Misplaced Pages

#65934

118-482: Holyrood Park (also called the King's Park or Queen's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh , Scotland about 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) to the east of Edinburgh Castle . It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, lochs , glens , ridges , basalt cliffs, and patches of gorse , providing a wild piece of highland landscape within its 650-acre (260 ha) area. The park

236-469: 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

354-461: 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

472-485: A sky walkway , reopening the path at users' risk, installing shelters or wire mesh, or permanent closure. Hugo Arnot suggested in the 18th century that the name Salisbury Crags derives from the first Earl of Salisbury , who accompanied Edward III of England on one of his invasions of Scotland. James Grant's view of this in 1880 is that it was "an idle story", and quoted Lord Hailes' derivation from Anglo-Saxon meaning "waste or dry habitation". The modern Gaelic name of

590-546: A Property in Care. HES receives no direct funding for the upkeep of the park roads. HES has the authority to close most roads to motor vehicles when required or requested. HES may open or close roads at any time in the interest of safety or maintenance, or to facilitate organised events. All roads in the park are closed to vehicles every Saturday and Sunday, with varying summer and winter hours and access to Broad Pavement, Duddingston, and Meadowbank car parks maintained. The road network

708-527: 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

826-441: A lower point. The chapel was originally rectangular in shape, around 43 by 18 feet (13.1 by 5.5 m), with 3-foot-thick (0.9 m) walls, and was built with local stone. The tower would have stood just over 39 ft (11.9 m) high, and probably had a spiral stair inside. The chapel is depicted on Richard Lee 's sketch plan of Edinburgh at the time of Lord Hertford's raid on Edinburgh in 1544. The chapel deteriorated over

944-523: 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

1062-750: 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

1180-502: A series of 46-metre (151 ft) cliffs at the top of a subsidiary spur of Arthur's Seat which rise on the west of Holyrood Park. Below the foot of the cliffs is a large and steep talus slope falling to the floor of Holyrood Park, with a track running in the space between the two. This track was given the name Radical Road after it was paved in the aftermath of the Radical War of 1820 to provide jobs for unemployed radical weavers from

1298-612: 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

SECTION 10

#1732851081066

1416-576: 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

1534-676: A single volcanic center. The Palisades Sill which makes up the New Jersey Palisades on the Hudson River , near New York City , New York, United States, is an example of a diabase sill. The dike complexes of the British Tertiary Volcanic Province includes Skye, Rum, Mull, and Arran of western Scotland , the Slieve Gullion region of Ireland , and dolerite dike swarms extending across northern England towards

1652-505: A substantial palace. James IV had the first buildings constructed around 1500, although the bulk of the present building dates from the late 17th century, when it was remodelled in the neo-classical style by Sir William Bruce . It remains as the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Both Mary, Queen of Scots , and her father James V kept sheep in some areas of the park, looked after by John Huntar . In May 1562 Dunsapie Loch

1770-664: A third in 1905. Up until 1844, no metalled road existed around the Park. The road network in the park today is a product of Prince Albert 's reforms in 1844, which added the circular Victoria Road, later called The Queen's Drive . The roads in Holyrood Park are not part of the City of Edinburgh road network. Holyrood Park, is under the ownership and care of the Scottish Ministers and managed through Historic Environment Scotland (HES) as

1888-637: 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 ,

2006-439: 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

2124-555: 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

2242-507: Is also closed for many events and holidays during the year: Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years Day, Edinburgh Marathon, marches etc. To help close the roads, there are gates at the five motor vehicle entrances: Dukes Walk (north east), Holyrood Gait (north west), Horse Wynd (north west), Holyrood Park Road (south west) and Old Church Lane (south east). During the COVID-19 lockdowns , the High Road

2360-553: Is associated with the Palace of Holyroodhouse and was formerly a royal hunting estate. The park was created in 1541 when James V had the ground "circulit about Arthurs Sett, Salisborie and Duddingston craggis" enclosed by a stone wall. Arthur's Seat , an extinct volcano and the highest point in Edinburgh, is at the centre of the park, with the cliffs of Salisbury Crags to the west. There are three lochs: St Margaret's Loch, Dunsapie Loch, and Duddingston Loch . The ruins of St Anthony's Chapel stand above St Margaret's Loch. Queen's Drive

