. On 3 July 1558, Mons Meg was fired in salute to the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the French dauphin François II. Workmen were paid to find and retrieve the stones from Wardie Mure, near the River Forth, Sony SVE1511W1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1513C5E Keyboardsome 2 miles (3.2 km) distant.[124] Mons Meg has been defunct since her barrel burst on 30 October 1681 when firing a salute for the arrival of the Duke of Albany, the future King James VII and II.[125] Sony SVE1512B1E Keyboard
Half Moon Battery and David's Tower[edit]
Half Moon Battery and Palace Block seen from the Esplanade
The Half Moon Battery, which remains a prominent feature on the east side of the castle, was built as part of the reconstruction works supervised by the Regent Morton, and was erected between 1573 and 1588.[104Sony SVE1512C6E Keyboard
Sony SVE1512M1E Keyboard The Forewall to the north was built between 1689 and 1695 to link the Half Moon to the Portcullis Tower, although part of the original wall of 1540 was incorporated into it.[104] The Half Moon Battery was built around and over the ruins of David's Tower, two storeys of which survive beneath, Sony SVE1512J1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1512K1E Keyboardwith windows facing out onto the interior wall of the battery. David's Tower was built on an L-plan, the main block being 15.4 by 11.6 metres (51 by 38 ft), with a wing measuring 6.3 by 5.6 metres (21 by 18 ft) to the west.[10Sony SVE1711R1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1713Z1E Keyboard4] The entrance was via a pointed-arched doorway in the inner angle, although in the 16th century this was filled in to make the tower a solid rectangle. Prior to the Lang Siege, the tower was recorded as being 18 metres (59 ft) high, and the remaining portions stand up to 15 metres (49 ft) from the rock.[126] Sony SVE1711X1E Keyboard
Artefacts found during excavation of David's Tower
The tower was rediscovered in 1912, and excavations below the Half Moon Battery revealed the extent of the surviving buildings. Several rooms are accessible to the public, although the lower parts are generally closed. Outside the tower, but within the battery, is a three-storey room,
Sony SVE1713Z1E Keyboardwhere large portions of the exterior wall of the tower are still visible, showing shattered masonry caused by the bombardment of 1573.[126] Beside the tower, a section of the former curtain wall was discovered, with a gun loop which overlooked the High Street: a recess was made in the outer battery wall to reveal this gun loop. Also in 1912–1913, Sony SVE1712Z1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1513M1E Keyboardthe adjacent Fore Well was cleared and surveyed, and was found to be 33.5 metres (110 ft) deep, and mostly hewn through the rock below the castle.[126]
Crown Square[edit]
Crown Square, also known as Palace Yard, was laid out in the 15th century, during the reign of King James III, as the principal courtyard of the castle. The foundations were formed by the construction of a series of large stone vaults built onto the uneven Castle Rock in the 1430s. Sony SVE1713C5E Keyboard
Sony SVE1513B4E KeyboardThese vaults were used as a state prison until the 19th century, although more important prisoners were held in the main parts of the castle.[127] The square is formed by the Royal Palace to the east, the Great Hall to the south, the Queen Anne Building to the west, and the National War Memorial to the north.[128] Sony SVE1511A1EB Keyboard
The Royal Palace in Crown Square
Royal Palace[edit]
The Royal Palace comprises the former royal apartments, which were the residence of the later Stewart monarchs. It was begun in the mid 15th century, during the reign of James IV,[129] and it originally communicated with David's Tower.[104] Sony SVE14A1S1EP Keyboard
The building was extensively remodelled for the visit of James VI to the castle in 1617, when state apartments for the king and queen were built.[130] On the ground floor is the Laich (low) Hall, now called the King's Dining Room, and a small room, known as the Birth Chamber or Mary Room, where James VI was born to Mary, Queen of Scots, in June 1566. The commemorative painted ceiling and other decoration was added in 1617. Sony SVE1511Q1EB Keyboard
On the first floor is the vaulted Crown Room, built in 1615 to house the Honours of Scotland: the crown, the sceptre and the sword of state.[131] Sony SVE1511R9ESI Keyboard
Sony SVE1513A4E Keyboard The Stone of Scone, upon which the monarchs of Scotland were traditionally crowned, is also kept in the Crown Room since its return to Scotland in 1996. To the south of the palace is the Register House, built in the 1540s to house state archives.[132] Sony SVE1511V1EW Keyboard
Great Hall[edit]
Interior of the Great Hall
The Great Hall measures 29 by 12.5 metres (95 by 41.0 ft), and was the chief place of state assembly in the castle, although there is no evidence that the Parliament of Scotland ever met here, as is sometimes reported.[13Sony SVE1511W1ESI Keyboard
Sony SVE1512X9E Keyboard3] Historians have disagreed over its dating, although it is usually ascribed to the reign of King James IV, and is thought to have been completed in the early years of the 16th century.[134] The decorative carved stone corbels supporting the roof have Renaissance detailing, which has been compared to works at Blois, France, of around 1515, Sony SVE14 Keyboard
Sony SVE1511R9E Keyboard indicating that the arts in Scotland were relatively advanced at this time.[133] It is one of only two medieval halls in Scotland with an original hammerbeam roof.[135]
Following Oliver Cromwell's seizure of the castle in 1650, the Great Hall was converted into a barracks for his troops, and was subdivided into three storeys in 1737, to house 312 soldiers.[49] Following the construction of the New Barracks in the 1790s, Sony SVE14A1S1E Keyboard
Sony SVE15 Keyboard it became a military hospital until 1897. It was then restored by Hippolyte Blanc in line with contemporary ideas of medieval architecture.[110] The Great Hall is still sometimes used for ceremonial occasions, and is a venue on Hogmanay for BBC Scotland's Hogmanay Live programme. To the south of the hall is a section of 14th-century curtain wall, although with a later parapet.[1HP G72-100 Keyboard
04]
The Queen Anne Building (centre-right)
Queen Anne Building[edit]
In the 16th century, this area housed the kitchens serving the adjacent Great Hall, and was later the site of the Royal Gunhouse.[13HP G72-102SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-B20SA Keyboard6] The present building was named for Queen Anne and was built during the attempted Jacobite invasion by the Old Pretender in 1708. It was designed by Captain Theodore Dury, military engineer for Scotland, who also designed the eponymous Dury's Battery on the south side of the castle in 1713.[1HP G72-105SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-B15SA Keyboard37] The Queen Anne Building provided accommodation for Staff Officers, but after the departure of the army it was remodelled in the 1920s as the Naval and Military Museum, to complement the newly-opened Scottish National War Memorial.[10HP G72-a10SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-B02SA Keyboard4] The museum later moved to the former hospital in the western part of the castle, and the building now houses a function suite and an education centre.[138]
Scottish National War Memorial[edit]
Main article: Scottish National War Memorial
The Scottish National War Memorial
The Scottish National War Memorial occupies a converted barrack block on the north side of Crown Square. It stands on the site of the medieval St. Mary's Church which was rebuilt in 1366, and was converted into an armoury in 1540. It was demolished in 1755, and the masonry reused to build a new North Barrack Block on the site.[139] HP G72-a30SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-B01SA Keyboard Proposals for a Scottish National War Memorial were put forward in 1917, during the First World War, and the architect Sir Robert Lorimer was appointed in 1919. Construction began in 1923, and the memorial was formally opened on 14 July 1927 by the Prince of Wales.[ HP G72-b01EA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-B01EA Keyboard140] The exterior is decorated with gargoyles and sculpture, while the interior contains monuments to individual regiments. The stained-glass windows are by Douglas Strachan.[141] HP G72-b02SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-A40SA Keyboard
The memorial commemorates Scottish soldiers, and those serving with Scottish regiments, who died in the two world wars and in more recent conflicts. Upon the altar within the Shrine is a sealed casket containing Rolls of Honour which list over 147,000 names of those soldiers killed in the First World War.After the Second World War, another 50,000 names were inscribed on Rolls of Honour held within the Hall, and further names continue to be added there.[140][1HP G72-b10SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-A30SA Keyboard42] The memorial is maintained by a charitable trust known as the Scottish National War Memorial.[143]
Present use[edit]
Edinburgh Castle is in the ownership of the Scottish Ministers, as heads of the devolved Scottish Government. The castle is run and administered, for the most part, by Historic Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government, although some parts of the castle are managed by the Army.[144] HP G72-b15SA Keyboard
A re-enactor portraying James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, a husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, in the Great Hall
