1.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
2.
The Meadows (park)
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The Meadows is a large public park in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the south of the city centre. It consists largely of open grassland crossed by tree-lined paths, but also has a childrens playground and it is bordered by the University of Edinburghs George Square campus and the Quartermile development on the site of the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to the north and Marchmont to the south. To the south-west it becomes Bruntsfield Links where there is a free, public pitch, the Meadows originally contained a loch, known as the burgh loch or, later, the South Loch. The loch drained from east to west, where the known as the Loch-rin was sluiced to prevent the water from draining out. It is from this burn that the street names Lochrin Buildings, until Edinburghs first piped water supply from Comiston arrived in 1621, the loch provided much of the towns drinking water. It was partially drained in the century and for a time named Straitons Loch or Straitons Park after the burgess who tried to improve the area. The central tree-lined path known as Middle Meadow Walk followed, and it is the traditional practice ground of the Royal Company of Archers, whose meeting-place is nearby. In 1827 an Act of Parliament protected the Meadows from being built upon, an exception to city council rules against building on the land was allowed for the temporary large glass pavilion of the 1886 International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art. The whales jawbones forming an arch over the Meadows path called Jawbone Walk originally formed the display stand of the Zetland, having been severely affected by weathering, the Arch was removed in 2014 for restoration. In the 1870s the Meadows became an important venue in the development of football in Edinburgh. The Second World War brought more than 500 allotments to the east end of the Meadows as part of the effort to make the nation more self-sufficient in food. By 1950 many local residents wanted the area re-turfed, but it was 1966 before the last signs of cultivation were removed. In the late 1960s, plans to complete a flyover over the Meadows for a road were defeated. The size and prominence of the park has led to many sporting events being hosted in the summer. Every March, nearly 1,000 runners take part in the annual Meadows Marathon, a charity half marathon and five-kilometre fun run, and, from 2013, between 1975 and 2005 the Meadows Festival was held on the first weekend in June, returning from 2008 onwards. The Meadows is one of the host venues for the Edinburgh Festival and it is also the venue for the start and finish of the Edinburgh Moon Walk, an annual event involving 12,000 walkers raising money for breast cancer research and treatment. Circuses also frequently visit the Meadows around June, in 2013, a Giant chess set was placed at the childrens play area on the east side. The Meadows remains noteworthy for its mature elms, though Dutch elm disease has taken a toll over the years
3.
Old Town, Edinburgh
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The Old Town is the name popularly given to the oldest part of Scotlands capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th-century New Town, it part of a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. Narrow closes, often no more than a few feet wide, the area has a number of underground vaults and hidden passages that are relics of previous phases of construction. No part of the street is officially called The Royal Mile in terms of legal addresses, the actual street names are Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand. This crag and tail landform was created during the last ice age when receding glaciers scoured across the land pushing soft soil aside, the hilltop crag was the earliest part of the city to develop, becoming fortified and eventually developing into the current Edinburgh Castle. The rest of the city grew slowly down the tail of land from the Castle Rock and this was an easily defended spot with marshland on the south and a man-made loch, the Nor Loch, on the north. Access up the road to the settlement was therefore restricted by means of various gates. The original strong linear spine of the Royal Mile only had narrow closes and these began to be supplemented from the late 18th century with wide new north–south routes, beginning with the North Bridge/South Bridge route, and then George IV Bridge. The Edinburgh City Improvement Act of 1866 further added to the north south routes and this was devised by the architects David Cousin and John Lessels. It had quite radical effects, St Marys Wynd was demolished and replaced by the much wider St Marys Street with all new buildings, Leith Wynd which descended from the High Street to the Low Calton was demolished. Jeffrey Street started from Leith Wynds junction with the High Street, opposite St Marys Street, east Market Street was built to connect Market Street and New Street. Blackfriars Street was created by the widening of Blackfriars Wynd, removing all the buildings on the east side, Chambers Street was created, replacing N College Street and removing Brown Square and Adam Square. It was named after the then Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chambers, guthrie Street was created, linking the new Chambers Street to the Cowgate. Multi-storey dwellings became the norm from the 16th century onwards, the construction of new streets including North Bridge and South Bridge in the 18th century also created underground spaces, such as the Edinburgh Vaults below the latter. Traditionally buildings were less dense in the eastern, Canongate, section and this area underwent major slum clearance and reconstruction in the 1950s, thereafter becoming an area largely of Council housing. Further Council housing was built on the fringe of the Canongate in the 1960s and 1970s in an area generally called Dumbiedykes. From 1990 to 2010 major new housing schemes appeared throughout the Canongate and these were built to a much higher scale than the traditional buildings and have greatly increased the population of the area
4.
University of Edinburgh
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The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotlands ancient universities. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city of Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh was ranked 17th and 21st in the world by the 2014–15 and 2015-16 QS rankings. It is now ranked 19th in the according to 2016-17 QS Rankings. It is ranked 16th in the world in arts and humanities by the 2015–16 Times Higher Education Ranking and it is ranked the 23rd most employable university in the world by the 2015 Global Employability University Ranking. It is ranked as the 6th best university in Europe by the U. S. News Best Global Universities Ranking and it is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe. It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and it continues to have links to the British Royal Family, having had the Duke of Edinburgh as its Chancellor from 1953 to 2010 and Princess Anne since 2011. Edinburgh receives approximately 50,000 applications every year, making it the fourth most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants, after St Andrews, it is the most difficult university to gain admission into in Scotland, and 9th overall in the UK. This was a move at the time, as most universities were established through Papal bulls. Established as the Tounis College, it opened its doors to students in October 1583, instruction began under the charge of another St Andrews graduate Robert Rollock. It was the fourth Scottish university in a period when the more populous. It was renamed King Jamess College in 1617, by the 18th century, the university was a leading centre of the Scottish Enlightenment. The universitys first custom-built building was the Old College, now Edinburgh Law School and its first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery, from which it expanded into many other subjects. From the basement of a nearby house ran the anatomy tunnel corridor and it went under what was then North College Street, and under the university buildings until it reached the universitys anatomy lecture theatre, delivering bodies for dissection. It was from this tunnel the body of William Burke was taken after he had been hanged, towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming overcrowded and Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design new Medical School premises in 1875. The medical school was more or less built to his design and was completed by the addition of the McEwan Hall in the 1880s. The building now known as New College was originally built as a Free Church college in the 1840s and has been the home of divinity at the university since the 1920s. The two oldest schools – law and divinity – are both well-esteemed, with law being based in Old College and divinity in New College on the Mound and they are also represented by the Edinburgh University Sports Union which was founded in 1866. The medical school is renowned throughout the world and it was widely considered the best medical school in the English-speaking world throughout the 18th century and first half of the 19th century
5.