2478-521: 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 ). Dolerite Diabase is the preferred name in North America, while dolerite

SECTION 20

#1732851081066

2596-426: 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

2714-477: 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 ,

2832-556: Is only in the South Quarry that climbing is still permitted at this time. The south quarry contains the Black Wall, a well-known bouldering testpiece in the Edinburgh climbing scene. The best known route to climb the Crags is at "Cat Nick" or "Cat's Nick", a cleft in the rocks near the highest point of the Crags. This is named on maps, sometimes leading people to believe that the highest point of

2950-594: Is recorded that the Pope gave money for its repair. The chapel may have been linked to the Preceptory of St. Anthony, a skin hospice , which was based in Leith around this time. It may have been linked to the nearby Holyrood Abbey . James Grant says that the tradition was that the chapel was set up to protect a nearby holy spring (St Anthony's Well). This apparently dried up completely in 1674 but after some decades it rematerialised at

3068-467: Is said to have spooked multiple horses, upon which the various officers were mounted, and there was temporary confusion. The parade officially ended at 6pm but the crowds did not fully disperse until sunset. Official thanks were conveyed to the regiments by Adjutant General James Yorke Scarlett . A second major review took place in August 1881 with 44,000 parading under command of Gen Alastair Macdonald and

3186-527: Is termed diabasic and is typical of diabases. This diabasic texture is also termed interstitial . The feldspar is high in anorthite (as opposed to albite ), the calcium endmember of the plagioclase anorthite-albite solid solution series, most commonly labradorite . Diabase is usually found in smaller, relatively shallow intrusive bodies such as dikes and sills . Diabase dikes occur in regions of crustal extension and often occur in dike swarms of hundreds of individual dikes or sills radiating from

3304-570: 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

3422-479: Is the main route through the Park. St Margaret's Well and St Anthony's Well are both natural springs within the park. Holyrood Park is located to the south-east of the Old Town , at the edge of the city centre. Abbeyhill is to the north, and Duddingston village to the east. The University of Edinburgh 's Pollock Halls of Residence are to the south-west, and Dumbiedykes is to the west. The whole of Holyrood Park

3540-559: Is the preferred name in the rest of the English-speaking world, where sometimes the name diabase refers to altered dolerites and basalts. Some geologists prefer to avoid confusion by using the name microgabbro . The name diabase comes from the French diabase , and ultimately from the Greek διάβασις (meaning "act of crossing over, transition") whereas the name dolerite comes from

3658-440: 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

Holyrood Park - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-625: 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

3894-638: 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

4012-593: The Karoo dolerites of South Africa , the Ferrar Dolerites of Antarctica , and the largest of these, the most extensive of all dolerite formations worldwide, are found in Tasmania . Here, the volume of magma which intruded into a thin veneer of Permian and Triassic rocks from multiple feeder sites, over a period of perhaps a million years, may have exceeded 40,000 cubic kilometres. In Tasmania, dolerite dominates much of

4130-677: The Northern Territory , forming curved ridges of Oenpelli Dolerite stretching over 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi). Further west, on the northern coast of Arnhem Land, a "subsurface radial dyke swarm" known as Galiwinku Dolerite, taking its name from the Aboriginal name for Elcho Island, occurs on the Gove Peninsula and continues under the Arafura Sea and on Wessel Islands , including Elcho and Milingimbi Islands . In

4248-770: 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

4366-657: 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

4484-664: 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

4602-722: 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,

4720-774: The Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia , a Proterozoic 200-kilometre (120 mi) long dolerite dike, the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt is associated with the non-alluvial gold mining area between Norseman and Kalgoorlie , which includes the largest gold mine in Australia, the Super Pit gold mine . West of the Norseman–Wiluna Belt is the Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt , where complex dolerite dike swarms obscure

4838-495: 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

Holyrood Park - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-454: The "saluting dais " at the front of the grandstand. The Ross-shire Buffs provided the pipers for the ceremony. The soldiers then marched by the dais, saluting in waves as they were opposite the Queen. This took almost two hours. After readopting their original positions a unified general salute was made, followed by three cheers for the Queen. With the crowd then joining the cheer, the huge volume

