Edinburgh Castle

Category

Library Item

Item no

10800

Title

View of Edinburgh Castle, Waverley Station, with Old Calton Burial Ground in foreground

Description

The view over Edinburgh takes in several city landmarks, these include Edinburgh Castle, Waverley Station, the National Gallery of Scotland, Old Calton Burial Ground with the obelisk in view and part of Princes Street Gardens. There are also roof gardens on some of the buildings.

Artist / maker

MacLean, Kevin

Date

2007

Size

25.4 x 19 cm

Type

Digital image

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Edinburgh Castle is perhaps the city's most famous landmark. It stands on top of the remaining core of an extinct volcano. Excavations suggest the site was inhabited by Bronze Age man as early as 900 BC, and was fortified by Iron Age man roughly 2000 years ago. The oldest part of the present day Castle is St Margaret's Chapel, built in the early 12th century. The Castle holds the Honours of Scotland and more recently has welcomed back the Stone of Scone otherwise known as the Stone of Destiny.

The original North Bridge was completed in 1772 to provide access from Edinburgh's Old Town to the planned New Town development in the north of the city. It was widened in the 1870's to accommodate increased traffic, and was finally rebuilt between 1894-7 alongside the development at Waverley. Mid way along the bridge there is a memorial to men of the King's Own Scottish Borderers killed in the Boer War. Its even gradient was designed to make it suitable for tramcars.

The main part of the Old Calton Burial Ground stands immediately to south of Waterloo Place. The cemetery was bisected by the construction of that road in 1820, and the bodies disturbed by the work were moved to a new site a little way to the east. The Old Calton Burial Ground has several notable structures within it. The Emancipation Monument stands in memory of those Scottish-American soldiers fought for the Union during the American Civil War. There is also a monument to the celebrated philosopher David Hume. A large obelisk stands as a monument to those radical reformers, including Thomas Muir, who were tried, convicted and deported for sedition in 1793. In the wake of the French and American Revolutions Muir and his associates had been active in a widespread movement for political and social reform in Britain. The movement attracted alarm and extreme sanction from both the political establishment and conservative elements in society.

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Related subjects

Architecture > Monuments > Obelisks

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

Landscape > Landscape architectural facilities > Gardens

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Graveyards

Transport > Infrastructure > Railway stations

Option	Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG	£7.32(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF	£37.20(inc. VAT 20%)
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