Dominican Order
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Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally carry the letters O. P. after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, the order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers. The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, in the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows,917 student brothers, and 237 novices. By the year 2013 there were 6,058 Dominican friars, a number of other names have been used to refer to both the order and its members. In England and other countries the Dominican friars are referred to as Black Friars because of the black cappa or cloak they wear over their white habits, Dominicans were Blackfriars, as opposed to Whitefriars or Greyfriars. They are also distinct from the Augustinian Friars who wear a similar habit and their identification as Dominicans gave rise to the pun that they were the Domini canes, or Hounds of the Lord. The Dominican Order came into being in the Middle Ages at a time when religion began to be contemplated in a new way, men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this emerged two orders of mendicant friars, one, the Friars Minor, was led by Francis of Assisi, the other. Dominics new order was to be an order, trained to preach in the vernacular languages. Rather than earning their living on vast farms as the monasteries had done, at the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a mixed spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer and meditation, the brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits affected the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics, in England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart. The orders origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its development and reputation. Many later Dominicans battled heresy as part of their apostolate, indeed, many years after St. Dominic reacted to the Cathars, the first Grand Inquistor of Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, would be drawn from the Dominican Order. As an adolescent, he had a love of theology. During his studies in Palencia, Spain, he experienced a famine, prompting Dominic to sell all of his beloved books. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, he was ordained to the priesthood, at that time the south of France was the stronghold of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, named after the Duke of Albi, a Cathar sympathiser and opponent to the subsequent Albigensian Crusade
6.
Edinburgh University Library
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Edinburgh University Library is one of the most important libraries of Scotland. The University Library was moved in 1827 to William Playfairs Upper Library in the Old College building, the collections in Edinburgh University Old College were moved in 1967 to the purpose-built eight-storey Main Library building at George Square. Today, Edinburghs university-wide library system holds over 3. 8m books, e-books, the University was founded by Royal Charter from King James VI in 1582 and opened in 1583, but the library pre-dated this by three years. The initial collection was a bequest of 276 theological books from Clement Littill, the Special Collections Department has about 200,000 items in all branches of knowledge. There are 1,200 incunabula, about 9,000 printed books from 16th century,35,000 from the 17th and 18th centuries, an important part of this collection is German Reformation tracts. Among the many collections of the library are two which were formerly in the possession of the 19th-century Shakespearian scholar James Halliwell-Phillipps. The first collection was acquired by the library between 1872 and 1889, including a Shakespearian collection, the second collection was acquired in 1964 by purchase from Sothebys. The Main Library is situated on the south west corner of George Square, opened in 1967, the eight storey building was designed by Sir Basil Spence. The horizontal library exterior is designed to look like a bookcase. Upon opening, it was the largest university library in the UK, glasgow Universitys similar,12 storey, brutalist library was opened the following year. The current Librarian to the University of Edinburgh is Gavin McLachlan, the current Director of Library and University Collections is Jeremy Upton. University of Edinburgh Finlayson, Charles P. Clement Littill and his Library, the origins of Edinburgh University Library
7.
Appleton Tower
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Appleton Tower is a tower block in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned by the University of Edinburgh. When the University developed the George Square area in the 1960s a huge swathe of Georgian Edinburgh was demolished, leading to accusations of cultural vandalism and megalomania. The Appleton Tower was intended as the first phase of the proposed interlinked Fundamental Science buildings, in the post-war period, vociferous support for the George Square scheme, and impassioned opposition to it, were so intense as to elevate it to a national debate. Thus, many were glad that some of Appletons vision was not completed, a block containing five lecture theatres clad in conglomerate concrete and pebble-imbedded slabs is attached to its southern side. An associated teaching block for east George Square, and a Mathematics and Physics building for the ‘car park site’ on north Crichton Street, were intended to interlock at this sector. The Tower was left isolated - and without a proper entrance, Appleton Tower was built to allow first-year science students to be taught in the Central Area. It has five theatres, together accommodating around 1,200 students. The upper floors originally housed teaching laboratories, which, with the development of modern facilities at Kings Buildings, had become outdated by the end of the 20th century. The five lecture theatres and teaching space on the ground and first floors were refurbished over the summer of 2006, the Towers external cladding of pre-cast concrete slabs with mosaic detailing has suffered badly from the Scottish weather. Contrary to rumour, however, the structure has been declared sound, the University plans to complete the renovation by recladding the exterior, with a planning application submitted in late 2013 and approved in January 2014. At the same time it plans to rework the podium, create a proper entrance, the geneticist Steve Jones has nominated the ugliness of the Appleton Tower as one of the wonders of the world for a BBC2 TV show. Early in 2005, a student newspaper launched a campaign to nominate it for the Channel 4 series Demolition – a series about the worst buildings in Britain, the Tower did not make the final twelve. Later, in the year, Historic Scotland considered giving the building listed status. The venue is designated as Venue 2 of the Fringe, Edinburgh University CompSoc – Appleton Tower Photo from the BBC blitzandblight. com / Appleton Tower
8.
Old College, University of Edinburgh
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Old College is a building of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on South Bridge, and presently houses parts of the Universitys administration, the University of Edinburgh School of Law, originally called the New College, it was designed by Robert Adam to replace a number of older buildings. In 1789 subscriptions were raised to fund a new university building in Edinburgh to a prepared by Robert Adam. In 1815 further funds were raised, and work recommenced, plans were submitted by nine architects showing their proposals to continue the design work, with the outcome that William Henry Playfair was appointed architect in 1817. Playfairs design clove close to Adams but combined the two courts into a large quadrangle. By 1827 the building was complete with the exception of fitting out the library. This was left out as a cost saving, and the work was completed four years later. The dome was added in 1887, to a design by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, the gilded statue of Youth which crowns the dome is by John Hutchison. The large bronze war memorial at the west end of the quadrangle is by Pilkington Jackson, the quadrangle was never completed at the time the College was originally constructed. However, based on a proposal from architects Simpson & Brown the quadrangle now contains a central grass lawn encircled by a terrace of honey-coloured stone. The new quadrangle is both a venue for celebrations and festival events, as well as providing a more inviting entrance for the Talbot Rice Gallery. University of Edinburgh Old College, Robert Adam, Photos, Old College Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Building, tour of Old College, Edinburgh Law School
9.
