Library Item

473

View of Edinburgh from Salisbury Crags

A view of Edinburgh from Salisbury Crags showing the Old Town and Canongate burghs of Edinburgh and the Royal Mile which links Edinburgh Castle to Holyroodhouse Palace. In the distance are the hills of Fife and the River Forth.

1828

32.8 x 52.4 cm

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Salisbury crags were formed by a combination of volcanic activity and glacial erosion. James Hutton's studies of the Crags formed an important part of his 1788 work 'Theory of the Earth', the book that earned him his reputation as the founder of modern geology.

View a map of Salisbury Crags

The city of Edinburgh is built around seven hills, mostly volcanic in origin. It is bordered to its north by the Firth of Forth, and to its south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh has been Scotland's capital since the mid fifteenth century, but evidence of human habitation on the site stretches back some 7000 years. The central city is made up of the Old Town area immediately surrounding the Castle and the Royal Mile, and the New Town to the north, an important example of eighteenth and nineteenth century neoclassical town planning. These central areas were designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Other more modern developments, from the nineteenth century to the present, radiate from this central area incorporating many older villages. Edinburgh attracts more tourists than any other city in the UK except London, especially during the annual festivals in August.