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105-414: The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange ) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh , just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill to the south. It is a conservation area characterised by large early Victorian stone-built villas and mansions, often with very large gardens. The Grange

210-469: A port several miles away (respectively, Leith and Piraeus ). Intellectually, the Scottish Enlightenment , with its humanist and rationalist outlook, was influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy . In 1822, artist Hugh William Williams organized an exhibition that showed his paintings of Athens alongside views of Edinburgh, and the idea of a direct parallel between both cities quickly caught

315-461: A royal charter , c.  1124–1127 , by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline . The shire of Edinburgh seems to have also been created in the reign of David I, possibly covering all of Lothian at first, but by 1305 the eastern and western parts of Lothian had become Haddingtonshire and Linlithgowshire , leaving Edinburgh as the county town of

420-421: A Burgess of Edinburgh, and his spouse Agnes Carkettle, and in 1517 they granted the use of 18 acres (73,000 m) of land to the nuns of St. Catherine of Siena . On 19 March 1691 a John Cant sold St Giles Grange in its entirety to William Dick. At that time, the 18 acres (73,000 m) previously feued to the nuns was now in the possession of Sir John Napier , the famous inventor of logarithms. When Isabel Dick,

525-527: A centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law , literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh , founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and

630-524: A communal grave for the nuns of St Margaret's Convent. Residents of the suburb have included the former CEO of RBS , Fred Goodwin . Goodwin relocated from The Grange after the vandalism to which his property there was subjected but has since returned after his wife's throwing him out of their family home in Colinton due to revelations of his marital infidelity. Oil tycoon Sir Bill Gammell , an old school friend of Tony Blair and who had George W Bush as

735-475: A large plot in the centre of Grange Loan. From the 1840s, The Grange was developed as an early suburb , built gradually upon the lands of The Grange estate — still owned by the Dick Lauder family. The area was originally laid out by the architect David Cousin but then the feuing was altered (1858) and greatly extended southwards (1877, following great success) by the architect Robert Reid Raeburn . Some of

840-812: A mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada). It is a popular creature in European literature, mythology, and folklore. Today, it is often used in fantasy literature and video games. The wyvern in heraldry and folklore is rarely fire-breathing, unlike other dragons. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the word is a development of Middle English wyver (attested fourteenth century), from Anglo-French wivre (cf. French guivre and vouivre ), which originate from Latin vīpera , meaning "viper", "adder", or "asp". The concluding " –n " had been added by

945-523: A population in 2014 of 1,339,380. Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate ( Cfb ) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador . The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in

1050-750: A population of 912,490 in the same year. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government , the Scottish Parliament , the highest courts in Scotland , and the Palace of Holyroodhouse , the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . The city has long been

1155-612: A series of small summits to the south of the city centre that command expansive views looking northwards over the urban area to the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is drained by the river named the Water of Leith , which rises at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 18 miles (29 km) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The nearest

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1260-576: A shire covering the central part of Lothian, which was called Edinburghshire or Midlothian (the latter name being an informal, but commonly used, alternative until the county's name was legally changed in 1947). Edinburgh was largely under English control from 1291 to 1314 and from 1333 to 1341, during the Wars of Scottish Independence . When the English invaded Scotland in 1298 , Edward I of England chose not to enter Edinburgh but passed by it with his army. In

1365-637: A war band from across the Brittonic world who gathered in Eidyn before a fateful raid; this may describe a historical event around AD 600. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria , and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles . Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of Indulf , son of Constantine II ,

1470-729: A wedding guest, purchased property in The Grange. Other notable residents of The Grange include writer D. M. Macalister (1832–1909) who was a renowned minister of the Free Church of Scotland and served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1902–03. In 1900 he was living at 32 Mansionhouse Road. Max Born , Nobel Laureate and former Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh lived at 84 Grange Loan. Born came to Edinburgh in 1936. He stayed until his retirement in 1952. He

1575-481: Is a frequent charge in English heraldry and vexillology , also occasionally appearing as a supporter or crest . A wyvern is typically depicted resting upon its legs and tail, but may be depicted with its claws in the air and only supported by its tail. On occasion, a wyvern may be depicted as wingless and with its tail nowed . A silver ( argent ) wyvern formed the crest of the Borough of Leicester as recorded at