Georgian architecture
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Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The style of Georgian buildings is very variable, but marked by a taste for symmetry and proportion based on the architecture of Greece and Rome. Ornament is also normally in the tradition, but typically rather restrained. In towns, which expanded greatly during the period, landowners turned into property developers, even the wealthy were persuaded to live in these in town, especially if provided with a square of garden in front of the house. There was an amount of building in the period, all over the English-speaking world. The period saw the growth of a distinct and trained architectural profession, before the mid-century the high-sounding title and this contrasted with earlier styles, which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system. Authors such as the prolific William Halfpenny published editions in America as well as Britain, mail-order kit homes were also popular before World War II. The architect James Gibbs was a figure, his earlier buildings are Baroque, reflecting the time he spent in Rome in the early 18th century. Other prominent architects of the early Georgian period include James Paine, Robert Taylor, and John Wood, the styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture—and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking worlds equivalent of European Rococo. John Nash was one of the most prolific architects of the late Georgian era known as The Regency style, greek Revival architecture was added to the repertory, beginning around 1750, but increasing in popularity after 1800. Leading exponents were William Wilkins and Robert Smirke, regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. In Britain brick or stone are almost invariably used, brick is often disguised with stucco, in America and other colonies wood remained very common, as its availability and cost-ratio with the other materials was more favourable. Versions of revived Palladian architecture dominated English country house architecture, Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from a distance. The height was usually highest in the centre, and the Baroque emphasis on corner pavilions often found on the continent generally avoided, in grand houses, an entrance hall led to steps up to a piano nobile or mezzanine floor where the main reception rooms were. A single block was typical, with a perhaps a small court for carriages at the front marked off by railings and a gate, but rarely a stone gatehouse, or side wings around the court. Windows in all types of buildings were large and regularly placed on a grid, this was partly to minimize window tax and their height increasingly varied between the floors, and they increasingly began below waist-height in the main rooms, making a small balcony desirable
10.
Walter Scott
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature, famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an member of the Highland Society. He survived a bout of polio in 1773 that left him lame. To cure his lameness he was sent in 1773 to live in the rural Scottish Borders at his grandparents farm at Sandyknowe, adjacent to the ruin of Smailholm Tower. Here he was taught to read by his aunt Jenny, and learned from her the speech patterns and many of the tales and legends that characterised much of his work. In January 1775 he returned to Edinburgh, and that went with his aunt Jenny to take spa treatment at Bath in England. In the winter of 1776 he went back to Sandyknowe, with another attempt at a cure at Prestonpans during the following summer. In 1778, Scott returned to Edinburgh for private education to him for school. In October 1779 he began at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and he was now well able to walk and explore the city and the surrounding countryside. His reading included chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books and he was given private tuition by James Mitchell in arithmetic and writing, and learned from him the history of the Church of Scotland with emphasis on the Covenanters. Scott began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh in November 1783, at the age of 12, in March 1786 he began an apprenticeship in his fathers office to become a Writer to the Signet. While at the university Scott had become a friend of Adam Ferguson, Scott met the blind poet Thomas Blacklock, who lent him books and introduced him to James Macphersons Ossian cycle of poems. During the winter of 1786–87 the 15-year-old Scott saw Robert Burns at one of these salons, for what was to be their only meeting. When Burns noticed a print illustrating the poem The Justice of the Peace and asked who had written the poem, only Scott knew that it was by John Langhorne, and was thanked by Burns. When it was decided that he would become a lawyer, he returned to the university to study law, first taking classes in Moral Philosophy, after completing his studies in law, he became a lawyer in Edinburgh. As a lawyers clerk he made his first visit to the Scottish Highlands directing an eviction and he was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1792. He had an unsuccessful love suit with Williamina Belsches of Fettercairn, as a boy, youth and young man, Scott was fascinated by the oral traditions of the Scottish Borders
11.
Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield
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Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield was a Scottish advocate and judge. McQueen was born on 4 May 1722, near Lanark, son of John McQueen of Braxfield and he studied in Edinburgh and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1744. In 1759 he was appointed an Advocate Depute appearing for the Crown in prosecutions and he often appeared in more than 15 cases per day and earned £1900 in a single year. He became a judge in 1776 and took the title Lord Braxfield, in 1788 he became Lord Justice Clerk, the leading judge in Scotland. To accomplish this he invented a crime of unconscious sedition, a famous quote of his in this respect was Let them bring me prisoners, and I will find them law. In 1795 he oversaw the trial and imprisonment of Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch of Gilmerton for the murder of his half-brother Sir Francis Kinloch and this rare event saw one man kill another at least in part to inherit his baronetcy. He died at home in George Square, Edinburgh, on 30 May 1799, aged 77 and he married, first, Mary, daughter of Major James Agnew of the 7th dragoon guards, and niece of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, Wigtownshire, bart. Braxfield married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ord, lord chief baron of the exchequer in Scotland, Sir Henry Raeburn painted his portrait shortly before his death. In a recent survey of Scottish historians, Braxfield was identified as one of the vilest villains in Scotlands history and he is thought to be the model for the judge in Robert Louis Stevensons unfinished novel Weir of Hermiston. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Barker. Portrait by Raeburn in the National Galleries of Scotland Braxfields testament
12.
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
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Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville PC FRSE was a Scottish advocate and Tory politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and became, in 1806, although acquitted, he never held public office again. Dundas was born in Edinburgh on 28 April 1742 in the known as Bishops Land on the Royal Mile. He was the son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President of the Court of Session, by his second wife, Anne Gordon. While a student he was a member of the Edinburgh University Belles Lettres Society, participating in its meetings and his name appears in the 1776 minute book of the Poker Club. After holding subordinate offices under William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and William Pitt the Younger, appointed Minister for War on the outbreak of the Wars of the French Revolution, he was Pitts closest advisor and planner for Britains military participation in the First Coalition. He is largely responsible for the lack of organization and confused planning in the Flanders Campaign. In November 1793, he provided support to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, from 1794 to 1801 he was War Secretary under Pitt, his great friend. From about 1798 on he pleaded frequently to be allowed to resign on grounds, but Pitt. In 1802 he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira, under Pitt in 1804 he again entered office as First Lord of the Admiralty, when he introduced numerous improvements in the details of the department. Suspicion had arisen, however, as to the management of the Admiralty. In 1802 a commission of inquiry was appointed, which reported in 1805, the result was the impeachment of Dundas in 1806, on the initiative of Samuel Whitbread, for the misappropriation of public money. Although the process ended in an acquittal, and nothing more than formal negligence lay against him and this was the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords. Another reason for his retreat could have been Pitts death in 1806, an earldom was offered in 1809 but declined. Lord Melvilles first marriage was to Elizabeth, daughter of David Rannie, of Melville Castle, within days she had confessed by letter to her husband, and approximately a month later they were divorced. She never saw her again, dying in 1847, aged 97. Henry Dundas, as was the law of the time, kept all of the money, after this divorce he married again, to Lady Jane Hope, daughter of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, in 1793. He died in May 1811, aged 69, and was succeeded in his titles by his son from his first marriage, the Viscountess Melville later remarried and died in June 1829
13.