5074-494: 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

5192-460: 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

5310-520: 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

5428-411: 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

5546-524: The Church, and its design is a miniature copy of St. Triduana's Aisle there. In 1860 it was removed from its first site, which was then encroached upon by a railway depot, and was reconstructed in its present position near a natural spring. " The most dramatic event in the park's history took place on 7 August 1860 when an immense assembly was made of the several Scottish volunteer regiments to appear before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The huge number of soldiers were billeted in schools, warehouses etc over

5664-707: 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

5782-605: 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

5900-566: The French dolérite , from the Greek doleros (“deceitful, deceptive”), because it was easily confused with diorite . Diabase normally has a fine but visible texture of euhedral lath -shaped plagioclase crystals (62%) set in a finer matrix of clinopyroxene , typically augite (20–29%), with minor olivine (3% up to 12% in olivine diabase), magnetite (2%), and ilmenite (2%). Accessory and alteration minerals include hornblende , biotite , apatite , pyrrhotite , chalcopyrite , serpentine , chlorite , and calcite . The texture

6018-652: 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

SECTION 50

#1732851081066

6136-475: The Low Road between Holyrood Park Road ( Commonwealth Pool ) and Old Church Lane (Duddingston Village). In 2011, Historic Scotland started a campaign to reduce traffic passing through Holyrood Park. Martin Gray, Historic Scotland's Royal Parks Visitor Services Manager, noted increasing motor traffic in the park: "Holyrood Park is a unique green space in the heart of the city. The Park's location makes it very accessible and popular to visitors, but developments around

6254-526: The Midlands, for example Rowley Rag . Parts of the Deccan Traps of India, formed at the end of the Cretaceous , also include dolerite. It is also abundant in large parts of Curaçao , an island off the coast of Venezuela . Another example of diabase dikes has been recognized in the Mongo area within the Guéra Massif of Chad in Central Africa. In the Death Valley region of California, Precambrian diabase intrusions metamorphosed pre-existing dolomite into economically important talc deposits. In

6372-424: 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

6490-522: The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles , Greyfriars and the Canongate , and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. Edinburgh

6608-438: The Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office." Despite being burnt by

6726-482: The Thuringian-Franconian-Vogtland Slate Mountains of central Germany the diabase is entirely of Devonian age. They form typical domed landscapes, especially in the Vogtland . One geotourist attraction is the Steinerne Rose near Saalburg , a natural monument, whose present shape is due to the typical weathering of lava pillows. A geological event known as the Oenpelli Dolerite intrusive event occurred about 1,720 million years ago in western Arnhem Land , in

6844-438: The United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park , a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration. In 1998,

6962-430: The adjectival forms Edinburgensis and Edinensis are used in educational and scientific contexts. Edina is a late 18th-century poetical form used by the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns . "Embra" or "Embro" are colloquialisms from the same time, as in Robert Garioch 's Embro to the Ploy . Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of

7080-405: The architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century. Bute House , the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland , is on the north side of Charlotte Square. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch , which was created for the town's defence but came to be used by the inhabitants for dumping their sewage . It was drained by the 1820s as part of

7198-483: 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

SECTION 60

#1732851081066

7316-406: The base of the Marine Corps War Memorial is made of black diabase "granite" (a commercial term, not actual granite). Diabase can also be cut for use as ornamental stone for countertops, facing stone on buildings, and paving. A form of dolerite, known as bluestone , is one of the materials used in the construction of Stonehenge . Diabase also serves as local building stone. In Tasmania, where it

7434-486: 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

7552-423: 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,

7670-448: The city to a height of 251 metres (823 ft), provides excellent views, is quite easy to climb, and is a popular walk. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch, a small artificial loch located between Dunsapie Hill and Arthur's Seat and which is a popular location within the park, supporting several bird species. Salisbury Crags are

7788-423: 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

7906-473: 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

8024-419: The cliffs due to hazards to park visitors from loose and falling rocks. Climbers are now restricted to a designated area of the South Quarry, and need to apply for a permit, free of charge, at the education centre in the north of the park in order to be allowed to climb. There is still some activity, though most of it is bouldering rather than free climbing . The finest areas are in the two quarries, although it

8142-416: The cliffs is Creagan Salisbury, a direct translation of the English; however in 1128, the cliffs were described in a charter under an older Gaelic name, Creag nam Marbh (the Crag of the Dead). The cliffs are formed from steep dolerite and columnar basalt and have a long history of rock climbing on their faces starting from the earliest days of the sport. Harold Raeburn was brought up nearby, and became

