Edinburgh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation).
City of Edinburgh
Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann
Scots: Edinburgh
— Unitary Authority & City —
City of Edinburgh
View over Edinburgh in September 1979, showing Edinburgh Castle in the background
Coat of arms
Logo of the Council
Nickname(s): "Auld Reekie", "Athens of the North"
Motto: "Nisi Dominus Frustra" "Except the Lord in vain" associated with Edinburgh since 1647, it is a normal heraldic contraction of a verse from the 127th Psalm, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain"
City of Edinburgh
Location in Scotland
Coordinates: 55°56′58″N 3°9′37″WCoordinates: 55°56′58″N 3°9′37″W
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Country Scotland
Council area City of Edinburgh
Lieutenancy area Edinburgh
Admin HQ Edinburgh City Centre
Founded prior to the 7th century
Burgh Charter 1125
City status 1889
Government
- Type Unitary Authority, City
- Governing body The City of Edinburgh Council
- Lord Provost George Grubb
- MSPs
6[show]
- MPs:
5[show]
Area
- Total 100.00 sq mi (259 km2)
Population (2009)
- Total 477,660
- Urban density 4,776/sq mi (1,844/km2)
Time zone Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST) British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Postcode EH
Area code(s) 0131
ISO 3166-2 GB-EDH
ONS code 00QP
OS grid reference NT275735
NUTS 3 UKM25
Website www.edinburgh.gov.uk (Official Council site)
www.edinburgh-inspiringcapital.com (Visitor-facing site)
Edinburgh (i /ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ed-in-burr-ə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30-square-mile (78 km2) rural area.
Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.
Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North.[1] The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city.[2] In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK.[3] In the 2009 mid year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 477,660.[4]
The city is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Other events include the Hogmanay street party, Burns Night and the Beltane Fire Festival. Edinburgh attracts 1 million overseas visitors a year, making it the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London.[5]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Geography
3.1 Areas
3.2 Old Town
3.3 New Town
3.4 Southside
3.5 Leith
3.6 Urban area
4 Demography
5 Economy
6 Culture
6.1 Festivals
6.2 Celebrations
6.3 Museums and libraries
6.4 Literature and philosophy
6.5 Music, theatre and film
6.6 Visual arts
6.7 Nightlife and shopping
7 Climate
8 Sport
8.1 Football
8.2 Rugby union
8.3 Ice hockey
8.4 Other sports
9 Government
10 Transport
11 Education
12 Hospitals
13 Religious communities
13.1 Christianity
13.2 Other faiths
14 Notable residents
15 Twinning arrangements
16 See also
17 Sources
17.1 Notes
17.2 References
18 External links
[edit]Etymology
Further information: Etymology of Edinburgh
Some believe that the name of Edinburgh comes from the Brythonic language.[6] Some propose that the name was Din Eidyn (Fort of Eidyn) from the time when it was a Gododdin hillfort[7][8][9][10] although many believe that the name comes from the Bernician Angles, Edwinesburh or Edin-burh, which derives from the Anglo-Saxon for "Edwin's fort", possibly derived from the 7th century king Edwin of Northumbria, and that the name Din Eidyn in British writings is an anachronism.[11][12][13][14][15][16] The term Din Eidyn first appears in the Y Gododdin, a Welsh poem which appears after the fall of the British stronghold to the Angles. The oldest manuscript of the Y Gododdin, The Book of Aneirin, dates from the mid to late 13th century.[17]
The first evidence of the existence of the town as a separate entity from the fort lies in an early 12th century royal charter, generally thought to date from 1124, by King David I granting land to the Church of the Holy Rood of Edinburgh. This suggests that the town came into official existence between 1018 (when King Malcolm II secured the Lothians from the Northumbrians) and 1124.[18] By the 1170s King William the Lion was using the name "Edenesburch" in a charter (in Latin) confirming the 1124 grant of David I.[19]
[edit]History
Further information: Timeline of Edinburgh history
Humans have settled the Edinburgh area from at least the Bronze Age, leaving traces of primitive stone settlements at Holyrood, Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills for example.[20] Influenced through the Iron Age by Hallstatt and La Tene Celtic cultures from central Europe, by the time the Romans arrived in Lothian at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, they discovered a Celtic, Brythonic tribe whose name they recorded as Votadini, likely to be a Latin version of the name they called themselves.
The Angles of Northumbria had a significant influence over south east Scotland, notably from AD 638 when it appears the Gododdin stronghold was besieged. Though far from exclusive (cf Picts and Scots), this influence continued over three centuries. It was not until c. AD 950 when, during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine II, the city, referred to at this time in the Pictish Chronicle as 'oppidum Eden',[6] fell to the Scots and finally remained under their jurisdiction.[21] During this period of Germanic influence in south east Scotland, when the city's name gained its Germanic suffix, 'burgh', the seeds for the language we know today as Scots were sown.
By the 12th century Edinburgh was well established, founded upon the famous castle rock, the volcanic crag and tail geological feature shaped by 2 million years of glacial activity. Flourishing alongside it to the east, another community developed around the Abbey of Holyrood, known as Canongate. In the 13th century these both became Royal Burghs and through the late medieval period Edinburgh grew quickly. Edinburgh continued to flourish economically and culturally through the Renaissance period and was at the centre of the 16th century Scottish Reformation and the Wars of the Covenant a hundred years later.
Edinburgh Castle in Autumn
In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English and Irish thrones, uniting the Kingdoms in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns. Scotland remained an independent state with the Parliament of Scotland in Edinburgh. King James VI progressed to London establishing his court there from which he reigned over his kingdoms. Despite promising to return every three years, he returned to Edinburgh only once, in 1617.