Tourist attraction[edit]
Historic Scotland undertakes the dual tasks of operating the castle as a commercially viable tourist attraction, while simultaneously having responsibility for conservation of the site. Edinburgh Castle remains the most popular paid visitor attraction in Scotland, with over 1.3 million visitors in 2011.[3HP G72 Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-A20SA Keyboard
] Historic Scotland maintains a number of facilities within the castle, including two cafés/restaurants, several shops, and numerous historical displays. An educational centre in the Queen Anne Building runs events for schools and educational groups, and employs re-enactors in costume and with period weaponry.[145] HP G72 PC Series Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-105SA Keyboard
Military role[edit]
Direct administration of the castle by the War Office came to an end in 1905, and in 1923 the Army formally moved to the city's new Redford Barracks. Nevertheless, the castle continues to have a strong connection with the Army, HP G72T-200 CTO Keyboard
and is one of the few ancient castles in Britain that still has a military garrison, albeit for largely ceremonial and administrative purposes. Public duties performed by the garrison include guarding the Honours of Scotland, and armed sentries stand watch at the castle gatehouse outside opening hours. HP Pavilion G72-110SA Keyboard
The post of Governor of Edinburgh Castle is now a ceremonial post, held by the General Officer Commanding Scotland. The New Barrack Block is home to the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The Army is also responsible for the Governor's House, which serves as the Officers' Mess, the Royal Scots Museum, and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum.[144][146] HP Pavilion G72-130SA Keyboard
Military Tattoo[edit]
Main article: Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Royal Marines emerging from Edinburgh Castle during the Military Tattoo 2005
A series of performances known as the Edinburgh Military Tattoo take place on the Esplanade each year during August. The basis of the performance is a parade of the pipes and drums of the Scottish regiments, HP Pavilion G72-A10SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion G72-102SA Keyboardand since the first performance in 1950 the Tattoo has developed a complex format which includes many invited performers from around the world, although still with a largely military focus. The climax of the evening is the lone piper on the castle battlements, playing a pibroch in memory of dead comrades in arms, Levono Ideapad G560 Keyboard
followed by the massed pipe bands joining in a medley of traditional Scottish tunes. The Tattoo attracts an annual audience of around 217,000 people, and is broadcast around the world.[147]
The One O'Clock Gun being fired from Mill's Mount Battery
One O'Clock Gun[edit] Levono Ideapad Z560 Keyboard
The One O'Clock Gun is a time signal, and is fired every day at precisely 13:00, excepting Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day. The 'Time Gun' was established in 1861 as a time signal for ships in the Firth of Forth,
Levono Ideapad Z575 Keyboard and complemented the 'Time Ball', which was installed on the Nelson Monument in 1852, but which was useless as a visible signal during foggy weather. The gun could easily be heard by ships in Leith Harbour, 2 miles (3.2 km) away. Because sound travels relatively slowly (approximately 343 metres per second (770 mph)), Levono Ideapad Y560P Keyboard
a map was produced in 1861 to show the actual time when the sound of the gun would be heard at various locations across Edinburgh.[148]
The original gun was an 18-pound muzzle-loading cannon, which needed four men to load, and was fired from the Half Moon Battery. This was replaced in 1913 by a 32-pound breech-loader, and in May 1952 by a 25-pound Howitzer.[149] Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard
Levono Ideapad Z565 KeyboardThe present One O'Clock Gun is an L118 Light Gun, brought into service on 30 November 2001.[150]
The gun is now fired from Mill's Mount Battery, on the north face of the castle, by the District Gunner from 105th Regiment Royal Artillery (Volunteers). Although the gun is no longer required for its original purpose, the ceremony has become a popular tourist attraction. The longest-serving District Gunner, Levono Ideapad V570 Keyboard
Levono Ideapad Y570 Keyboard Staff Sergeant Thomas McKay MBE, nicknamed "Tam the Gun", fired the One O'Clock Gun from 1979 until his retirement in January 2005. McKay helped established the One O'Clock Gun Association, which opened a small exhibition at Mill's Mount, and published a book entitled What Time Does Edinburgh's One O'clock Gun Fire?.[15Levono Ideapad V570C Keyboard
1] In 2006 Sergeant Jamie Shannon, nicknamed "Shannon the Cannon", became the 29th District Gunner,[152] and in 2013 Bombardier Allison Jones became the first woman to fire the gun.[153]
Symbol of Edinburgh[edit] Levono Ideapad B570 Keyboard
Edinburgh Castle as it appears on the coat of arms of the city
The castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh, and of Scotland.[154] It appears, in stylised form, on the coats of arms of the City of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh. During the Second World War it featured on the badge of No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron based at RAF Turnhouse (now Edinburgh Airport). Levono Ideapad B575 Keyboard
Levono Ideapad G575 Keyboard Images of the castle are used as a logo by organisations including Edinburgh Rugby, the Edinburgh Evening News, Hibernian F.C. and the Edinburgh Marathon. It also appears on the "Castle series" of Royal Mail postage stamps, and has been represented on various issues of banknotes issued by Scottish clearing banks. Levono Ideapad B570A Keyboard
Levono Ideapad B570G KeyboardIn the 1960s the castle was illustrated on £5 notes issued by the National Commercial Bank of Scotland,[155] and since 1987 it has featured on the reverse of £1 notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.[1HP Probook 4320S Keyboard
HP Probook 5330M Keyboard56] Since 2009 the castle, as part of Edinburgh's World Heritage Site, has appeared on £10 notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank.[157] The castle is a focal point for annual fireworks displays which mark Edinburgh's Hogmanay (new year) celebrations,[158] and the end of the Edinburgh Festival in the summer.[159
Edinburgh (i/ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ed-in-burr-ə; Dùn Èideann in Scottish Gaelic) is the capital city of Scotland. Situated on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. With a population of 495,360 in 2011 (up 1.9% from 2010),[3] it is the largest settlement in Lothian and lies at the centre of a larger urban zone of approximately 850,000 people. Sony VPCS13L9E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1E9R Keyboard While the town originally formed on the ridge descending from the Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be built on seven hills.
From its prehistoric beginning as a hillfort, following periods of Celtic and Germanic influence, Edinburgh became part of the Kingdom of Scotland during the 10th century. With burgh charters granted by David I and Robert the Bruce, Sony VPCS13X9E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1E9J KeyboardEdinburgh grew through the Middle Ages as Scotland’s biggest merchant town. By the time of the European Renaissance and the reign of James IV it was well established as Scotland's capital. Sony VPCS12V9E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1E9E KeyboardThe 16th century Scottish Reformation and 18th century Scottish Enlightenment were formative periods in the history of the city, which played a central role in both. While political power shifted to London following the Treaty of Union in 1707, devolution in 1997 has resulted in the return of a Scottish parliament. Sony VPCS12L9E/B Keyboard
Edinburgh has a high proportion of independent schools, one college and four universities. The University of Edinburgh (which now includes Edinburgh College of Art) is the biggest university in Scotland[5] and ranked 21st in the world. Sony VPCS11B7E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1E8E Keyboard [6] These institutions help provide a highly educated population[7] and a dynamic economy.[8] Edinburgh has the UK's strongest economy outside London and was named European Best Large City of the Future for Foreign Direct Investment by fDi Magazine in 2012/13.[9] Sony VPCS11C5E Keyboard
Each August the city hosts the biggest annual international arts festival in the world. This includes the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Other festivals are held throughout the year, such as the Science Festival, Film Festival and Jazz and Blues Festival. Sony VPCS11D7E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1C5E KeyboardOther annual events include the Hogmanay street party and Beltane. Edinburgh is the world's first UNESCO City of Literature[10] and the city's Old Town and New Town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[11] Sony VPCS11E7E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1B4E KeyboardEdinburgh regularly polls as one of the best locations to live nationally, having won more than 12 UK Best City Awards in 8 years to 2013.[12]
Attracting over one million overseas visitors a year, Edinburgh is the second most popular tourist destination in the UK after London[13] Sony VPCS11F7E Keyboard
Sony VPCS11X9E Keyboard and was voted European Destination of the Year at the World Travel Awards 2012.