8260-408: The crag is so named. Samson's Ribs are a formation of columnar basalt . St Margaret's Loch is a shallow man-made lochan to the south of Queen's Drive. It is around 500 m east of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and about 100 m north of the ruin of St Anthony's Chapel. Once a boggy marshland , the loch was formed in 1856 as part of Prince Albert 's improvement plans for the area surrounding

8378-415: 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

8496-567: 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

8614-443: The eastern (Meadowbank) end of Holyrood Park. It commemorates an event on 17 October 1720 when Nicol Muschat , an unemployed surgeon, cut his wife's throat at this spot. He was tried and hanged on 6 January 1721 for this crime. At his trial he said that he had simply tired of her. The present cairn consists of boulders cemented together and was erected in 1823 replacing an earlier cairn which had been removed c.1789. This earlier cairn

8732-475: The eastern slopes of Arthur's Seat. The ruined Augustinian Abbey of Holyrood was established in 1128, at the order of King David I of Scotland , within his royal deer-hunting park. The Abbey was in use until the 16th century. It was briefly used as a Chapel Royal by James VII , but was finally ruined in the mid-18th century. The Palace of Holyroodhouse began as a lodging within the Abbey, but eventually grew into

8850-434: 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

8968-472: 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

9086-598: 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

9204-625: The landscape, particularly alpine areas, with many examples of columnar jointing . Early Jurassic activity resulted in the formation of dolerite intrusion in Prospect in Sydney , and quarrying of basalt for roadstone and other building materials has been an important activity there for over 180 years. Diabase is crushed and used as a construction aggregate for road beds, buildings, railroad beds (rail ballast), and within dams and levees. Diabase can be cut for use as headstones and memorials;

9322-544: The leading climber of the Scottish Mountaineering Club not long after he joined it in 1896. By 1900 a number of traditional climbing and sport climbing routes had been recorded by Raeburn and W. Inglis Clark. In recent years the park rangers (previously under the auspices of the Royal Estate and now Historic Environment Scotland , who had taken over management of the park) attempted to regulate access to

9440-478: 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

9558-606: 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

9676-533: 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

9794-524: 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

9912-439: The north edge of the road. Beyond the lower slopes of Arthur's Seat created a natural amphitheatre from which the non-ticketed observers could gather. These were numbered as 100 to 300,000 which was considerably more than the total population of Edinburgh, but as many volunteers brought their families from up north, is not impossible. Starting at 3pm Queen Victoria first drove by the 21,000 volunteers in an open carriage then sat on

10030-468: 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

10148-457: The outlaw, George Robertson, at this spot. The site of the so-called Jeanie Deans Cottage can also be seen in Holyrood Park at the south end of St. Leonards Bank. The medieval well house of St Margaret's Well which was originally at Meadowbank , Restalrig was relocated just north of Salisbury Crags in 1860. A plaque above the well informs: " This unique Well House dates from the late 15th Century. It originally stood at Restalrig, close to

10266-494: The palace. The loch has been used as a boating pond but is now home to a strong population of ducks , geese , and swans . Other geographical features include the Haggis Knowe, Whinny Hill and Hunter's Bog, which drains into St Margaret's Loch. There are traces of four prehistoric hill forts within the park, at Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, Samson's Ribs and Dunsapie Hill. The remains of cultivation terraces can be seen on

10384-408: The park have resulted in increasing levels of through-traffic, commercial vehicle misuse and speeding. Large and heavy vehicles cause accelerated wearing of roads surfaces and damage kerbs and traffic islands. They also pose a risk to park users and wildlife who enjoy the use of the Park." There is a cycle path on the south side of Queen's Drive from St Margaret's Loch to Broad Pavement car park, but

10502-552: The path is shared between pedestrians and cyclists between Broad Pavement car park and the roundabout by the Royal Commonwealth Pool entrance to the park. 55°56′54.14″N 3°9′31.88″W  /  55.9483722°N 3.1588556°W  / 55.9483722; -3.1588556 Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] )

