Part of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Continued

Category

Library Item

Item no

18642

Title

Part of the old town, Edinburgh, continued

Description

The Old Town area of Edinburgh with St Giles Cathedral visible over the tops of tenement buildings. Horse-drawn carts and people travel along a road beside a valley in the ground. Some of the prominent buildings featured are the back of the Royal Exchange, a building used by the Sessional School and the Bank of Scotland.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Lacy, S

Date

1829

Size

9.9 x 16.9 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

This is a view of the Old Town from Princes Street. 'Old Town' is the general name given to the original mediaeval centre of Edinburgh. It consists principally of the Royal Mile and the streets and closes leading from it, including those previously part of the separate burgh of Canongate. It also includes the Cowgate and the Grassmarket. The restricted size of the Old Town necessitated the construction of multi-storey 'lands' from the 1500's onwards, many of which still exist today. Eventually chronic overcrowding led to expansion of the city northwards past the Nor' Loch and southwards beyond the Flodden Wall. The Old Town area has now been classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In Shepherd's accompanying description he is critical of the way of living in the Old Town writing that 'in one of "the stacks of houses" here represented, there are no less than 10 stories, or flats; and it is a fact that many of these flats are inhabited by distinct families, whilst one flight of stairs communicates to the whole&it is not surprising that cleanliness is neglected, and that many slovenly and even fifthly habits have ensured.'

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Arches

Architecture > Architectural features > Spires

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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