The "Edin" in "Edinburgh", the root of the city's name, is most likely Celtic (P-Celtic, Brythonic) in origin, possibly Cumbric or a variation of it, as would have been spoken by the earliest known people of the area, the Votadini. It appears to derive from the Brythonic place name Eidyn mentioned in some medieval Welsh sources.[14][15][16] Sony VPCS11G7E Keyboard
The Edinburgh area was the location of Din Eidyn, a dun or hillfort associated with the kingdom of the Gododdin[17] (the name Gododdin is a later form of Votadini). The change in nomenclature, from Din Eidyn to Edinburgh, Sony VPCS11J7E Keyboard
Sony VPCS11H7E Keyboardreflects changes in the local language from Cumbric to Old English, the Germanic language of the Bernician Angles that permeated the area from the mid-7th century (and the ancestor of modern Scots and English). The Celtic prefix din was dropped and the Old English burh adopted as a suffix.[18] Sony VPCS11M1E/W Keyboard
The first documentary evidence of the city is an early 12th-century royal charter by King David I granting land to the Church of the Holy Rood of Edinburgh c.1124. This charter names the town "Edwinesburg."[19
Sony VPCS13S9E Keyboard] The city's name is recorded as "Edenesburch" in a charter (in Latin) passed during the 1170s by King William the Lion, confirming the grant of 1124.[20]
History[edit]
Main article: History of Edinburgh
Early history[edit]
Edinburgh, showing Arthur's Seat, one of the earliest known sites of human habitation in the area
Humans settled the Edinburgh area at least as long ago as the Bronze Age, leaving traces of primitive settlements which have been found on Arthur's Seat, Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills.[21] Sony VPCS11M9R/B Keyboard
By the time the Romans arrived in Lothian towards the end of the 1st century AD, they discovered a Celtic Brythonic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini.[22] At some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, Sony VPCS11V9E/B Keyboard
who were presumably the descendants of the Votadini, built a hill fort known as Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its exact location has not been identified, it seems more than likely they would have chosen the commanding position of the Castle Rock, or Arthur's Seat or Calton Hill.[23] Sony VPCS12A7E Keyboard
In AD 638 the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria, and around this time the Edinburgh region passed to the Angles. Anglian influence continued over three centuries until c. AD 950 when, Sony VPCS12A7R Keyboard
Sony VPCS12D7E Keyboard during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine II, the "burh" (fortress), named by the Pictish Chronicle as "oppidum Eden",[24] fell to the Scots and thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction.[25] Sony VPCS12B7E Keyboard
The Royal Burgh was founded by a charter of King David I in the 12th century.[26] By the middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland (c.1365), and James III (1451-88) referred to it as "the principal burgh of our kingdom".[2Sony VPCEB1J8E Keyboard
7] Despite the destruction caused by an English assault in 1544, the town slowly recovered[28] and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation[29] and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant.[30]
17th century[edit]
Edinburgh in the 17th century
In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to 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.[31] Sony VPCEB1M1R Keyboard
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.[32] Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart's restoration to the throne of England, resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Cromwell's Commonwealth forces in 1650.[ Sony VPCEB1S0E Keyboard
33]
In the 17th century, the boundaries of Edinburgh were still defined by the city's defensive town walls. As a result, expansion took the form of the houses increasing in height to accommodate a growing population. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common,[ Sony VPCEB1S8E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2M0E Keyboard34] and have been described as forerunners of the modern-day skyscraper.[35] Most of these old structures were later replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. Sony VPCEB1Z0E Keyboard
18th century[edit]
In 1706 and 1707, the Acts of Union were passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland uniting the two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain.[36] 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 at the time, resulting in riots in the city.[37] Sony VPCEB2A4E Keyboard
By the first half of the 18th century, despite rising prosperity evidenced by its growing importance as a banking centre, Edinburgh was being described as one of the most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns in Europe.[38][39Sony VPCEB2B4E Keyboard
] Visitors were struck by the fact that the various social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; Sony VPCEB2C4E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2F4E Keyboardalthough 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.[40]
A painting showing Edinburgh characters (based on John Kay's caricatures) behind St. Giles in the late 18th century
During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England.[41Sony VPCEB2C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2E4E Keyboard] After its ultimate defeat at Culloden, there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans.[42] In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle,[ Sony VPCEB3A4E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB2H4E Keyboard43] re-affirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for the streets of the New Town, for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street, and for the royal family: George Street, Queen Street, Sony VPCEB3A4R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB1A4E KeyboardHanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons).[44]
The city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment[45] when figures such as David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black could be seen in its streets. Sony VPCEB3B4R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4B4E KeyboardEdinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many classical buildings and reputation as a "hotbed of genius" (Smollett) similar to Ancient Athens.[46] Sony VPCEB3C4R Keyboard
From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of the more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the social character of the city. Sony VPCEB3D4E Keyboard
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."[47]
19th and 20th centuries[edit]
Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket, 1865
Although Edinburgh's traditional industries of printing, papermaking and brewing continued to grow in the 19th century and were joined by new rubber works and engineering works, there was little industrialisation compared with other cities in Britain. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. Sony VPCEB3E1R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4D4E Keyboard [48] 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.[4
Sony VPCEB4C4E Keyboard9] Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in the 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today.[50] More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes,[51] Sony VPCEB3E4R Keyboard
Sony VPCEB4A4E Keyboardbut 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 the George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial.[52] Sony VPCEB3F4E Keyboard
Standard Life Building in the Edinburgh Financial District
Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including a new Edinburgh International Conference Centre, has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge, Sony VPCEB3G4E Keyboard
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 the second largest financial and administrative centre in the United Kingdom after London.[5Sony VPCEB3H4E Keyboard
Sony VPCEB3S1R Keyboard3] Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city.[54] The development of Edinburgh Park, a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 miles west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration.[54] Dell RX221 keyboard
In 1998, the Scotland Act, which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since July 2012). Both based in Edinburgh, Dell P0XM3 keyboard
Dell NSK-DB001 keyboard they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, taxation and foreign affairs remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London.[55] Dell ORX221 keyboard
Geography[edit]
Edinburgh lies on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in Scotland's Central Belt. The city centre is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the shoreline of Leith and 26 miles (42 km) inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar.[5Dell UK723UK keyboard
Dell HT514 keyboard6] While the city originated in close proximity to 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 the Castle Rock,[57] giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome.[58] Dell PTP49 keyboard
Dell 0WX4JF keyboardAn annual running race takes in these seven hills, starting and finishing at Calton Hill.[59]
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. [60Dell 0UK717 keyboard
] Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting, led to the dispersion of tough basalt volcanic plugs, which predominate over much of the area.[60] One such example is Castle Rock which forced the advancing icepack to divide, Dell P0XM3 keyboard
Dell FM760 keyboard sheltering the softer rock and forming a mile-long tail of material to the east, creating a distinctive crag and tail formation.[60] Glacial erosion on the northern side of the crag gouged a large valley resulting in the now drained Nor Loch. Dell Latitude E4310 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Keyboard
This structure, along with a ravine to the south, formed an ideal natural fortress upon which Edinburgh Castle was built.[60] Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano system dating from the Carboniferous period, Dell Latitude E4320 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6410 Keyboard which was eroded by a glacier moving from west to east during the ice age.[60] Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to the west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east.[6Dell Latitude E4200 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Keyboard 1] This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags, which formed a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the location of the early city.[62] 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.[60]
Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Keyboard
Other viewpoints in the city such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are similar products of glacial erosion.[60] The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are a series of small summits to the south west of the city commanding expansive views over the urban area of Edinburgh and northwards to the Forth.[60] Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard
View of Edinburgh from Blackford Hill
Edinburgh is drained by the Water of Leith, which has its source at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 29 kilometres (18 mi) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith.[63] Dell Latitude E5400 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6400 Keyboard The nearest 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 the Dean Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford and built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry.[63] Dell Latitude E5410 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E5420M Keyboard The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed use trail that follows the river for 19.6 kilometres (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith.[64]
Edinburgh is ringed by a green belt, designated in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east.[6Dell Latitude E5500 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E5220 Keyboard 5] With an average width of 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) the principal objective of the green belt was to contain the outward expansion of Edinburgh and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas.[65] Dell Latitude E5510 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6530 Keyboard Expansion within the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone.[65] Similarly, outlying suburbs such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land.[65]
Dell Latitude E6520N Keyboard One feature of the green belt in Edinburgh is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated green belt, even though they do not adjoin the peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill.[65] Dell Latitude E5420 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Keyboard
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is divided into distinct areas that retain their original character, where the expanding city has encompassed existing settlements.[66Dell Latitude E5520 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6430S Keyboard ] Many residences are tenements, although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been more affluent and have a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas.[67] Dell Latitude E6420 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Keyboard
The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided in two by the broad green swath of Princes Street Gardens. To the south the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, built high on the castle rock, and the long sweep of the Old Town descending towards Holyrood Palace. To the north lies Princes Street and the New Town. Dell Latitude E6520 Keyboard
To the west of the castle lies the financial district, housing insurance and banking buildings together with the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of 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. Dell Latitude E6120 Keyboard
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Keyboard There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city,[11] a higher proportion relative to area than any other city in the United Kingdom. In the 2011 mid-year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 495,360.[68] Dell Latitude E6220 Keyboard
Old Town[edit]
Main article: Old Town, Edinburgh
Libberton Wynd in the Old Town of Edinburgh in the early part of the 19th century, painting by George Cattermole
The Old Town has preserved most of its medieval street plan and some Reformation-era buildings. One end is closed off by the castle and the main artery, the mediaeval thoroughfare, known since the 1920s as the Royal Mile,[6
Dell Latitude E6230 Keyboard 9] runs downhill to terminate at Holyrood Palace; minor streets (called closes or wynds) lie on either side of the main spine forming a herringbone pattern.[70] The street has several fine public buildings such as the church of St. Giles, Dell Latitude E5430 Keyboard
Dell Precision M4400 Keyboard the City Chambers and the Law Courts. Other places of historical interest nearby are Greyfriars Kirkyard and the Grassmarket. The street layout is typical of the old quarters of many northern European cities. Dell Precision M2400 Keyboard
Dell Precision M6500 Keyboard The castle perches on top of a rocky crag (the remnant of an extinct volcano) and the Royal Mile runs down the crest of a ridge from it.
