Grassmarket from the Foot of the Bow

Category

Library Item

Item no

773

Title

Grassmarket from the foot of the Bow, showing Heriot's Hospital

Description

The buildings on the south side of the Grassmarket, Edinburgh are shown from the foot of West Bow. Horses and carts gather round the Bowfoot Well while people walk or ride across the square. To the right are the gallows and in the background is Heriot's Hospital.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1817

Size

21 x 18 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The Grassmarket is a central area situated below Edinburgh Castle. A weekly market was held there from 1477 until 1911. The area continues to be a popular area for socialising. The Grassmarket was also the site of many public executions.

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.

George Heriot was a famous and wealthy Edinburgh Goldsmith and moneylender. When he died in 1624 he left a considerable sum of money to establish a school for the poor and parentless in Edinburgh. Construction of George Heriot's Hospital began in 1628 but was not finished until 1650. It was almost immediately appropriated by Cromwell for use as a military hospital. It resumed its role as a school and home for orphans in 1659. It later came to be known as George Heriot's School, and now operates as an independent mixed school.

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Related subjects

Education > Educational facilities > Schools

Healthcare and welfare > Healthcare and welfare facilities > Hospitals

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Horse and carts

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