10620-555: 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

10738-466: The preceding days. These included the larger part of 250 regiments such as the Breadalbane Highlanders led by the aged John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane and Easdale Volunteers. All were under the overall command of Lt Gen George Wetherall . The "Artists Company" included William McTaggart , John Pettie and Samuel Bough . The fashion at the time was for ornamental arches along

10856-512: 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

10974-413: 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

11092-493: The route to be taken by the monarch, plus other temporary decorations. These were designed by a committee including David Octavius Hill , Joseph Noel Paton and W. B. Johnstone (Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery). Structures included a timber grandstand on the flat ground on the north edge of the park, capable of holding 3000 persons. The volunteers stood in groups on three sides of the grandstand, mainly along

11210-403: 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

11328-431: 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

11446-427: 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

11564-532: 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

11682-536: 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

11800-548: 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

11918-451: 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

12036-740: 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 ,

12154-494: 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

12272-533: 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

12390-467: 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

12508-656: The volcaniclastic sediments. Large dolerite sills such as the Golden Mile Dolerite can exhibit coarse-grained texture, and show a large diversity in petrography and geochemistry across the width of the sill. The vast areas of mafic volcanism/ plutonism associated with the Jurassic breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent in the Southern Hemisphere include many large diabase/dolerite sills and dike swarms. These include

12626-551: 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

12744-535: The west of Scotland, at the suggestion of Walter Scott . Creation of the Radical Road gave easy access to the upper rockface, and infamously the official Keeper of the Royal Park, Charles Hamilton, 8th Earl of Haddington , abused his position to start quarrying the rock face around 1821, causing damage that is still visible. The track was closed in 2018 after a large rock fall. A report suggested various possibilities:

12862-484: The written permission of the Scottish Ministers to use Holyrood Park. Coach drivers must obtain a permit which is valid for 12 calendar months. Coach Permits are only valid while coaches are carrying passengers. Empty coaches travelling through the Park are classed as commercial vehicles and liable to a fixed penalty notice. Permits only allow coaches access to The Queen's Drive and High Road and do not allow access to

12980-452: The years and in 1779, Hugo Arnot in his The History of Edinburgh described it as "a beautiful Gothick building, well suited to the rugged sublimity of the rock ... At its west end there was a tower .. about forty feet high." The chapel is now a ruin: only the north wall and a fragment of the west wall remain next to part of an ancillary building. This cairn is situated by the Duke's Walk at

13098-463: Was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the City of Edinburgh. Even today the parliamentary seat is known as "Edinburgh North and Leith". The loss of traditional industries and commerce (the last shipyard closed in 1983) resulted in economic decline. The Edinburgh Waterfront development has transformed old dockland areas from Leith to Granton into residential areas with shopping and leisure facilities and helped rejuvenate

13216-464: 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

13334-710: Was closed to motor vehicles at all times. This was at first due to the annual toad migration in March and early April, but HES continued the road closure after the toad migration ended. The High Road is now closed to motor vehicles except daytime on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and for the annual toad migration. As a Royal Park, Holyrood Park is protected under the framework of The Parks Regulations Acts, 1872 to 1974, The Holyrood Park Regulations 1971 and subsequent amendments. The Holyrood Park Regulations 1971 prohibit: The Holyrood Park Amendment Regulations 2005 instituted parking charges at Broad Pavement car park. Coaches require

13452-406: Was formed over several years by the tradition of laying stones on the cairn "in token of the people's abhorrence and reprobation of the deed". It was situated some way to the west of the present cairn with Sir Walter Scott placing it about a furlong to the east of St. Anthony's Chapel. Scott mentions the cairn several times in the novel, The Heart of Midlothian , by siting Jeanie Dean's tryst with

13570-413: Was made a Scheduled Monument in 2013. It is owned, apart from the roadways which are retained by the Crown, by Scottish Ministers the whole being managed by Historic Environment Scotland . Various archaeological survey has taken place across the site, though findings are not yet fully understood. Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park. The hill rises above

13688-557: 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

13806-405: Was the setting for an entertainment at the wedding of John, Lord Fleming , and Elizabeth Ross, which involved a theatrical recreation of the siege of Leith . Mary had a place made for picnic suppers in the park. Sheep continued to be kept inside Holyrood park until 1975. The origin and history of the chapel are obscure, but it was certainly built no later than the early 15th century, as in 1426 it

13924-576: 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

#65934