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. [Dell Precision M4600 Keyboard
Dell Precision M6400 Keyboard 71] Numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate the influx of immigrants during the Industrial Revolution.
New Town[edit]
Main article: New Town, Edinburgh
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, Dell Precision M6600 Keyboard
Dell Precision M4500 Keyboard a 27-year-old architect.[72] The plan was a rigid, ordered grid, which fitted in well with enlightenment ideas of rationality. The principal street is George Street, running along the natural ridge to the north of the existing "Old Town". To either side of it are two other main streets: Princes Street and Queen Street. Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Battery Princes Street has become the main shopping street in Edinburgh and now has few of its original Georgian buildings. 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. Dell Latitude E4200 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430 BatteryThe latter, designed by Robert Adam, influenced the architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century.[73] Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, is on the north side of Charlotte Square.[74] Dell Latitude E4300 Battery
The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch, which was originally created for the town's defence but came to used for dumping the city's sewage. It was drained by the 1820s as part of the city's northward expansion. Craig's original plan included an ornamental canal on the site of the loch, Dell Latitude E5400 Battery
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Battery [44] but this was abandoned.[75] 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. Dell Latitude E5410 Battery
Dell Latitude E6330 BatteryIn the mid-19th century the National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy Building were built on The Mound, and tunnels for the railway line between Haymarket and Waverley stations were driven through it. Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
Edinburgh New Town viewed from Edinburgh Castle
Southside[edit]
A popular residential part of the city is the Southside, which includes the districts of St Leonards, Marchmont, Newington, Sciennes, the Grange and Blackford. The Southside is broadly analogous to the area covered formerly by the Burgh Muir, and grew in popularity as a residential area after the opening of the South Bridge in the 1780s. Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6230 Battery These areas are particularly popular with families (many state and private schools are here), 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). Dell Latitude E5420 Battery
Dell Latitude E6220 BatteryThe 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, was the home of Muriel Spark's Miss Jean Brodie, [76] and Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont and works in St Leonards. [77] Dell Latitude E5520 Battery
Leith[edit]
Leith lamppost motif, showing the burgh coat-of-arms
Main article: Leith
Leith was historically the port of Edinburgh, an arrangement of unknown date that was reconfirmed by the royal charter Robert the Bruce granted to the city in 1329.[78] It developed a separate identity from Edinburgh,
Dell Latitude E6120 Battery which it still retains, and it was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the county of Edinburgh.[79] Even today the parliamentary seat is known as 'Edinburgh North and Leith'. Dell Latitude E6420 Battery
Dell Latitude E5530 BatteryThe loss of traditional industries and commerce—the last shipyard closed in 1983—has resulted in economic decline over the years.[citation needed] The Edinburgh Waterfront development, which has transformed the old dockland into a residential area with leisure amenities, has to some extent regenerated the area. With the redevelopment, Dell Latitude E6430S Battery
Dell Precision M4400 BatteryEdinburgh has gained the business of cruise liner companies which now provide cruises to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Leith also has the Royal Yacht Britannia, berthed behind Ocean Terminal, and Easter Road, the home ground of Hibernian F.C. Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Battery
Urban area[edit]
The urban area of Edinburgh is almost entirely contained within the City of Edinburgh Council boundary, merging with Musselburgh in East Lothian. Nearby towns close to the city borders include Dalkeith, Bonnyrigg, Loanhead, Dell Latitude E6520N Battery
Dell Precision M6400 Battery Newtongrange, Prestonpans, Tranent, Penicuik, Haddington, Livingston, Broxburn and Dunfermline. According to the European Statistical agency, Eurostat, Edinburgh lies at the heart of a Larger Urban Zone covering 1,724 square kilometres (666 sq mi) with a population of 778,000.[80] Dell Latitude E5220 Battery
Climate[edit]
Like much of the rest of Scotland, Edinburgh has a temperate, maritime climate which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude.[81Dell Latitude E5420M Battery
Dell Precision M6600 Battery] Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing, and compare favourably with places such as Moscow, Labrador and Newfoundland which lie at similar latitudes.[81]
Dell Precision M4600 BatterySummer temperatures are normally moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F).[81] The highest temperature ever recorded in the city was 31.4 °C (88.5 °F) on 4 August 1975[81] at Turnhouse Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank.[82] Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
The proximity of the city to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as a windy city, with the prevailing wind direction coming from the south-west which is associated with warm,
Dell Latitude E5430 Batteryunstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow.[81] Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year.[8Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Battery
Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery
1] Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but colder, and may be accompanied by haar, a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms, can affect the city between October and May.[81] Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Battery
[hide]Climate data for Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens, 1981–2010 Extremes 1951–
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
At the United Kingdom Census 2001, Edinburgh had a population of 448,624, a rise of 7.1% from 1991.[86] Estimates in 2010 placed the total resident population at 486,120 split between 235,249 males and 250,871 females.[6Dell XPS 14 Battery
Dell Inspiron 14R battery8] This makes Edinburgh the second largest city in Scotland after Glasgow and the seventh largest in Britain.[86] Edinburgh sits at the heart of a Larger Urban Zone with a population of 778,000.[80] Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery
Edinburgh has a higher proportion of those aged between 16 and 24 than the Scottish average, but has a lower proportion of those classified as elderly or pre-school.[68] Over 95% of Edinburgh respondents classed their ethnicity as White in 2001, Dell XPS 15D Battery
Dell Inspiron 13R batterywhile those identifying as being Indian and Chinese were 1.6% and 0.8% of the population respectively.[88] In 2001, 22% of the population were born outside Scotland with the largest group of people within this category being born in England at 12.1%.[Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4110 battery88] Since the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, many migrants from the accession states such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have settled in the city, with many working in the service industry.[89] Dell XPS 15Z Battery
Historical[edit]
The cramped tenements off the Royal Mile were once home to most of Edinburgh's population.
