Cowgate, looking east

Category

Library Item

Item no

18731

Title

Cowgate, looking east

Description

The street below the tall tenements of the Cowgate in Edinburgh is busy. Two white horses pull a cart laden with goods. A woman walks along the street carrying a large basket on her back. Barrels and ladders are pilled up outside one of the buildings.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Radclyffe, W

Date

1829

Size

9.7 x 14.3 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.

The Cowgate runs from its junction with St Mary's Street (formerly St Mary's Wynd) and the Pleasance to the Grassmarket. Cattle were driven along this route when entering Edinburgh from grazing land outside the city. The Cowgate Port was a gateway through the Flodden Wall situated at the street's east end.

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Related subjects

Animals > Mammals > Horses

Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Business > Service industry > Shops

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Horse and carriages

Transport > Land > Horse and carts

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