John Struthers (anatomist)
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Sir John Struthers FRSE FRCSE LLD was the first Regius Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen. He was a teacher and administrator, transforming the status of the institutions in which he worked. Among scientists, he is perhaps best known for his work on the ligament which bears his name. Among the public, Struthers was famous for his dissection of the Tay Whale, Struthers took every opportunity he could to dissect it and recover its bones. John Struthers was the son of Dr Alexander Struthers and his wife Mary Reid and they lived in Brucefield, a large stone-built 18th century house with spacious grounds, which was then just outside Dunfermline, John was born in the house. Alexander was a mill owner and linen merchant. He bought Brucefield early in the 19th century, along with Brucefield Mill, linen was threshed at the nearby threshing mill, and bleached in the open air near the house. There were still linen bleachers living in Brucefield House in 1841, marys father, Deacon John Reid, was also a linen maker. Alexander and Mary were married in 1818, the marriage, though not warmly affectionate, both Alexander and Mary are buried at Dunfermline Abbey. Struthers was one of six children, three boys and three girls, the boys were privately tutored in the classics, mathematics and modern languages at home in Brucefield House. They went out boating in summer, skating in winter on the dam, they rode ponies, went swimming in the nearby Firth of Forth. Both his older brother James and his younger brother Alexander studied medicine, James became a doctor at Leith, Alexander died of cholera while serving as a doctor in the Crimean War. His sisters Janet and Christina provided an education at Brucefield for some poor friends, Daniel. Daniel became a Dunfermline weaver as well as a historian and reformer, Struthers studied medicine at Edinburgh, winning prizes as an undergraduate. He completed his M. D. degree in 1845, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh at the same time, in 1847, the college licensed him and his brother James to teach anatomy. The courses that taught at the medical school in Argyle Square. He worked his way up at the Royal Infirmary from dresser, to surgical clerk, to house physician, house surgeon and he became Lecturer of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. In 1863, Struthers became the first Regius Professor of Anatomy at the recently formed University of Aberdeen and this was a Crown Chair, a prestigious position
14.
Waller Hugh Paton
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Waller Hugh Paton RSA RSW, was a Scottish landscape artist working in the second half of the 19th century. He was born in Wooers Alley, Dunfermline, the son of Joseph Neil Paton a damask designer and his brother and sister were also artists, Joseph Noel Paton and Amelia Robertson Hill. In his teens he worked with his father as a damask designer, from age twenty he trained under the mid-19th century artist, John Houston RSA. He was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1857, in 1878 he became a member of the Royal Society of Watercolourists. In 1858 he and his brother illustrated William Edmondstoune Aytouns book, from 1859 he lived in Edinburgh. In both 1861 and 1868 he toured the Continent with his friend, Donald MacKenzie Wallace, and brother, in 1862 he married Margaret Kinloch of Maryculter near Aberdeen. They had four sons and three daughters and he died at his home,14 George Square, Edinburgh, on 8 March 1895 from pleurisy, which had plagued him for the last 10 years of his life. He is buried in Grange Cemetery in southern Edinburgh and his son Waller Hubert Paton was a sculptor. Paton was one of the few of his generation to work en plain air and he enjoyed depicting the countryside of Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and especially the Isle of Arran. His work is typified by rich purple sunsets
15.
Simon Somerville Laurie
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Prof Simon Somerville Laurie FRSE LLD was a Scottish educator. He became Bell Professor of Education at Edinburgh University in 1876 and he campaigned energetically and successfully for better teacher training in Scotland. Laurie also wrote extensively on philosophy, giving the Gifford Lectures in 1905–6, Laurie was born on 13 November 1829 in Edinburgh, the eldest son of Rev James Laurie or Lawrie and his wife Jean Somerville. His father was a Presbyterian minister and chaplain to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and his mother was the daughter of a United Presbyterian church minister at Elgin, Simon Somerville. They lived near the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at 112 Lauriston Place, Laurie was educated at Edinburgh High School from 1839 to 1844. To help pay his own fees, he was already teaching at age 11. He studied Arts at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated MA at then age of 19 in 1849. He then travelled for 5 years in England, Ireland and Europe, in 1855 he became secretary and visitor of schools for the Church of Scotlands education committee, which was then responsible for Scottish parish schools and for teacher training. Laurie held this role for 50 years, in time he greatly improved the education of teachers in Scotland. He vigorously campaigned to have all teachers educated at university, with the training colleges providing professional training only after that. It took until 1873 for the Scottish board of education to give the training colleges the right to send their best students, at least, in 1856 he became visitor and examiner for the Dick Bequest Trust. The trust distributed money to the best school teachers in northeast Scotland according to Lauries published reports, in 1868, the Merchant Company of Edinburgh and the Heriot Trust both invited Laurie to inspect their Edinburgh schools. The Merchant Companys schools were known as hospitals and were run in monastic style, Laurie recommended sending the boys to his alma mater, the Edinburgh High School, while a new high school should be opened for day girls. His recommendations were embodied in an 1869 Act of Parliament which abolished the monastic, in 1872, Laurie was appointed secretary to the royal commission on Scottish endowed schools. His reports for the led to the reorganisation of secondary schooling under Lord Moncrieff. In 1876, Laurie became the first Bell Professor of Education at the University of Edinburgh, in his first year there, he had 12 students, the number rose to 120 by the end of his tenure in 1903. He used the position to improve pedagogy in the whole of Britain, also in 1876, he became honorary secretary of the Association for Promoting Secondary Education in Scotland, a voluntary campaigning organisation. It was dissolved in 1880 when it achieved its goal with the passing of the Endowed Institutions Act 1878, at the same time, he was strongly opposed to centralised bureaucratic control by the board of education, favouring freedom for local education authorities
16.