A census conducted by the Edinburgh presbytery in 1592 recorded a population of 8,003 adults spread equally north and south of the High Street which runs down the spine of the ridge leading from the Castle.[ Dell XPS 17 Battery
Dell Inspiron N5010D battery90] In the 18th and 19th centuries, the population expanded rapidly, rising from 49,000 in 1751 to 136,000 in 1831 primarily due to migration from rural areas.[91] As the population grew, problems of overcrowding in the Old Town, Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron 15R battery particularly in the cramped tenements that lined the present day Royal Mile and the Cowgate, were exacerbated.[91] Poor sanitary arrangements resulted in a high incidence of disease,[91] with outbreaks of cholera occurring in 1832, 1848 and 1866.[92] Dell XPS L501X Battery
The construction of the New Town from 1767 onwards witnessed the migration of the professional and business classes from the difficult conditions of the Old Town to the lower density, higher quality surroundings taking shape on land to the north. [9Dell XPS L502X Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010 battery3] Expansion southwards from the Old Town saw more tenements being built in the 19th century, giving rise to Victorian suburbs such as Marchmont, Newington and Bruntsfield.[93] Dell XPS L701X Battery
Early 20th century population growth coincided with lower density suburban development. As the city expanded to the south and west, detached and semi-detached villas with large gardens replaced tenements as the predominant building style. Nonetheless, Dell Inspiron 14V battery
Dell Inspiron N4010D battery the 2001 census revealed that over 55% of Edinburgh's population were living in tenements or blocks of flats, a figure in line with other Scottish cities, but much higher than other British cities, and even central London.[94] Dell Inspiron N4020 battery
From the early to mid 20th century the growth in population, together with slum clearance in the Old Town and other areas such as Dumbiedykes, Leith and Fountainbridge, led to the creation of new estates such as Stenhouse and Saughton, Craigmillar and Niddrie, Pilton and Muirhouse, Piershill, and Sighthill.[95] Dell Inspiron N4030 battery
Religion[edit]
Further information: Religion in Scotland
Christianity[edit]
The High Kirk of Edinburgh, known colloquially as St. Giles' Cathedral
The Church of Scotland claims the largest membership of any religious denomination in Edinburgh. As of 2010, there are 83 congregations in the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Edinburgh.[96
Dell Inspiron N5010R battery] Its most prominent church is St Giles' on the Royal Mile, first dedicated in 1243 but believed to date from before the 12th century.[97] Saint Giles is historically the patron saint of Edinburgh.[98] Dell Inspiron N7110 battery
Dell Inspiron N5030 batterySt Cuthbert's, situated at the west end of Princes Street Gardens in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, lays claim to being the oldest Christian site in the city,[99][100] though the present building designed by Hippolyte Blanc dates from the late-19th century. Other Church of Scotland churches include the Canongate Kirk, Dell Inspiron N7010R battery
Dell Inspiron N5110 batteryGreyfriars Kirk, St Andrew's and St George's West Church and the Barclay Church. The Church of Scotland Offices are in Edinburgh,[101] as is the Assembly Hall where the General Assembly is held.[102] HP 640426-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 532617-001 CPU fan with heatsink
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh has 27 parishes across the city.[103] The leader of Scotland's Catholics has his official residence in the area of the city known locally as Holy Corner, and the diocesan offices are in Marchmont.[ HP 640903-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 641477-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 532605-001 CPU fan with heatsink104] The Diocese of Edinburgh of the Scottish Episcopal Church has over 50 churches, half of them in the city.[105] Its centre is the late 19th century Gothic style St Mary's Cathedral in the West End's Palmerston Place.[10HP 650848-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 532141-001 CPU fan with heatsink6] There are several independent churches throughout the city, both Catholic and Protestant, including Charlotte Chapel), Carrubbers Christian Centre, Morningside Baptist Church, Bellevue Chapel and Sacred Heart.[107] There are also churches belonging to larger orders, such as Christadelphians,[108] Quakers and Seventh-day Adventists.
Other faiths[edit] HP 653627-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 531941-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Edinburgh Central Mosque in Potterrow was designed with a fusion of Scots baronial style and Islamic architecture.
Edinburgh Central Mosque – Edinburgh's main mosque and Islamic Centre – is in Potterrow, on the city's south side, near Bristo Square. It was opened in the late 1990s and the construction was largely financed by a gift from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.[109HP 665309-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 498480-001 CPU fan with heatsink] There are other mosques in Annandale Street Lane, off Leith Walk, and in Queensferry Road, Blackhall as well as other Islamic centres across the city.[110] The first recorded presence of a Jewish community in Edinburgh dates back to the late 18th century.[111] HP 666391-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 487436-001 CPU fan with heatsink Edinburgh's Orthodox synagogue, which was opened in 1932, is in Salisbury Road and can accommodate a congregation of 2000. A Liberal Jewish congregation also meets in the city. There are a Sikh gurdwara and a Hindu mandir, both in Leith, and a Brahma Kumaris centre[11HP 650057-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 650797-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 456605-001 CPU fan with heatsink2] in the Polwarth area. Edinburgh Buddhist Centre, run by the Triratna Buddhist Community, is situated in Melville Terrace. Other Buddhist traditions are represented by groups which meet in the capital: the Community of Interbeing HP 384622-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 443917-001 CPU fan with heatsink (followers of Thich Nhat Hanh), Rigpa, Samye Dzong, Theravadin, Pure Land and Shambala. There is a Sōtō Zen Priory in Portobello[113] and a Theravadin Thai Buddhist Monastery in Slateford Road.[114] Edinburgh is home to an active Baha'i Community,[1
HP 431312-001 CPU fan with heatsink15] and a Theosophical Society, in Great King Street.[116] Edinburgh has an active Inter-Faith Association.[117]
Governance[edit]
Main article: Politics of Edinburgh
The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament
Following local government reorganisation in 1996, Edinburgh constitutes one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.[118] Like all other local authorities of Scotland, the council has powers over most matters of local administration such as housing, planning, local transport, parks, economic development and regeneration.[ HP 535439-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 431311-001 CPU fan with heatsink119] The council is composed of 58 elected councillors, returned from 17 multi-member electoral wards in the city.[120] Following the 2007 Scottish Local Elections the incumbent Labour Party lost majority control of the council, after 23 years, to a Liberal Democrat/SNP coalition.[121] HP 535766-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 582141-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Edinburgh City Chambers is the headquarters of the City of Edinburgh Council.
The city's coat of arms was registered by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in 1732.[122]
Edinburgh is represented in the Scottish Parliament. For electoral purposes, the city area is divided between six of the nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region.[ HP 580718-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 582139-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 582140-001 CPU fan with heatsink123] Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation.[123] HP 534675-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 535441-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Edinburgh is also represented in the British House of Commons by five Members of Parliament. The city is divided into Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh South West, and Edinburgh West,[124] each constituency electing one member by the first past the post system.
HP 533736-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Economy[edit]
Main article: Economy of Edinburgh
The Bank of Scotland's head office in central Edinburgh.
Edinburgh has the strongest economy of any city in the United Kingdom outside of London and the highest percentage of professionals in the UK with 43% of the population holding a degree-level or professional qualification.[8] HP 534676-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 480481-001 CPU fan with heatsink According to the Centre for International Competitiveness, it is the most competitive large city in the United Kingdom. [125] It also has the highest gross value added per employee of any city in the UK outside London, measuring £50,256 in 2007.[1HP 534684-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 6608231-001 CPU fan with heatsink26] It was named European Best Large City of the Future for Foreign Direct Investment and Best Large City for Foreign Direct Investment Strategy in the Financial Times fDi magazine awards 2012/13. HP 534685-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Known primarily for brewing, banking and printing and publishing in the 19th century, Edinburgh's economy is now based mainly on financial services, scientific research, higher education, and tourism.[citation needed] HP 576837-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 579158-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 657529-001 CPU fan with heatsinkAs of March 2010 unemployment in Edinburgh is comparatively low at 3.6%, and remains consistently below the Scottish average of 4.5%. [127]
Banking has been a mainstay of the Edinburgh economy for over 300 years, since the Bank of Scotland (now part of the Lloyds Banking Group) was established by an act of the Scottish Parliament in 1695. Today, HP 602472-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 603690-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 642731-001 CPU fan with heatsink the financial services industry, with its particularly strong insurance and investment sectors, and underpinned by Edinburgh based firms such as Scottish Widows and Standard Life, HP 603691-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 637610-001 CPU fan with heatsink accounts for Edinburgh being the UK's second financial centre after London and Europe's fourth in terms of equity assets. [1HP 606574-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 606575-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 631742-001 CPU fan with heatsink28] The Royal Bank of Scotland opened new global headquarters at Gogarburn in the west of the city in October 2005, and Edinburgh is home to the headquarters of Bank of Scotland, Tesco Bank[129] and Virgin Money.[130] HP 604787-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 637607-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Edinburgh Park
Tourism is also an important element in the city's economy. As a World Heritage Site, tourists come to visit historical sites such as Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Old and New Towns. Their numbers are augmented in August each year during the Edinburgh Festivals, which attracts 4.4 million visitors,[127HP 606729-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 622028-001 CPU fan with heatsink] and generates in excess of £100m for the Edinburgh economy.[131]
As the centre of Scotland's government and legal system, the public sector plays a central role in the economy of Edinburgh. Many departments of the Scottish Government are located in the city. Other major employers include NHS Scotland and local government administration.
