Head of the Lawnmarket and Bow

Category

Library Item

Item no

623

Title

Head of the Lawnmarket and Bow

Description

A busy street scene. A horse and cart are in the foreground. The horse has a bridle and blinkers. Children play beside the cart and a dog sits beside them. A person with a hat stands on stairs, they are leaning on metal railings. A woman is walking up the steps. There are other carts in the background. There is a hill on one side. A horse and cart climb up the hill. There is a well on the hill and people are collecting water. A woman from one of the houses on the hill is hanging out washing from the window. On the street corner is a shop with a sign sayiny " J Bell Wigmaker and Hairdresser". A tall spire from a church rises in the background. There are many chimneys with smoke coming out of them.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1822

Size

22 x 27 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Lawnmarket is the section of Edinburgh's Royal Mile running from its' junction with Johnston Terrace to where it meets George IV Bridge. Regular markets were held in this area until the late eighteenth century.

Edinburgh's West Bow was zig-zagging street which led from the Grassmarket to the Lawnmarket. Its upper half was destroyed by the construction of Victoria Street and Terrace. Originally the street was filled with a quirky assortment of 17th-century tenements, with crow- stepped gables, flight-holes for doves, towers and merchants shops.

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Related subjects

Business > Service industry > Shops

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Cathedrals

Religion > Religious facilities > Protestant churches

Transport > Land > Horse and carts

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