Jane Welsh Carlyle
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Jane Welsh Carlyle was the wife of essayist Thomas Carlyle. Their long marriage was close but tempestuous, complicated by other relationships on both sides, though these appear to have been platonic, as their own was believed to have been. Jane had first been introduced to Thomas by her tutor, who was in love with her and her closest romantic relationship seems to have been with feminist author Geraldine Jewsbury, though she resented Jewsbury’s free love life. Jane’s many passionate letters to her caught the interest of Virginia Woolf, Jane had been introduced to Carlyle by her tutor Edward Irving, with whom she came to have a mutual romantic attraction. The couple married in 1826 and for the first six years lived on a farm in Scotland, Thomas was always busy writing and Jane remained dutiful in doing the housework. Their voluminous correspondence has been published, and the show that the couples affection for each other was marred by frequent quarrels. Samuel Butler once wrote, It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry one another, Carlyles biographer James Anthony Froude posthumously published his opinion that the marriage remained unconsummated. Jane was also jealous of a friendship her husband had with the socialite, the friendship was non-sexual yet they still spent a lot of time together. Jane expressed her jealousy and anger in a letter dated in 1856, Jane had a long lasting relationship with fellow writer Geraldine Jewsbury. The two women first met when Thomas invited Geraldine to Cheyne Row, where Thomas and Jane lived, Geraldine had written to Thomas prior to the invitation admiring his work and also expressing her religious doubt. Geraldine was going through a time, but she also contacted Thomas in the hopes of entering the literary realm in England. When Geraldine and Jane met, their friendship turned out to be more of a romantic relationship and it is evident both women had feelings for each other, but there is no evidence of them being lesbian lovers. Jane always remained dutiful to her husband and neither had acted upon any romantic feelings and this caused a lot of jealousy between the two women as Jane always remained married to Thomas and Geraldine had lovers of her own. However, they both had feelings towards one another and that passion in expressed in their many letters to one another. They often had disagreements about common social issues of the era such as the place of men in womens lives, Geraldine wasnt opposed to marriage, but she thought man and woman should be equal in marriage, she didnt witness that with Jane and Thomas. Jane often tried to set up Geraldine with suitable bachelors in London, when they were on good terms, Jane helped Geraldine with many of her literary works. Jane helped edit two of Geraldines most popular novels, Zoe, the History of Two Lives and The Half Sisters, Jane was often burdened with the work, however, and also showed some jealousy over Geraldines literary success. She had trouble accepting how sociable Geraldine was and how many friends she had as well
17.
Robert Kaye Greville
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Dr Robert Kaye Greville FRSE FLS LLD was an English mycologist, bryologist, and botanist. He was an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history, in addition to art and science he was interested in causes like abolitionism, capital punishment, keeping Sunday special and the temperance movement. He has a mountain in Queensland named after him, Greville was born at Bishop Auckland, Durham, but was brought up in Derbyshire as his father, Robert Greville, became the rector of the small village of Edlaston and its nearby hamlet of Wyaston. Greville had an interest in natural history since he was very young. Realising that he did not need an income he discarded his medical education, Greville was awarded a doctorate by the University of Glasgow in 1824. He gave a number of lectures in the natural sciences. Greville married William Eden, 1st Baron Aucklands niece Charlotte Eden in 1816, in 1823 he began the illustration and publishing of the journal Scottish cryptogamic flora and also contributed other articles in the field. In addition to science he was interested in causes like abolitionism, capital punishment, keeping Sunday special. In 1828 he received an honour when Mount Greville in Queensland was named in Grevilles honour by a fellow botanist, Mount Greville became part of an Australian National park in 1948 and is now part of Moogerah Peaks National Park. The aboriginal name for Mount Greville and the area around it is Moogerah which gave its name to the Park, in the 1830s he is listed as living at 1 Wharton Place in Edinburgh. In 1835 Greville published some music for a sacred melody written by Rev. W. H. Bathurst. In the following year he served as President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the first time, in 1840, Greville was one of the four vice-presidents at the Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention at Freemasons Hall in London on 12 June 1840. The picture above shows him in a detail from a made to commemorate the event which attracted delegates from America, France, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica. The painting now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, Greville was a member of a number of learned societies including being honorary secretary of the Biological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was an member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Howard Society as well as being a corresponding member of natural history societies including Brussels, Paris, Leipzig. He was secretary of the Sabbath Alliance and a compiler of the Church of Englands 1838 hymn book, towards the end of his life he created landscape painting which were exhibited. In 1866 Greville served as President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the second and he died at his home, Ormelie Villa, in Murrayfield, Edinburgh on 4 June 1866 whilst still taking an active interest in his work having new papers in preparation for publication. He is buried in Dean Cemetery on the west side of Edinburgh, the grave lies in the westmost of the two central southern secttions
18.
Joseph Noel Paton
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Sir Joseph Noel Paton FRSA, LL. D. was a Scottish artist, illustrator and sculptor. He was also a poet and had a deep seated interest in and he was born in Wooers Alley, Dunfermline, Fife, on 13 December 1821 to Joseph Neil Paton and Catherine MacDiarmid, damask designers and weavers in the town. He is the brother of the sculptor Amelia Robertson Hill and the landscape artist Waller Hugh Paton and it lies on the north side of Dunfermline Abbey and is a distinctive red granite Celtic cross amongst other smaller sandstone markers. Paton attended Dunfermline School and then Dunfermline Art Academy, further enhancing the talents he had developed as a child and he followed the family trade by working as the design department director in a muslin factory for three years. Most of his life was spent in Scotland but he studied briefly at the Royal Academy, London in 1843, while studying in London Paton met John Everett Millais, who asked him to join the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1858, he married Margaret Gourlay Ferrier and the couple had eleven children, Patons knowledge of Celtic legends and Scottish folklore is reflected in his paintings. In 1844 Patons first painting, Ruth Gleaning, was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, an earlier study of the Quarrel painting was completed in 1846 and featured as Patons diploma picture at the Royal Scottish Academy that year. The Academy purchased the work for £700. Made an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1847 and a fellow in 1850, in 1865, he was appointed Queens Limner for Scotland. He also published two volumes of poetry and produced a number of sculptures, two years later he received the knighthood and in 1878 was conferred the degree LL. D. by the University of Edinburgh. Paton was a well known antiquary, whose specialty was arms and he died in Edinburgh on 26 December 1901, and is buried in Dean Cemetery. His daughter, Hamilton Lora, is buried 10m to his east with her husband, citations Bibliography National Gallery Of Scotland 30 Painting by or after Joseph Noel Paton at the Art UK site
19.
Gerard Baldwin Brown
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Gerard Baldwin Brown was a British art historian. Brown was born in London, the son of church minister James Baldwin Brown and his wife and he studied at Oriel College, Oxford and became a Fellow at Brasenose College in 1874. He became the first holder of the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh in 1880, in Edinburgh he lived at 3 Grosvenor Street in the west of the city. The six-volume The Arts in Early England, which he began publishing in 1903 and his The Glasgow School of Painters was published in 1908. He was cremated and his ashes interred with his parents at West Norwood Cemetery, a bust, sculpted by Pilkington Jackson is held in the Edinburgh University Art Collection. References Sources D. Talbot Rice, Brown, Gerard Baldwin, Dictionary of National Biography D. Talbot Rice, rev. Anne Pimlott Baker, Brown, Gerard Baldwin, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press,2004, accessed 23 July 2008 Works by or about Gerard Baldwin Brown at Internet Archive
20.