1680-439: Is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie , Scots for Old Smoky , for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. A note in a collection of the works of the poet, Allan Ramsay , explains, "Auld Reeky...A name the country people give Edinburgh, from the cloud of smoke or reek that is always impending over it." In Walter Scott 's 1820 novel The Abbot , a character observes that "yonder stands Auld Reekie—you may see

1785-555: Is almost entirely within the City of Edinburgh Council boundary, merging with Musselburgh in East Lothian. Towns within easy reach of the city boundary include Inverkeithing , Haddington , Tranent , Prestonpans , Dalkeith , Bonnyrigg , Loanhead , Penicuik , Broxburn , Livingston and Dunfermline . Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region with

1890-481: Is cloudier and somewhat wetter, but differences are minor. Temperature and rainfall records have been kept at the Royal Observatory since 1764. The most recent official population estimates (2020) are 506,520 for the locality (includes Currie ), 530,990 for the Edinburgh settlement (includes Musselburgh ). Wyvern The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry , frequently appearing as

1995-663: Is depicted on the coat of arms of the city of Kazan , the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan . The wyvern is a popular commercial logo or mascot , especially in Wales and what was once the West Country Kingdom of Wessex , but also in Herefordshire and Worcestershire , as the rivers Wye and Severn run through Hereford and Worcester respectively. A local radio station was formerly called Wyvern FM . Vauxhall Motors had

2100-426: Is encircled by a green belt , designated in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east. With an average width of 3.2 km (2 mi) the principal objectives of the green belt were to contain the outward expansion of the city and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas. Expansion affecting the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and

2205-477: Is governed by the City of Edinburgh Council , a unitary authority. The City of Edinburgh council area had an estimated population of 514,990 in mid-2021, and includes outlying towns and villages which are not part of Edinburgh proper. The city is in the Lothian region and was historically part of the shire of Midlothian (also called Edinburghshire). "Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn ,

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2310-618: Is not known if it has survived. Within the area lies the campus of the Astley Ainslie Hospital . This large area of ground was gifted as a hospital in 1921 as part of the will of John Ainslie. The grounds of the Carlton Cricket Club is the last vestige of the major open space which used to surround Grange House. This was laid out in 1847 by the Edinburgh architect David Bryce and is more rectilinear in layout than its predecessors, Warriston Cemetery and Dean Cemetery . It

2415-758: Is recognised as one of the founders of the field of quantum mechanics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 for fundamental research in quantum mechanics. Marc-André Raffalovich (1864–1934) was a wealthy French poet, writer and defender of homosexuality, best known today for his patronage of the arts and for his lifelong relationship with the poet John Gray . Raffalovich lived at 9 Whitehouse Terrace, and his most important supporter and romantic partner John Gray also lived nearby. The two remained together until Raffalovich's sudden death in 1934. A devastated Gray died exactly four months later. Raffalovich's exposition of

2520-570: Is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas . The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills . Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom . The wider metropolitan area had

2625-440: Is typical of the old quarters of many Northern European cities. The New Town was an 18th-century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded city which had been confined to the ridge sloping down from the castle. In 1766 a competition to design a "New Town" was won by James Craig , a 27-year-old architect. The plan was a rigid, ordered grid, which fitted in well with Enlightenment ideas of rationality. The principal street

2730-625: The Athens of the North since the early 19th century. References to Athens, such as Athens of Britain and Modern Athens , had been made as early as the 1760s. The similarities were seen to be topographical but also intellectual. Edinburgh's Castle Rock reminded returning grand tourists of the Athenian Acropolis , as did aspects of the neoclassical architecture and layout of New Town . Both cities had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to

2835-531: The Braid Hills and eastward to St. Leonard's Crags. The mansion , The Grange House, was enlarged over the centuries, a major restoration being carried out by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder , Bt. On 16 May 1836, Lord Cockburn recorded in his diary: "There was an annular eclipse of the sun yesterday afternoon....it was a beautiful spectacle......I was on the top of the tower at The Grange House, with Sir Thomas Dick Lauder and his family." After Sir Thomas's death in 1848,