Disputes between the Presbyterian Covenanters and the Anglican Church in 1639 led to the Bishops' Wars, the initial conflict of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the Third English Civil War Edinburgh was taken by the Commonwealth forces of Oliver Cromwell prior to Charles II's eventual defeat at the Battle of Worcester. In 17th century Edinburgh, a defensive wall, built in the 16th century, largely as protection against English invasion following James IV's defeat at the Battle of Flodden (hence its moniker, the Flodden Wall) still defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 storeys were common and there are records of buildings as high as 14 or even 15 storeys,[22] an early version of the modern-day skyscraper. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the Old Town.
In 1706 and 1707 the Acts of Union were passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland uniting the two Kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London. The union was opposed by many Scots at the time and this led to riots within the city.[23]
Panorama of Edinburgh, seen from the Scott Monument
From early times, and certainly from the 14th century, Edinburgh (like other royal burghs of Scotland) used armorial devices in many ways, including on seals. In 1732, the 'achievement' or 'coat of arms' was formally granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. These arms were used by Edinburgh Town Council until the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in May 1975, when it was succeeded by the City of Edinburgh District Council and a new coat of arms, based on the earlier one, was granted. In 1996, further local government reorganisation resulted in the formation of the City of Edinburgh Council, and again the coat of arms was updated.[24]
During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by Jacobite forces before their march into England.Following their ultimate defeat at the Battle of Culloden, near Inverness, there was a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the Catholic Highlanders. In Edinburgh the Hanoverian monarch attempted to gain favour by supporting new developments to the north of the castle, naming streets in honour of the King and his family; George Street, Frederick Street, Hanover Street and Princes Street, named in honour of George III's two sons.
An 1802 illustration of Edinburgh from the west.
The city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment.[25] Celebrities from across the continent would be seen in the city streets, among them famous Scots such as David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert Adam, David Wilkie, Robert Burns, James Hutton and Adam Smith. Edinburgh became a major cultural centre, earning it the nickname Athens of the North because of the Greco-Roman style of the New Town's architecture, as well as the rise of the Scottish intellectual elite who were increasingly leading both Scottish and European intellectual thought.[26]
Edinburgh today
In the 19th century, Edinburgh, like many cities, industrialised, but did not grow as fast as Scotland's second city, Glasgow, which replaced it as the largest city in the country, benefiting greatly at the height of the British Empire.
The Scotland Act 1998 which came into force in 1999 established a devolved Scottish parliament and Scottish Executive, both based in Edinburgh responsible for governing Scotland, with reserved matters such as defence, taxation and foreign affairs remaining the responsibility of Westminster.
[edit]Geography
Further information: Geography of Edinburgh
Arthur's Seat viewed across southern parts of Edinburgh from Blackford Hill
The view from Arthur's Seat west over the Salisbury Crags and Edinburgh
Bounded by the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills, which skirt the periphery of the city to the south, Edinburgh lies in the eastern portion of the Central Lowlands of Scotland.[27] The city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation.[28] Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting led to the dispersion of tough basalt volcanic plugs, which predominate over much of the area.[28] One such example is Castle Rock which forced the advancing icepack to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a mile-long tail of material to the east, creating a distinctive crag and tail formation.[28] Glacial erosion on the northern side of the crag gouged a large valley resulting in the now drained Nor Loch. This structure, along with a ravine to the south, formed an ideal natural fortress which Edinburgh Castle was built upon.[28] Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano system dating from the Carboniferous period, which was eroded by a glacier moving from west to east during the ice age.[28] Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to the west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east.[29] This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags, which formed a series of teschenite cliffs located between Arthur's Seat and the city centre.[30] The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along a series of drumlin ridges located south of the city centre which were deposited as the glacier receded.[28]
Other viewpoints in the city such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are similar products of glacial erosion.[28] The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are a series of small summits to the south west of the city commanding expansive views over the urban area of Edinburgh and northwards to the Forth.[28]
Edinburgh is drained by the Water of Leith, which finds its source at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 29 kilometres (18 mi) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith.[31] The nearest the river gets to the city centre is at Dean Village on the edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by the Dean Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford and built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry.[31] The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed use trail that follows the river for 19.6 kilometres (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith.[32]
The Water of Leith at Juniper Green
Designated in 1957, Edinburgh is ringed by a green belt stretching from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east.[33] With an average width of 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) the principal objective of the green belt was to contain the outward expansion of Edinburgh and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas.[33] Expansion within the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston are located within the zone.[33] Similarly, urban villages such as Juniper Green and Balerno sit on green belt land.[33] One feature of the green belt in Edinburgh is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated as green belt even though they do not adjoin the main peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill.[33]
[edit]Areas
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country Scotland
Type Cultural
Criteria ii, iv
Reference 728
Region** Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription 1995 (19th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
Main article: Areas of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is divided into areas that generally encompass a park (sometimes known as "links"), a main local street (i.e. street of local retail shops), a high street (the historic main street, not always the same as the main local street, such as in Corstorphine) and residential buildings. In Edinburgh many residences are tenements, although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been more affluent and have a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas.
The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided into two by the broad green swath of Princes Street Gardens. To the south the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, perched atop the extinct volcanic crag, and the long sweep of the Old Town trailing after it along the ridge. To the north lies Princes Street and the New Town. The gardens were begun in 1816 on bogland which had once been the Nor Loch.
To the immediate west of the castle lies the financial district, housing insurance and banking buildings. Probably the most noticeable building here is the circular sandstone building that is the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
No comments:
Post a Comment