Charles Maclaren
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Charles Maclaren FRSE FGS was a Scottish journalist and geologist. He co-founded The Scotsman newspaper, was its editor for 27 years and he was born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire,7 October 1782, and received some education at Fala and Colinton, but was mainly self-taught. Removing to Edinburgh, where he served as clerk and bookkeeper to several firms, he joined the Philomathic Debating Society and he established the Scotsman,26 January 1817, with William Ritchie and John MDiarmid, and was joint editor of the first few numbers. When he obtained a position as a clerk in the custom house, in 1820, Maclaren resumed the editorship and held it till 1846, when he resigned it to Alexander Russel. The paper rapidly became the political journal of Scotland, its tone was throughout decidedly whiggish. In 1820, Archibald Constable employed Maclaren to edit the sixth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica,1823, in the 1830s Charles Maclaren of the Scotsman newspaper is listed as living at 58 George Square on the south side of the city. The editor contributed the articles America, Europe, Greece, Physical Geography, Maclaren interested himself in science and especially in geology. London in 1846, and was president of the Edinburgh Geological Society from 1864 to his death and he died at Moreland Cottage, Edinburgh,10 September 1866. He was interred at the Grange Cemetery and his monument is a large Celtic cross facing the north path. Maclarens Selected Works were edited by Robert Cox and James Nicol and his second wife, Jane Veitch Hume née Somner, was the widow of David Hume the younger. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Boase
21.
John Horne
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John Horne PRSE FRS FRSE FEGS LLD was a Scottish geologist. He served as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1915 to 1919, Horne was born on 1 January 1848, in Campsie, Stirlingshire, the son of James Horne of Newmill and his wife Janet Braid. John was educated at the High School, Glasgow, and Glasgow University and he joined the Scottish Branch of HM Geological Survey in 1867 as an assistant and became an apprentice to Ben Peach. The two soon became friends and collaborators. Horne was involved in mapping the Central Lowlands, Horne was a logical thinker and writer, complementing Peachs skills of resolving the internal structure of mountains by looking at the surface rocks. After their work in the Highlands, Horne and Peach wrote Northwest Highlands Memoir in 1907, the work is regarded as one of the most important geological memoirs. Horne wrote most of the memoir himself, from 1901 until 1911, John Horne was the Director of the Scottish Branch of the Survey. Horne was very active in the affairs of the RSE and served as Councillor, Horne was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1900 and was a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He also served as President of the Edinburgh Geological Society, in later life he lived at 12 Keith Crescent in Blackhall, Edinburgh. He died on 30 May 1928 in Edinburgh and he was married to Anna Leyland Taylor. He was grandfather to Thomas Arthur Munro FRSE, a monument to the work of Peach and Horne was erected at Inchnadamph, close to the Moine Thrust where they did some of their best-known work. The inscription reads, To Ben N Peach and John Horne who played the foremost part in unravelling the geological structure of the North West Highlands 1883-1897, knockan Crag Inchnadamph North West Highlands Geopark Geology of Scotland profile at www. scottishgeology. com
22.
Basil Spence
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Spence was born in Bombay, India, the son of Urwin Archibald Spence, an assayer with the Royal Mint. He was educated at the John Connon School, operated by the Bombay Scottish Education Society and he enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art in 1925, studying architecture, where he secured a maintenance scholarship on the strength of the unusual brilliance of his work. He won several prizes at the college, and meanwhile carried out paid work drawing architectural perspectives for practising architects including Leslie Grahame-Thomson, while in London he attended evening classes at the Bartlett School of Architecture under A. E. Richardson. Returning to ECA in 1930 for his year of studies, he was appointed a junior lecturer. He continued to teach at ECA until 1939, after graduating in 1931, Kininmonth and Spence set up in practice together, based in a room within the office of Rowand Anderson & Paul, in Rutland Square, Edinburgh. The practice was founded on two residential commissions which Kininmonth had obtained that year, Spence also received commissions to illustrate other architects work, including the Southside Garage, on Causewayside, Edinburgh, in an Art Deco style. In 1934 Spence married, and the Kininmonth & Spence practice merged with Rowand Anderson & Paul, balfour Paul died in 1938, leaving Kininmonth and Spence in charge of the renamed Rowand Anderson & Paul & Partners. Spences work was now concentrated on design, including three pavilions for the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, and country houses. The first two of these, Broughton Place at Broughton near Biggar, and Quothquhan in Lanarkshire, were executed in traditional Scottish styles at the clients request, gribloch was designed for John Colville, grandson of the founder of Colvilles Iron Works, and his American wife. It was designed in a modernist Regency style, with assistance from Perry Duncan, in 1939, Spence was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Camouflage Training and Development Centre of the British Army. He was initially based at Farnham in Surrey, and took part in the D-Day landings in 1944 and he was demobilised in September 1945, having reached the rank of major and been mentioned in despatches twice. Spence returned to Rowand Anderson & Paul & Partners briefly, before setting up his own practice, Basil Spence & Partners, with Bruce Robertson. He was awarded an OBE in 1948 for his work in design, work which he continued with the Sea. That year he opened a London office, moving there permanently from 1953, a second office was opened in 1956 at Canonbury, which became the creative hub of the practice. Spence was External Professor of Architecture at the University of Leeds from 1955 to 1957, on 14 November 1940, Coventrys Anglican Cathedral was extensively damaged by German bombing, a year into World War II. In 1944, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott submitted a proposal to rebuild the cathedral. In 1950, a competition was launched to find the most suitable design from a Commonwealth of Nations architect, over 200 entries were received, and Spences radical design was chosen. Work began in 1956 and the structure was completed in 1962, Spence was knighted in 1960 for his work at Coventry, while the cathedral was still being built
23.