Transport[edit]
HP 608378-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Main article: Transport in Edinburgh
Lothian Buses on Princes Street
Edinburgh Airport is Scotland's busiest and biggest airport and the principal international gateway to the capital, handling around 9 million passengers in 2012.[132] In anticipation of rising passenger numbers,
HP 608229-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe airport operator BAA outlined a draft masterplan in 2011 to provide for the expansion of the airfield and terminal building. The airport has since been sold to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in June 2012. The possibility of building a second runway to cope with an increased number of aircraft movements has also been mooted.[133HP 606731-001 CPU fan with heatsink
]
Travel in Edinburgh is predominantly by bus. Lothian Buses operate the majority of city bus services within the city and to surrounding suburbs, with the majority of routes running via Princes Street. HP 608010-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 608095-001 CPU fan with heatsinkServices further afield operate from the Edinburgh Bus Station off St. Andrew Square. Lothian Buses, as the successor company to the Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department, also operates all of the City's branded public tour bus services, the night bus network and airport buses. [134] In 2010, Lothian Buses facilitated 109 million passenger journeys – a 1.9% rise on the previous year.[135] HP 535442-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 535438-001 CPU fan with heatsink
A train arriving at Waverley Station
Waverley is the second-busiest railway station in Scotland, with only Glasgow Central handling more passengers; in terms of passenger entries and exits between April 2010 and March 2011, Waverley is the fifth-busiest station outside London.[1HP 643258-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 587244-001 CPU fan with heatsink36] It serves as the terminus for trains arriving from London King's Cross and is the departure point for many rail services within Scotland operated by First ScotRail.
To the west of the city centre lies Haymarket railway station which is an important commuter stop. Opened in 2003,
HP 532614-001 CPU fan with heatsink Edinburgh Park station serves the adjacent business park in the west of the city and the nearby Gogarburn headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Edinburgh Crossrail connects Edinburgh Park with Haymarket, Waverley and the suburban stations of Brunstane and Newcraighall in the east of the city.[1HP 655983-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 582321-001 CPU fan with heatsink37] There are also commuter lines to South Gyle and Dalmeny, which serves South Queensferry by the Forth Bridges, and to the south west of the city out to Wester Hailes and Curriehill. HP 657942-001 CPU fan with heatsink
In order to tackle traffic congestion, Edinburgh is now served by six park and ride sites on the periphery of the city at Sheriffhall, Ingliston, Riccarton, Inverkeithing (in Fife), Newcraighall and Straiton. A referendum of Edinburgh residents in February 2005 rejected a proposal to introduce congestion charging in the city. [138] HP 646578-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 532613-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Tramline construction in Edinburgh city centre, Sept. 2012
Edinburgh has been without a tram system since 16 November 1956.[139] Following parliamentary approval in 2007, HP 606609-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 622029-001 CPU fan with heatsinkconstruction began on a new Edinburgh tram line in early 2008. The first stage of the project was originally expected to be completed by July 2011[140] but, following delays caused by extra utility work and a long-running contractual dispute between the Council and the main contractor, Bilfinger, it is unlikely to be operational before 2014.[1HP 612354-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 631743-001 CPU fan with heatsink41] The cost of the project rose from the original projection of £545 million to £750 million in mid-2011, and the final cost is expected to exceed £1 billion[142][143] for a curtailed project resulting in a line approximately 8 miles (13 km) in length.
HP 610778-001 CPU fan with heatsink The current plan will see trams running from Edinburgh Airport to the west of the city to York Place in the city centre. The original intention to extend the line down Leith Walk to Ocean Terminal and Newhaven, was shelved because of spiralling costs.[1
HP 610777-001 CPU fan with heatsink44] If the original plan is ever resumed and taken to completion, trams will also run from Haymarket through Ravelston and Craigleith to Granton on the waterfront.[144] Long-term proposals envisage a line running west from the airport to Ratho and Newbridge, and another along the length of the waterfront.[145] HP 612355-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 622033-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Education[edit]
Further information: List of schools in Edinburgh
Old College of the University of Edinburgh.
There are four universities in Edinburgh (including Queen Margaret University which now lies just outwith the city boundary) with students making up around one-fifth of the population.[146] Established by Royal Charter in 1583, HP 606014-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 610773-001 CPU fan with heatsink the University of Edinburgh is one of Scotland's ancient universities and is the fourth oldest in the country after St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen.[147] Originally centred around Old College the university expanded to premises on The Mound, the Royal Mile and George Square.[147HP 606013-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 610774-001 CPU fan with heatsink] Today, the King's Buildings in the south of the city contain most of the schools within the College of Science and Engineering. In 2002, the medical school moved to purpose built accommodation adjacent to the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at Little France. The University was placed 21st in the world in the 2012 QS World University Rankings.[148]
HP 576838-001 CPU fan with heatsink
In the 1960s Heriot-Watt University and Napier Technical College were established.[147] Heriot-Watt traces its origins to 1821 as the world's first mechanics' institute, when a school for technical education for the working classes was opened.[1HP 448016-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 434678-001 CPU fan with heatsink
49] Napier College was renamed Napier Polytechnic in 1986 and gained university status in 1992.[150] Edinburgh Napier University has campuses in the south and west of the city, including the former Craiglockhart Hydropathic and Merchiston Tower.[150] It is home to the Screen Academy Scotland. HP 486799-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Queen Margaret University was located in Edinburgh until its move to a new campus near Musselburgh in 2008.
The former Craiglockhart Hydropathic Building now forms part of the Napier University campus.
Until 2012 further education colleges in the city included Jewel and Esk College (incorporating Leith Nautical College founded in 1903), HP 491572-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 431448-001 CPU fan with heatsink Telford College, opened in 1968, and Stevenson College, opened in 1970. These have now been amalgamated to form Edinburgh College. The Scottish Agricultural College also has a campus in south Edinburgh. HP 492314-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 493001-001 CPU fan with heatsink
Other notable institutions include the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh which were established by Royal Charter, in 1506 and 1681 respectively. The Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh was founded in 1760 – an institution that became the Edinburgh College of Art in 1907.[151] HP 486844-001 CPU fan with heatsink
HP 450864-001 CPU fan with heatsink
There are 18 nursery, 94 primary and 23 secondary schools in Edinburgh administered by the city council.[152] Edinburgh is home to The Royal High School, one of the oldest schools in the country and the world. The city is home to several independent, Compaq Presario CQ62-215SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-220SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-A65SA keyboard fee-paying schools including Edinburgh Academy, Fettes College, George Heriot's School, George Watson's College, Merchiston Castle School, Stewart's Melville College and The Mary Erskine School. In 2009, the proportion of pupils in education at independent schools was 24.2%, far above the national average of just over 7% and higher than in any other region of Scotland.[153] Compaq Presario CQ62-221SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-A55SA keyboard
Healthcare[edit]
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is the main public hospital for the city.
See also: List of hospitals in Edinburgh
The main NHS Lothian hospitals serving the Edinburgh area are the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which includes the University of Edinburgh Medical School, and the Western General Hospital,[15Compaq Presario CQ62-225SA keyboard
4] which includes a large cancer treatment centre and the nurse-led Minor Injuries Clinic.[155] The Royal Edinburgh Hospital specialises in mental health; it is situated in Morningside. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children, often referred to as 'the Sick Kids', Compaq Presario CQ62-229SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-A50SA keyboard is a specialist pediatrics hospital.