2940-638: The George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial. Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre , has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge , a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as

3045-629: The Midlands , who used it as his personal crest. A green Wyvern stands in the emblem of the ancient and historical Umbrian city of Terni , the dragon is called by the citizens with the name of Thyrus. A sable wyvern on a white background with endorsed wings forms the coat of arms of the Tilley family. The arms of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries depict a wyvern, symbolising disease, being overcome by Apollo , symbolising medicine. Wyvern Zilant

3150-770: The Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a Brittonic Celtic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini . The Votadini transitioned into the Gododdin kingdom in the Early Middle Ages , with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn, emerged as the kingdom's major centre. The medieval poem Y Gododdin describes

3255-657: The Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone. Similarly, suburbs such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land. One feature of the Edinburgh green belt is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated green belt, even though they do not connect with the peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill. Edinburgh includes former towns and villages that retain much of their original character as settlements in existence before they were absorbed into

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3360-664: The Scotland Act , which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007 ). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, foreign affairs and some elements of income tax remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. In 2022, Edinburgh

3465-722: The South Bridge in the 1780s. The Southside is particularly popular with families (many state and private schools are here), young professionals and students (the central University of Edinburgh campus is based around George Square just north of Marchmont and the Meadows ), and Napier University (with major campuses around Merchiston and Morningside). The area is also well provided with hotel and "bed and breakfast" accommodation for visiting festival-goers. These districts often feature in works of fiction. For example, Church Hill in Morningside,

3570-466: The heraldic visitation of Leicestershire in 1619: "A wyvern sans legs argent strewed with wounds gules, wings expanded ermine." The term "sans legs" may not imply that the wyvern was "without legs", rather than its legs are not depicted, being hidden or folded under. This was adopted by the Midland Railway in 1845 when it became the crest of its unofficial coat of arms . The company asserted that

3675-534: The picturesque movement and characterised by romantic revivalism of the architectural forms that are original and individual in composition. The buildings are complemented by the profusion of mature trees, spacious garden settings, stone boundary walls and green open spaces. A significant level of uniformity is achieved from the use of local building materials, e.g. local grey sandstone in ashlar or coursed rubble with hand carved decoration, Scots slates, timber framed sash and case windows with plate glass. The Grange

3780-495: The "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as oppidum Eden , was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained, for the most part, under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the date of its charter is unknown. The first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is

3885-573: The "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia ", and that it was "a quartering in the town arms of Leicester". However, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia". It has been associated with Leicester since the time of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Leicester (c. 1278–1322), the most powerful lord in

3990-494: The 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes , but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed

4095-460: The 18th-century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius". Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish book trade. The highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was apprenticed there to James McEuen. From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of

4200-520: The 19th century and joined by new industries such as rubber works , engineering works and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in

4305-411: The Castle Rock, giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome . Occupying a narrow gap between the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills and their outrunners to the south, the city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation. Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting , led to

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4410-707: The English in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant . In 1582, Edinburgh's town council was given a royal charter by King James VI permitting the establishment of a university; founded as Tounis College (Town's College), the institution developed into the University of Edinburgh , which contributed to Edinburgh's central intellectual role in subsequent centuries. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to

4515-605: The English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns , though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart 's restoration to

4620-579: The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 1891–92. He lived at 10 Mansionhouse Road. Frederick Hallard FRSE PRSSA (1821–1882) was a Scottish advocate and legal author. He served as senior Sheriff-Substitute for Midlothian 1855 to 1882 and was Director of the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution and President of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. He lived at 7 Whitehouse Terrace. George Washington Browne (1853–1939)

4725-652: The Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden , there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans . In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, reaffirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for

4830-424: The North". Robert Louis Stevenson, also a son of the city, wrote that Edinburgh "is what Paris ought to be". The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond , where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat , Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills . When

4935-667: The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles , Greyfriars and the Canongate , and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. Edinburgh

5040-538: The Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office." Despite being burnt by

5145-497: The United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park , a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration. In 1998,