Robert Matthew
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Sir Robert Hogg Matthew, OBE, FRIBA was a Scottish architect and a leading proponent of modernism. Robert Matthew was the son of John Fraser Matthew and his wife, from 1920 the family lived at 43 Minto Street ironically the epitome of Georgian classicism rather than modern architecture. Robert was born and brought up in Edinburgh, was educated at Edinburgh Institution, in 1931 Matthew married Lorna Pilcher. They had three children, Robert Aidan Matthew, born in July 1936, Janet Frances Catriona Matthew, born in March 1939, from 1939 they lived at 12 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh and from 1956 they lived at Keith Marischal House, Humbie, East Lothian. Robert was apprenticed with his fathers firm, then in 1936, he joined the Department of Health, where by 1945 he had risen to become their Chief Architect and Planning Officer. It was during these formative years that the LCC’s housing and town planning policy established an international reputation. In 1956, with Stirrat Johnson Marshall, Robert Matthew established the firm of RMJM in Edinburgh and their first project was New Zealand House in the Haymarket, London. He continued as Professor there until 1968, the Matthew Architecture Gallery is now housed in the Department in his honour. Matthew/RMJM were directly responsible for the design of the Arts Faculty buildings, now called the David Hume tower, Adam Ferguson building, in the early 1960s Matthew was involved in the replacement of overcrowded, insanitary tenement housing in Hutchesontown, Glasgow with high rise tower blocks. He worked alongside Basil Spence in the planning and design of the controversial Area C blocks in the Gorbals, in Edinburgh he was also behind the Royal Commonwealth Pool, British Home Stores on Princes Street, Edinburgh Airport, Lothian Regional Council Building and Wester Hailes Education Centre. Elsewhere, Matthew/RMJM were both involved in the design for the campuses of the University of Stirling and University of York, during his studies, Robert Matthew won the Pugin Student award and was Soane medallist. He became a Fellow of the RIBA in 1955 and served as its President from 1962 to 1964 and he was awarded an OBE in 1952 and knighted in 1962. He was later also President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects, apart from his work as an architect, Matthew produced drawings that were widely exhibited, and also paintings, although they are less well known. Both display the same concerns as Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore all of whom he was able to count among his friends. Research paper, Edinburgh University and the Monumental Tradition
24.
George Watson's College
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George Watsons College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a school in 1741, became a day school in 1871. It is a Merchant Company of Edinburgh school and a member of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference. Watson was never a member of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, after some years, the Governors bought land known as Heriots Croft, located off Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, close to the Meadows and opposite George Heriots School, and engaged an architect. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1738, and the building was completed early in 1741, the school opened as George Watsons Hospital on Whitsunday,17 May 1741. The initial roll consisted of 11 boys, aged 9–10 years, by 1749 there were 30, while in 1842 pupils numbered 86, this figure being maintained until the end of the Hospital system in 1870. In accordance with Watsons will, the governors were responsible for pupils up to the age of 25, they were helped to find apprenticeships. Watsons stated preference was for allowing the charges to become skilled workers. The solution was to re-found Watsons, and the three hospitals under its governorship, as day schools. In July 1868 the Company applied to Parliament for powers to reorganise their schools, Watsons was thus completely transformed, reopening on 26 September 1870 as a fee-paying day school with a roll of 800 boys, initially called George Watsons College Schools for Boys. In 1869, the hospital building was sold to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. When the infirmary sought to expand in 1871, the school moved a distance west to the former Merchant Maiden Hospital building in Archibald Place. The original hospital building was incorporated into the infirmary, and the chapel remained in use as the chapel until the infirmary was itself moved away. In the years following World War I, the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary needed to expand more and was interested in the site then occupied by Watsons. At the same time, the Archibald Place building was cramped and in need of modernisation, in 1924 the Merchant Company announced that they had taken the decision to sell the Archibald Place building to the Infirmary for a fair price. In 1927, agreement was made to acquire the site of Merchiston Castle School – adjacent to the Myreside playing fields –, the winner was announced in June 1928 as James B Dunn, himself a Watsonian, with a plan described as simple, direct and masterly. Building work on the new site commenced in August 1929, the new building, facing Colinton Road, was in a neo-classical style and sandstone-faced. It is H-shaped, extending two stories, with a large central Assembly Hall which seats up to 1835
25.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the worlds largest arts festival, which in 2016, spanned 25 days and featured 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Edinburgh, Scotlands capital and it is an open access performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The Fringe has often showcased experimental, challenging or controversial works that might not be invited to a more conservative arts festival, the Fringe board of directors is drawn from members of the Festival Fringe Society, who are often Fringe participants themselves – performers or administrators. Elections are held once a year, in August, and Board members serve a term of four years, the Board appoints the Fringe Chief Executive, who is currently Shona McCarthy and assumed the role in March 2016. The Chief Executive operates under the chair, currently Professor Sir Timothy OShea, the Fringe started life when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. With the official festival using the major venues, these companies took over smaller. Seven performed in Edinburgh, and one undertook a version of the morality play Everyman in Dunfermline Abbey, about 20 miles north. These groups aimed to take advantage of the large assembled theatre crowds to showcase their own alternative theatre, although at the time it was not recognised as such, this was the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This meant that two defining features of the future Fringe were established at the very beginning – the lack of invitations to perform. I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings. The word fringe had in fact used in a review of Everyman in 1947. Late night revues, which would become a feature of Fringes, the first one was the New Drama Groups After The Show, a series of sketches taking place after Donald Pleasences Ebb Tide, in 1952. Among the talent to appear in early Fringe revues were Ned Sherrin in 1955, due to many reviewers only being able to attend Fringe events late night after the official festival was finished, the Fringe came to be seen as being about revues. It was a few years before an official programme for the Fringe was created. John Menzies compiled a list of shows under the title Other Events in their omnibus festival brochure and this was funded by participating companies and was entitled Additional Entertainments, since the name Fringe was still not yet in regular usage. It also used a strange cover motif, a first attempt was made to provide a central booking service in 1955 by students from the university, although it lost money, which was blamed on those who had not taken part. Formal organisation progressed in 1959, with the formation of the Festival Fringe Society, the push for such an organisation was led by Michael Imison, director of Oxford Theatre Group. A constitution was drawn up, in which the policy of not vetting or censoring shows was set out, nineteen companies participated in the Fringe in that year
26.
Bristo Square
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It has been commonly used by traceurs, skateboarders, rollerbladers and bmxers for recreational purposes, but with the current redevelopment work this ceased at the end of March 2015. It had become customary over the months for Edinburgh University to allow the square to be rented by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for certain shows. The square has been home to the udderBELLY for the last few years up until 2014, the Udderbelly is moving to George Square The square officially opened in 1983 to mark the quatercentenary of the University of Edinburgh. The square was designed by the architectural practice headed by Prof. Percy Johnson-Marshall who held the chair of urban design and it was part of the 1962 plan to create a civic space to replace Bristo Street, realigning Potterrow and Lothian Street in the process. Consulting engineers were Jamieson, MacKay & Partners, there is a plaque to the local educational campaigner Mary Crudelius in Bristo Square. In 2013 Edinburgh University announced plans to spend £3. 4m on improvements to the McEwan Hall, designed by LDN and Buro Happold this scheme is designed to restore the A listed Robert Rowan Anderson building to its former glory whilst enhancing accessibility and increasing capacity. The redevelopment of this started in April 2015. The square has been fenced off and the trees felled
27.
