Old Photograph East Princes Street Gardens Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of people sitting in East Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland. East Princes Street Gardens originated after a dispute between Edinburgh Corporation and the early New Town proprietors, among whom was the philosopher David Hume who resided in St. David Street, a side street off Princes Street. In 1771 the council acquired the land as part of the First New Town development. It began feuing ground on the south side of Princes Street, on the site of the current Balmoral Hotel and Waverley Mall, for the building of houses and workshops for a coach builder and a furniture maker. After a failed petition to the council the proprietors raised two actions in the Court of Session to halt the building and to condemn the Corporation for having contravened their feuing terms by which they had pre-supposed open ground and a vista south of the street. After the Court found in favour of the council on the first point the decision was quickly appealed to the House of Lords and overturned, but when the Court again supported the council on the second point, the matter was submitted to judicial arbitration. This resulted in a judgement that the houses could be completed which later allowed the North British Hotel, now Balmoral Hotel, to be built on the site, that the adjacent furniture maker's premises must not rise above the level of Princes Street, which is the reason the roof of the Waverley Mall is at street level, and that the ground westwards for half the length of Princes Street " shall be kept and preserved in perpetuity as pleasure-grounds to be dressed up at the expense of the town council as soon as may be. " Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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