5250-527: The Victorian villas still retain substantial mature trees and gardens which pre-date the housing. In 1835 Earl Grey (of Reform Bill fame) stayed with Sir Thomas Dick Lauder at The Grange House, and commemorated his visit by planting an oak tree in a conspicuous spot in The Avenue, upon the bank of the north side, not very far from the ivy-clad arch. It was called 'Earl Grey's Oak' and was still healthy in 1898. It

5355-533: The adjectival forms Edinburgensis and Edinensis are used in educational and scientific contexts. Edina is a late 18th-century poetical form used by the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns . "Embra" or "Embro" are colloquialisms from the same time, as in Robert Garioch 's Embro to the Ploy . Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of

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5460-608: The architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century. Bute House , the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland , is on the north side of Charlotte Square. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch , which was created for the town's defence but came to be used by the inhabitants for dumping their sewage . It was drained by the 1820s as part of

5565-483: The area. With the redevelopment, Edinburgh has gained the business of cruise liner companies which now provide cruises to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The coastal suburb of Portobello is characterised by Georgian villas, Victorian tenements, a beach and promenade and cafés, bars, restaurants and independent shops. There are rowing and sailing clubs, a restored Victorian swimming pool, and Victorian Turkish baths . The urban area of Edinburgh

5670-447: The beginning of the 17th century, when John Guillim in 1610 describes the " wiverne " as a creature that "partake[s] of a Fowle in the Wings and Legs ... and doth resemble a Serpent in the Taile". John Gibbon in 1682 emphasises that it "hath but two Legs". Conversely, medievalist William Sayers proposes a more complex origin for the term. He notes that the Anglo-French guivre and its Middle English derivative ceased to retain

5775-486: The beginning of three centuries of Germanic influence in south east Scotland that laid the foundations for the development of Scots , before the town was ultimately subsumed in 954 by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland. As the language shifted from Cumbric to Northumbrian Old English and then Scots , the Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh , producing Edinburgh . In Scottish Gaelic din becomes dùn , producing modern Dùn Èideann . The city

5880-423: The city between October and April. Located slightly north of the city centre, the weather station at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been an official weather station for the Met Office since 1956. The Met Office operates its own weather station at Gogarbank on the city's western outskirts, near Edinburgh Airport . This slightly inland station has a slightly wider temperature span between seasons,

5985-423: The city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from

6090-473: The city's northward expansion. Craig's original plan included an ornamental canal on the site of the loch, but this idea was abandoned. Soil excavated while laying the foundations of buildings in the New Town was dumped on the site of the loch to create the slope connecting the Old and New Towns known as The Mound . In the middle of the 19th century the National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy Building were built on The Mound, and tunnels for

6195-476: The concepts of "venomous snake" and "light javelin" were melded to produce a new term for a previously unimagined concept of flying snake, a kind of dragon. The concept of winged snakes , mythical creatures similar to wyverns, is common in cultures around the Mediterranean, with a notable example being the Egyptian goddess Wadjet . The oldest creatures outright referred to as "winged dragons" are Helios 's chariot steeds, which aid Medea . In British heraldry,

6300-415: The creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs , which predominate over much of the area. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced the advancing ice sheet to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a 1 mi-long (1.6 km) tail of material to the east, thus creating a distinctive crag and tail formation. Glacial erosion on the north side of the crag gouged a deep valley later filled by

6405-567: The crest of a ridge from it terminating at Holyrood Palace. Minor streets (called closes or wynds ) lie on either side of the main spine forming a herringbone pattern. Due to space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of this landform, the Old Town became home to some of the earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings known as lands were the norm from the 16th century onwards with ten and eleven storeys being typical and one even reaching fourteen or fifteen storeys. Numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate

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6510-410: The entrance to a stretch of Lover's Loan, a centuries-old path which was preserved in a late 19th-century redevelopment and is marked out with high stone walls separating it from the gardens on either side. At one point the path borders the Grange Cemetery , where various well-known people are buried, including Sir Thomas Dick Lauder , Hugh Miller , and Thomas Chalmers . In 1825 Thomas Dick Lauder ,