There are two private hospitals, Murrayfield Hospital in the west of the city and Shawfield Hospital in the south; both are owned by Spire Healthcare.[154] Compaq Presario CQ62-230SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-235SA keyboard
Culture[edit]
Festivals and celebrations[edit]
The city hosts the annual Edinburgh Festival, which is a series of separate events running from the end of July until early September each year. The best-known of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe; the Edinburgh International Festival featuring the Edinburgh Military Tattoo; and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.[156] Compaq Presario CQ62-A10SA keyboard
Pipers emerging from Edinburgh Castle during the Edinburgh Military Tattoo
The longest established of these festivals is the Edinburgh International Festival, which was first held in 1947[157] and centres on a programme of high-profile theatre productions and classical music performances, featuring international directors, conductors, theatre companies and orchestras.[158] Compaq Presario CQ62-A20SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-A25SA keyboard
This has since been overtaken both in size and popularity by the Edinburgh Fringe which began as a programme of marginal acts alongside the "official" Festival to become the largest performing arts festival in the world. In 2006, 1867 different shows were staged in 261 venues throughout the city.[159] Comedy has become one of the mainstays of the Fringe, Compaq Presario CQ62Z keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-320SA keyboardwith numerous notable comedians getting their first 'break' here, often by receiving the Edinburgh Comedy Award.[160] In 2008 the largest comedy venues "on the Fringe" launched the Edinburgh Comedy Festival as a festival within a festival.
Compaq Presario CQ62-220EA keyboard
Alongside these major festivals, there is also the Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival (moved to June as of 2008), the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Compaq Presario CQ62-230EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-311EA keyboard The Edge Festival (formerly known as T on the Fringe), a popular music offshoot of the Fringe, began in 2000, replacing the smaller Flux and Planet Pop series of shows.[161] Compaq Presario CQ62-A10EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-311SA keyboard
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, one of the centrepieces of the "official" Festival, occupies the Castle Esplanade every night, with massed pipers and military bands drawn from around the world. Performances end with a short fireworks display. As well as the various summer festivals there is also the Edinburgh International Science Festival held annually in April. It is one of the largest of its kind in Europe.[162] Compaq Presario CQ62Z-200 CTO keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62Z-200 keyboard
A Viking longship being burnt during Edinburgh's annual Hogmanay celebrations.
The annual Hogmanay celebration was originally a street party held on the Royal Mile focused on the Tron Kirk; it has been officially organised since 1993, Compaq Presario CQ60-107EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-307EA keyboard with the focus moved to Princes Street. In 1996, over 300,000 people attended, leading to ticketing of the main street party in later years, with a limit of 100,000 tickets.[163
Compaq Presario CQ60-307SA keyboard] Hogmanay now covers four days of processions, concerts and fireworks, with the street party commencing on Hogmanay. Alternative tickets are available for entrance into the Princes Street Gardens concert and Céilidh, Compaq Presario CQ60-114EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-305SA keyboardwhere well-known artists perform and ticket holders can participate in traditional Scottish céilidh dancing. The event attracts thousands of people from all over the world.[163]
Compaq Presario CQ60-305EA keyboard
On the night of 30 April, the Beltane Fire Festival takes place on Calton Hill. The festival involves a procession followed by the re-enactment of scenes inspired by pagan spring fertility celebrations.[164] At the beginning of October each year, the Dussehra Hindu Festival is also held on Calton Hill.[165]
Compaq Presario CQ60-219EA keyboard
Music, theatre and film[edit]
The Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Outside the Festival season, Edinburgh continues to support theatres and production companies. The Royal Lyceum Theatre has its own company, while the King's Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, and Edinburgh Playhouse stage large touring shows. Compaq Presario CQ60-212EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-218EA keyboard The Traverse Theatre presents a more contemporary programme of plays. Amateur theatre companies productions are staged at the Bedlam Theatre, Church Hill Theatre, and the King's Theatre among others.[166] Compaq Presario CQ60-405SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-409SA keyboard
The Usher Hall is Edinburgh's premier venue for classical music, as well as occasional popular music gigs.[167] It was also the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 1972. Other halls staging music and theatre include The Hub, the Assembly Rooms and the Queen's Hall. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is based in Edinburgh.[168] Compaq Presario CQ60-410SA keyboard
Traverse Theatre
Edinburgh has two repertory cinemas, the Edinburgh Filmhouse, and the Cameo, and the independent Dominion Cinema, as well as a range of multiplexes.[169] Compaq Presario CQ60-420SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60-430SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-206SA keyboard
Edinburgh has a healthy popular music scene. Occasional large gigs are staged at Murrayfield and Meadowbank, with mid-sized events at venues such as the Corn Exchange, HMV Picture House, the Liquid Rooms, and the Bongo Club. In 2010, PRS for Music listed Edinburgh among the UK's top ten 'most musical' cities.[170] Compaq Presario CQ60Z-200 CTO keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ60Z keyboard
Edinburgh is also home to a flourishing group of contemporary composers such as Nigel Osborne, Peter Nelson, Lyell Cresswell, Hafliði Hallgrímsson, Edward Harper, Robert Crawford, Robert Dow and John McLeod[171] whose music is heard regularly on BBC Radio 3 and throughout the UK. Compaq Presario CQ56-252SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-204SA keyboard
Rockstar North, previously known as DMA Design, known for creating the Grand Theft Auto series, are based in Edinburgh.[172]
Media[edit]
The Edinburgh Evening News is based in Edinburgh and published every day apart from Sunday. The newspaper's owners, Johnson Press, also hold The Scotsman, a national paper which is published in the city. The Herald, which is published in Glasgow, also covers Edinburgh.[173]
Compaq Presario CQ56-156SA keyboard
The city has two commercial radio stations: Forth One, a station with a mainstream chart music output, and Forth 2 on medium wave which plays classic hits.[174] Capital Radio Scotland and Real Radio Scotland also have transmitters in Edinburgh. Compaq Presario CQ56-254SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-115SA keyboardAlong with the UK national radio stations, Radio Scotland and the Gaelic language service BBC Radio nan Gàidheal are also broadcast. DAB digital radio is broadcast over two local multiplexes. Compaq Presario CQ56-100EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-258SA keyboard
Television, along with most radio services, are broadcast to the city from the Craigkelly transmitting station situated on the opposite side of the Firth of Forth.[175]
Museums, libraries and galleries[edit]
National Gallery of Scotland
Edinburgh has many museums and libraries, some of which are national institutions. These include the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, National War Museum of Scotland, the Museum of Edinburgh and the Museum of Childhood.[176] Compaq Presario CQ56Z-200 CTO keyboard
Edinburgh Zoo, covering 82 acres (33 ha) on Corstorphine Hill, is the second most popular paid tourist attraction in Scotland,[177] and currently home to two giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, on loan from the People's Republic of China. Compaq Presario CQ56-250SA keyboard
Edinburgh contains Scotland's five National Galleries as well as numerous smaller galleries.[178] The national collection is housed in the National Gallery of Scotland, located on the Mound, and now linked to the Royal Scottish Academy, Compaq Presario CQ56-251SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-253SA keyboardwhich holds regular major exhibitions of painting. Contemporary collections are shown in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the nearby Dean Gallery. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery focuses on portraits and photography.
Compaq Presario CQ56-108SA keyboard
National Museum of Scotland
The council-owned City Art Centre shows regular art exhibitions. Across the road, The Fruitmarket Gallery offers world class exhibitions of contemporary art, featuring work by British and international artists with both emerging and established international reputations.[179]
Compaq Presario CQ56-106SA keyboard
There are many private galleries, including Ingleby Gallery, the latter providing a varied programme including shows by Callum Innes, Peter Liversidge, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Forster, and Sean Scully.[180]
Compaq Presario CQ56-102EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-103EA keyboard
The city hosts several of Scotland's galleries and organisations dedicated to contemporary visual art. Significant strands of this infrastructure include: The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh College of Art, Talbot Rice Gallery (University of Edinburgh) and the Edinburgh Annuale. Compaq Presario CQ56-109SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-106EA keyboard
Shopping[edit]
The locale around Princes Street is the main shopping area in the city centre, with souvenir shops, chains such as Boots and H&M as well as Jenners.[181] George Street, north of Princes Street, is home to some upmarket chains and independent stores.[1Compaq Presario CQ56-110SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-261EA keyboard81] The St. James Centre, at the eastern end of George Street and Princes Street, hosts national chains including a large John Lewis.[182] Multrees Walk, adjacent to the St. James Centre, is a recent addition to the city centre, anchored by Harvey Nichols and hosting Louis Vuitton, Emporio Armani, Mulberry and Calvin Klein.[181]
Compaq Presario CQ56-250EA keyboard
Edinburgh also has substantial retail developments outside the city centre. These include The Gyle Shopping Centre and Hermiston Gait in the west of the city, Cameron Toll Shopping Centre, Straiton Retail Park and Fort Kinnaird in the south and east, and Ocean Terminal to the north, on the Leith waterfront.[183] Compaq Presario CQ56-112SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-155EA keyboard
Sport[edit]
Football[edit]
Edinburgh has two professional football clubs: Heart of Midlothian, founded in 1874 and Hibernian, founded in 1875. Both teams play in the Scottish Premier League and they are known locally as "Hearts" and "Hibs".[184] They are the oldest city rivals in Scotland and the Edinburgh derby is one of the oldest derby matches in world football.[citation needed] Compaq Presario CQ56-113SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-112EA keyboard
Edinburgh was also home to senior sides St Bernard's, and Leith Athletic. Most recently, Meadowbank Thistle played at Meadowbank Stadium until 1995, when the club moved to Livingston, becoming Livingston F.C.. Previously, Meadowbank Thistle had been named Ferranti Thistle. The Scottish national team has occasionally played at Easter Road and Tynecastle.
