Old Photographs Of Princes Street Gardens Edinburgh Scotland

Tour Scotland wee video of old photographs of Princes Street Gardens, two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. 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. West Princes Street Gardens were originally the private property of " the Princes Street Proprietors " who overlooked them from their houses on the western half of the street. This was passed to them from the council in 1816. Dogs, cricket, perambulators and smoking were prohibited under their rules, and people using bath chairs had to present a doctor's certificate to the Committee of the garden attesting to their ailment not being contagious. An application by the Scottish Association for Suppressing Drunkenness that the gardens be opened during Christmas and New Year " with the object of keeping parties out of the whisky shops i.e. illegal drinking premises " led eventually to them being opened to the general public on Christmas Day, New Year's Day and one other day in the year.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.