6615-434: The expanding city of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many areas, such as Dalry , contain residences that are multi-occupancy buildings known as tenements , although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been less built-up with a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas. The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided in two by the broad green swathe of Princes Street Gardens . To

6720-412: The fabric of the house gradually deteriorated, and by the 1930s the cost of maintenance and preservation had become prohibitive. Despite widespread protests, the house was demolished in 1936. Bungalows and other houses were built on part of the site, in what is now Grange Crescent. Stone wyverns from its gateposts, known locally as the 'Lauder griffins', were re-erected in Grange Loan. One was placed at

6825-422: The fact that the social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 , Edinburgh was briefly occupied by

6930-420: The heiress, married Sir Andrew Lauder, 5th Baronet of Fountainhall, in 1731, The Grange passed to him. The original tower house appears to be of a very early date, possibly the 13th century, ornamented with two turrets and a battlemented roof; its position was isolated at the eastern end of the Burgh Muir , which at that time consisted of waste tracts of moorland and morass, stretching out southward as far as

7035-428: The influx of incomers, particularly Irish immigrants , during the Industrial Revolution . The street has several fine public buildings such as St Giles' Cathedral, the City Chambers and the Law Courts . Other places of historical interest nearby are Greyfriars Kirkyard and Mary King's Close . The Grassmarket , running deep below the castle is connected by the steep double terraced Victoria Street. The street layout

7140-421: The king retaining the superiority. The word grange is common across Britain and normally links to an extensive farm with a central mansionhouse. On 16 June 1376, King Robert II granted the superiority of the barony and lands of St Giles to his eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, Steward of Scotland . In 1391 the estate was conferred upon the Wardlaw family. On 29 October 1506, St Giles Grange passed to John Cant,

7245-430: The middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". In 1482 James III "granted and perpetually confirmed to the said Provost, Bailies, Clerk, Council, and Community, and their successors, the office of Sheriff within the Burgh for ever, to be exercised by

7350-447: The modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. In 1611 an act of parliament created the High Constables of Edinburgh to keep order in the city, thought to be the oldest statutory police force in the world. Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting

7455-482: The more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented." Despite an enduring myth to the contrary, Edinburgh became an industrial centre with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in

7560-524: The name for the region in Cumbric , the Brittonic Celtic language formerly spoken there. The name's meaning is unknown. The district of Eidyn was centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, the dun or hillfort of Eidyn. This stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock , now the site of Edinburgh Castle . A siege of Din Eidyn by Oswald , king of the Angles of Northumbria in 638 marked

7665-468: The now drained Nor Loch . These features, along with another hollow on the rock's south side, formed an ideal natural strongpoint upon which Edinburgh Castle was built. Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano dating from the Carboniferous period , which was eroded by a glacier moving west to east during the ice age. Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to

7770-493: The original sense of "venomous snake" after the Latin term was re-introduced into medieval Latin, freeing them up to take an alternative meaning. Adducing another meaning of wiver (this time Old English ) and guivre , "light javelin ", and noting partial resemblances between the size and shape of javelins and snakes, plus the later medieval era's increasing use of heavy armor and decreasing use of light javelins, he proposes that

7875-555: The popular imagination. When plans were drawn up in the early 19th century to architecturally develop Calton Hill , the design of the National Monument directly copied Athens' Parthenon . Tom Stoppard 's character Archie of Jumpers said, perhaps playing on Reykjavík meaning "smoky bay", that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate. The city has also been known by several Latin names , such as Edinburgum , while

7980-512: The railway line between Haymarket and Waverley stations were driven through it. The Southside is a residential part of the city, which includes the districts of St Leonards , Marchmont , Morningside , Newington , Sciennes , the Grange and Blackford . The Southside is broadly analogous to the area covered formerly by the Burgh Muir , and was developed as a residential area after the opening of

8085-413: The river gets to the city centre is at Dean Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by Thomas Telford 's Dean Bridge , built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry . The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed-use trail that follows the course of the river for 19.6 km (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith. Excepting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh

8190-403: The second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment , when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens. In

