View of the Great Fire in the Parliament Square

Category

Library Item

Item no

7297

Title

View of the Great Fire in the Parliament Square

Description

A fire rages through Parliament Square in Edinburgh causing chaos with the crowd caught up in it. Flames and smoke fill the area, the bright colour of the flames being reflected in the glass of a building. Soldiers on horseback are among the crowd, with people trying to salvage what they can.

Artist / maker

Turner de Lond, W.

Engraver

Robertson & Ballentine

Date

1825

Size

23 x 34.2 cm

Type

Lithograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The Great Fire of 1824 broke out in Old Assembly Close. It burnt for four days, destroying two tenements and the Tron Kirk. It killed 11 residents and two firemen from the recently formed Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment. Four hundred people were left homeless.

Parliament Square in Edinburgh is situated immediately to the north of the former Parliament House, now home to the Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session. It was formed along with Parliament House around 1640 on the kirkyard of St Giles. This burial ground, which largely fell out of use in the mid sixteenth century, is the resting place of the prominent religious reformer John Knox. The appearance of the buildings surrounding the square was substantially altered in the 19th century by the addition of frontages designed by Robert Reid.

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Related subjects

Events > Disturbances > Fires

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh areas > Royal Mile

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

(55°56′58″N, 3°11′24″W)

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