Compaq Presario CQ56-102SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-111EA keyboard
Rugby union[edit]
The Scotland national rugby union team as well as the professional Edinburgh Rugby plays at Murrayfield Stadium, which is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union and is also used as a venue for other events, including music concerts. It is the largest capacity stadium in Scotland, with 67130 seats after the installation of large screens.[18Compaq Presario CQ56-103SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-107SA keyboard5] Edinburgh is also home to RBS Premier One rugby teams Heriot's Rugby Club, Boroughmuir RFC, the Edinburgh Academicals and Currie RFC.[186]
The Scottish cricket team, which represents Scotland at cricket internationally and in the Friends Provident Trophy, play their home matches at the Grange cricket club.[187] Compaq Presario CQ56-104SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ56-105SA keyboard
The Edinburgh Capitals are the latest of a succession of ice hockey clubs to represent the Scottish capital. Previously Edinburgh was represented by the Murrayfield Racers and the Edinburgh Racers. The club play their home games at the Murrayfield Ice Rink The club play their home games at the Murrayfield Ice Rink and have competed in the ten-team professional Elite Ice Hockey League since the 2005–06 season.[188][189] Compaq Presario CQ71-135SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ62-210SA keyboard
The Edinburgh Diamond Devils is a baseball club claiming its first Scottish Championship in 1991 as the "Reivers." 1992 saw the team repeat as national champions, becoming the first team to do so in league history and saw the start of the club's first youth team, the Blue Jays. The name of the club was changed in 1999.[190] Compaq Presario CQ71-130SA keyboard
Edinburgh has also hosted various national and international sports events including the World Student Games, the 1970 British Commonwealth Games,[191] the 1986 Commonwealth Games[191] and the inaugural 2000 Commonwealth Youth Games.[1Compaq Presario CQ71-140EA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-317EA keyboard92] For the Games in 1970 the city built major Olympic standard venues and facilities including the Royal Commonwealth Pool and the Meadowbank Stadium. The Royal Commonwealth Pool is undergoing refurbishment and due to re-open for spring 2012, will host the Diving competition of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, held by Glasgow.[193] Compaq Presario CQ71-140SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-210SA keyboard
In American football, the Scottish Claymores played WLAF/NFL Europe games at Murrayfield, including their World Bowl 96 victory. From 1995 to 1997 they played all their games there, from 1998 to 2000 they split their home matches between Murrayfield and Glasgow's Hampden Park, then moved to Glasgow full-time, with one final Murrayfield appearance in 2002.[1Compaq Presario CQ71-230SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71 keyboard94] The city's most successful non-professional team are the Edinburgh Wolves who play at Meadowbank Stadium.[195]
The Edinburgh Marathon has been held in the city since 2003 with more than 16,000 taking part annually.[196] It is called by its organisers "the fastest marathon in the UK" due to the elevation drop of 40 metres (130 ft).[19Compaq Presario CQ71-235SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-403SA keyboard7] The city also has a half-marathon, as well as 10 km and 5 km races, including a 5 km race on 1 January each year.
Edinburgh has a speedway team, the Edinburgh Monarchs, which is based outside the city at the Lothian Arena in Armadale, West Lothian. Compaq Presario CQ71-300 keyboard
The Monarchs have won the Premier League championship three times in their history, in 2003[198] again in 2008[199] and yet again in 2010.
Edinburgh Eagles are a rugby league team who play in the Rugby League Conference Scotland Division. Murrayfield Stadium has also hosted the Magic Weekend where all Super League matches are played (at Murrayfield) all on the one weekend. Compaq Presario CQ71-305SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-402SA keyboard
Notable residents[edit]
Main article: List of Edinburgh people
See also: List of University of Edinburgh people
Sir Walter Scott
Edinburgh has a long literary tradition, which became especially evident during the Scottish Enlightenment, and in more recent years was declared the first UNESCO City of Literature in 2004.[200][201] Famous authors of the city include the economist Adam Smith, born in Kirkcaldy and author of The Wealth of Nations, [20Compaq Presario CQ71-312SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-401SA keyboard2] James Boswell biographer of Samuel Johnson, Sir Walter Scott, the author of famous titles such as Rob Roy,Ivanhoe and Heart of Midlothian, James Hogg, author ofThe Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Robert Louis Stevenson, creator of Treasure Island, Compaq Presario CQ71-314SA keyboard
Compaq Presario CQ71-320SA keyboardKidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Muriel Spark, author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, whose novels are mostly set in the city and often written in colloquial Scots, [203HP 640426-001 CPU fan
HP 532605-001 CPU fan] Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series of crime thrillers, Alexander McCall Smith,[204] and J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who began her first book in an Edinburgh coffee shop.[205] HP 640903-001 CPU fan
Scotland has a rich history in science and engineering, with Edinburgh contributing its fair share of famous names. James Clerk Maxwell, the founder of the modern theory of electromagnetism, was born here and educated at the Edinburgh Academy and University of Edinburgh, [202] as was the engineer and telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell.[20HP 650848-001 CPU fan
HP 531941-001 CPU fan2] Other names connected with the city include Max Born, physicist and Nobel laureate;[206] Charles Darwin, the biologist who discovered natural selection;[202] David Hume, a philosopher, economist and historian;[202] James Hutton, regarded as the "Father of Geology";[202] John Napier inventor of logarithms;[20HP 653627-001 CPU fan
HP 498480-001 CPU fan7] Joseph Black chemist and one of the founders of thermodynamics;[202] pioneering medical researchers Joseph Lister and James Young Simpson;[202] chemist and discoverer of the element nitrogen Daniel Rutherford, HP 665309-001 CPU fan
HP 487436-001 CPU fanColin Maclaurin, mathematician and developer of the Maclaurin series,[208] and Ian Wilmut, the geneticist involved in the cloning of Dolly the sheep just outside Edinburgh.[202] The stuffed carcass of Dolly the sheep is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland.[209] HP 666391-001 CPU fan
Deacon Brodie on Edinburgh's Royal Mile
Edinburgh has been the birthplace of actors like Alastair Sim and Sir Sean Connery, famed as the first cinematic James Bond;[210] the comedian and actor Ronnie Corbett, best known as one of The Two Ronnies[211] and the impressionist Rory Bremner. Famous city artists include the portrait painters Sir Henry Raeburn, Sir David Wilkie and Allan Ramsay. HP 650797-001 CPU fan
The city has produced or been home to musicians who have been extremely successful in modern times, particularly Ian Anderson, frontman of the band Jethro Tull; The Incredible String Band; The Corries; Wattie Buchan, lead singer and founding member of punk band The Exploited; Shirley Manson, lead singer for the band Garbage; the Bay City Rollers; The Proclaimers; Boards of Canada and Idlewild. HP 535439-001 CPU fan
Greyfriars Bobby
Edinburgh is the birthplace of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who attended the city's Fettes College.[212]
Famous criminals from Edinburgh's history include Deacon Brodie, deacon of a trades guild and an Edinburgh city councillor by day and burglar by night, who is said to have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's story, HP 535766-001 CPU fan
HP 431311-001 CPU fan the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,[213] and murderers Burke and Hare who provided fresh corpses for anatomical dissection by the famous surgeon Robert Knox.[214]
Another well-known Edinburgh resident was Greyfriars Bobby. The small Skye Terrier reputedly kept vigil over his dead master's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard for 14 years in the 1860s and 1870s, giving rise to a story of canine devotion which plays a part in attracting visitors to the city.[215] HP 582139-001 CPU fan