8295-561: The sixteenth century, in English, Welsh, Scottish, French and Irish heraldry, heraldic wyverns are defined as distinct entities from heraldic dragons. The key difference has been that a wyvern has two legs, whereas a dragon has four. This distinction is not commonly observed in the heraldry of other European countries, where two-legged dragon creatures are simply called dragons. The wyvern frequently features in modern fantasy fiction, such as Fourth Wing , though its first literary appearances may have been in medieval bestiaries . The wyvern

8400-431: The smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance". In 1898, Thomas Carlyle comments on the phenomenon: "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh, for, ever since Aeneas Silvius 's time and earlier, the people have the art, very strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, and Edinburgh with its chimneys is called 'Auld Reekie' by the country people". The 19th-century historian Robert Chambers asserted that

8505-427: The sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II in the late 17th century. He attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements. "It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!". Edinburgh has been popularly called

8610-532: The south, the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, built high on Castle Rock, and the long sweep of the Old Town descending towards Holyrood Palace. To the north lie Princes Street and the New Town. The West End includes the financial district, with insurance and banking offices as well as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Edinburgh's Old and New Towns were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of

8715-536: The south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar , a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms , can affect

8820-548: The southern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city centre is 2 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi (4.0 km) southwest of the shoreline of Leith and 26 mi (42 km) inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar . While the early burgh grew up near the prominent Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be built on seven hills , namely Calton Hill , Corstorphine Hill , Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill , Blackford Hill , Arthur's Seat and

8925-451: The streets of the New Town: for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street; and for the royal family, George Street , Queen Street , Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons). The consistently geometric layout of the plan for the extension of Edinburgh was the result of a major competition in urban planning staged by the Town Council in 1766. In

9030-524: The term "wyver" first appears in Great Roll in 1312, and is derived from the Old French "wyvre", meaning "serpent". The term "dragon" appears by the following century. Afterwards, four-legged dragons become increasingly popular in heraldry and become distinguished from the two-legged kind during the sixteenth century, at which point the latter kind becomes commonly known as the "wyver" and later "wyvern". Since

9135-479: The then owner of the Grange, sold off a large area of land for development (the area between the present Dick Place and Grange Road). This linked to a new access road to the east (now called Newington Road). Lauder controlled development of the land through a strong feuing plan and developments required his approval. The original feuing plan included curious plot names such as Little Transylvania and Greater Transylvania (both north of Grange Loan). Grange House remained in

9240-740: The thirteenth largest internationally. The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland , the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery . The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe , the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle ,

9345-494: The throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell 's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650. In the 17th century, Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive town walls . As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have been described as forerunners of

9450-484: The two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Great Britain effective from 1 May 1707. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain , which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots, resulting in riots in the city. By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns. Visitors were struck by

9555-467: The unique character of the Old Town with its medieval street layout and the planned Georgian New Town, including the adjoining Dean Village and Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city, a higher proportion relative to area than any other city in the United Kingdom. The castle is perched on top of a rocky crag (the remnant of an extinct volcano) and the Royal Mile runs down

9660-409: The view that a homosexual orientation is both natural and morally neutral was a notable contribution to the late 19th century literature on the subject. Francis H. Underwood was an American editor and writer. He was the founder and first associate editor of The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 while still working as a publisher's assistant. He lived at 35 Mansionhouse Road. William Henry Goold (1815–1897)

9765-551: The west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags , a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the location of the early burgh. The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along a series of drumlin ridges south of the city centre, which were deposited as the glacier receded. Other prominent landforms such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of glacial erosion. The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are

9870-486: Was a 19th-century Scottish theologian and Greek scholar. He lived at 13 South Mansionhouse Road. John Duns (minister) FRSE (1820–1909) was Professor of Natural Science at New College, Edinburgh. He was a prolific author on both scientific and religious topics. He lived at 4 North Mansionhouse Road. Thomas Smith (missionary) (1817–1906) was a Scottish missionary and mathematician who was instrumental in establishing India's zenana missions in 1854. He served as Moderator of

9975-578: Was a Scottish architect who designed Edinburgh's Central Library and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children . From approximately 1896 to 1914, he lived in a house in Blackford Road that he designed for himself and his family. Dame Elizabeth Blackadder (1931–2021), artist and printmaker, lived in Fountainhall Road with her husband John Houston from the 1950s until her death in 2021. The Grange

10080-610: Was a Scottish minister of both the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church 1877–78. He lived at 28 Mansionhouse Road. David Patrick (writer) FRSE LLD (1849–1914) was a Scottish writer and editor. He edited Chambers's Encyclopaedia from 1888 to 1892,[1] Chambers's Biographical Dictionary in 1897 and Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature with F. H. Groome from 1901 to 1903. He lived at 20 Mansionhouse Road. George Smeaton (1814–1889)

10185-510: Was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the City of Edinburgh. Even today the parliamentary seat is known as "Edinburgh North and Leith". The loss of traditional industries and commerce (the last shipyard closed in 1983) resulted in economic decline. The Edinburgh Waterfront development has transformed old dockland areas from Leith to Granton into residential areas with shopping and leisure facilities and helped rejuvenate

10290-464: Was affected by the 2022 Scotland bin strikes . In 2023, Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global Plant Based Treaty , which was introduced at COP26 in 2021 in Glasgow. Green Party councillor Steve Burgess introduced the treaty. The Scottish Countryside Alliance and other farming groups called the treaty "anti-farming". Situated in Scotland's Central Belt , Edinburgh lies on

10395-635: Was also a principal filming location during the production of the BBC Three comedy drama Pramface which starred Scarlett Alice Johnson and Sean Michael Verey in the lead roles. The Grange features extensively in the showpiece but is appropriated in order to pose as an upmarket North London suburb due to its appearance similarities for the sake of plot integration. Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] )

10500-588: Was built mainly between 1830 and 1890, and the area represented the idealisation of country living within an urban setting. The suburb includes streets which are renowned for their pricey properties, and it is home to some of Scotland's richest people, top lawyers and businessmen. Whitehouse Terrace, in the Grange area of the Capital, was named as the priciest postcode in Zoopla's 'Rich List for 2021'. The architectural form and green environment of The Grange are attributable to

10605-512: Was in contrast with the communal living of the more central areas. Each house has its individual fashionable style of the Victorian times. The outstanding quality of many of the villas is due to the insistence of the Dick Lauder family, who commissioned the houses, on high architectural standards. There are mentions of 'Sanct-Geill-Grange' in charters of King David and King Edgar , as church lands attached to St. Giles parish church in Edinburgh,

10710-698: Was original entitled the Southern Edinburgh Cemetery. It includes a very interesting "Egyptian portal" to the land of the dead for the wife of a William Stuart (died 1868) on the north wall, by the sculptor Robert Thomson. Sculptures by William Birnie Rhind (Dr. James Cappie) and Henry Snell Gamley (David Menzies) can also be found. There are also multiple ornate Celtic crosses, mainly by Stewart McGlashan . The graves of Isabella Russell and Margaret McNicoll were designed by Robert Lorimer in 1904. Other notable graves include: There are war graves of 40 Commonwealth service personnel of both World Wars and

10815-593: Was predominantly developed around 1830, when the growing middle class of merchants and professionals in Edinburgh were looking for secluded location where to raise their families. The Grange had the advantages of physical separation from the overcrowded medieval city and offered individual dwellings in a predominantly suburban setting in contrast to the tenements of the Georgian New Town . Houses were built with their own private gardens surrounded by high stone walls; this

10920-557: Was the home of Muriel Spark 's Miss Jean Brodie, and Ian Rankin 's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont and works in St Leonards. Leith was historically the port of Edinburgh, an arrangement of unknown date that was confirmed by the royal charter Robert the Bruce granted to the city in 1329. The port developed a separate identity from Edinburgh, which to some extent it still retains, and it

11025-576: Was to be George Street , running along the natural ridge to the north of what became known as the "Old Town". To either side of it are two other main streets: Princes Street and Queen Street. Princes Street has become Edinburgh's main shopping street and now has few of its Georgian buildings in their original state. The three main streets are connected by a series of streets running perpendicular to them. The east and west ends of George Street are terminated by St Andrew Square and Charlotte Square respectively. The latter, designed by Robert Adam , influenced

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