Underbelly (venue)
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The Underbelly is a venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe off Cowgate. From 2001-2004, Underbelly was the venue operated by Underbelly Limited. In 2005, Underbelly added the Baby Belly venue, in 2006, these venues were joined by the E4 UdderBELLY and the Cow Barn. Underbelly was first opened in 2000, as a performance venue for five shows brought to the Fringe by the long running Fringe company. The site was discovered by Judith Doherty and named Underbelly by Judith and her Co-Artistic Director, in 2001, Underbelly Limited and By Popular Demand Productions Limited were set up to turn the Underbelly into a professional venue with a number of performance spaces and a wide range of productions. The venue was set up with performance spaces in the Iron Belly, White Belly, the Belly Laugh was also used for late night cabaret as well as the venues second bar. Space downstairs which is now used for Belly Dance was used to exhibit a film installation by Nick Hornby, in 2002, The Underbelly was renamed The Smirnoff Underbelly to reflect its sponsorship by Smirnoff Vodka. The number of spaces was increased to include the Belly Button and Belly Laugh comedy venues and a third bar. The number of shows increased from 18 to 50+ and this was the year that Underbelly really started to make its mark, in 2003, the Belly Dancer was soundproofed to ensure that it can be used throughout the day without disrupting performances in other spaces. This allowed Underbelly to team up with Forth One 97.3 to host a series of live music gigs every night in the Belly Dancer. In 2004, the Delhi Belly space was added, the bars were rearranged to create more space and ease congestion and queuing. In 2005, Underbelly was joined by the Baby Belly on Niddry Street, just off Cowgate, the number of shows was now up to 140 spread over the three weeks of the Edinburgh Fringe. Underbelly is now just one of four operated by Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Edinburgh Fringe has come on for criticism in recent years for its commercialism, Underbelly has been associated with Smirnoff for much of its life
28.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
29.
Gilded Balloon
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The company has its origins in a venue known as The Gilded Balloon on Edinburghs Cowgate, where artistic director Karen Koren first started promoting comedy events in 1986. When a fire in 2002 destroyed the premises, Gilded Balloon shifted its Fringe operations to Teviot Row House in Bristo Square. Gilded Balloon also operates outside the Fringe, including running monthly comedy nights in the studio of Edinburgh Festival Theatre. The Gilded Balloon was established by Karen Koren in 1986, staging seven shows a day in a building on Cowgate that was formerly J. & R. Allans department store. The building was built in 1823 by James Spittal, a draper and silk merchant, the competition was sponsored by Channel 4 from 1993 until 2004, with five and the Paramount Comedy Channel taking over in 2005. In 2001, the Gilded Balloon expanded to include Teviot Row House in Bristo Square, on 7 December 2002, a fire devastated its original Cowgate base. In 2007, the C venues used the space to create a new venue, other venues include The Dining Room, The Wine Bar, The Wee Room, The Nightclub, The Sportsmans, The Balcony and The Billiard room. Gilded Balloons offices are at 25 Greenside Place in Edinburgh, which is run by a team of full-time staff. During his early career, Russell Brand was forcefully ejected from the Gilded Balloon, the Gilded Balloon Late n Live So You Think Youre Funny
30.
The Stand Comedy Club
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The Stand Comedy Club are three stand-up comedy venues in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle upon Tyne. The Stand hosted its first regular club night on Thursday 21 September 1995, seven people came, the Stand Comedy Club has three venues in the UK, two in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which were originally set up by owners Tommy Sheppard and Jane Mackay. The Stand runs live stand-up comedy shows every night of the week in both venues, with a programme of contemporary comedy from Scottish and international comedians and they also stage weekly open mic nights - Monday night in Edinburgh and Tuesday night in Glasgow. The Stand Comedy Club has a mailing list of 22,000 people, in 2009,10,000 tickets were sold to events between both the Glasgow and Edinburgh venues and roughly 600 acts a year are performed at these clubs every year. Between the two clubs an average of 1600 tickets are sold to events every week, the club ran weekly when first set up in 1996 and relied on local talent. Expansion meant a second venue in the Moscow Bar and by the end of 1997 a third weekly club had started. In April 1997 Tommy Sheppard and Jane Mackay formed Salt n Sauce Promotions to develop the club on a commercial basis. After two and a years of moving around and staging shows in different pubs the club finally settled and moved into a new purpose built venue on the edge of the citys New Town. The Edinburgh club now stages up to ten shows per week, the Glasgow club opened on 14 April 2000. Initially the Glasgow club was open five nights a week and by 2003 it had joined the Edinburgh club opening 7 nights a week, the Stand opened a venue in High Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne on 27 October 2011. The Stand invested £750,000 in fitting out the basement venue, as the Newcastle club prepared to open, Tommy Sheppard said that he expects this venue to be the last Stand to open. Since becoming a year round dedicated comedy club, The Stand has been a platform for such as Fred MacAulay, Kevin Bridges, Des Clarke. Over the year The Stand Comedy Club holds around ten benefit evenings which raises money for charities such as the Red Cross. Since 2005, the club has been able to raise money for charities as the acts performing dont receive a fee. The Stands programme contains an event called Red Raw beginners night, as a result of the growth in the audience more performers have come through to try comedy out which has seen a three or four-month waiting list to get a spot on the Red Raw bill. Tourist guides and websites recommend The Stand as a tourist attraction, and the clubs are recognised as contributors to the economy. Official website Edinburgh Fringe Festival Glasgow Comedy Festival
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Mayfield Salisbury Church
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Mayfield Salisbury Church is a member of the Church of Scotland, part of the worldwide family of the Christian Church. It is situated approximately 1.5 miles south of Edinburgh city centre at the junction of Mayfield Road, the building was designed by the renowned Scottish architect, Hippolyte Blanc and the main building work took place between 1875 and 1879. It is particularly renowned for the range and quality of its stained glass, an extensive internal renovation of the sanctuary was undertaken in 2009. In the mid nineteenth century Newington with its dwellings, shops and businesses, was bounded on its side by an old drove road beyond which were the farms. However, in 1870 Duncan McLaren of Newington House, a past Lord Provost and MP, began feuing his Mayfield land and it was against this background that Mayfield Free Church was built. The site for the present church was selected in July 1876, and the sanctuary was completed in 1879. A detailed account of its history and past ministers, can be found at the church website, today Mayfield Salisbury offers a variety of services of worship. As well as the sanctuary, the also include two halls and several other meeting rooms. Thus a wide range of clubs and groups meet there and the provide a focus point for much that goes on in this part of south Edinburgh. Revd Scott S McKenna has been the minister at Mayfield Salisbury since 2000, in recent years special autumn festivals have been held. In autumn 2010, there was a three-week Festival of Meditation and Prayer which included events, lectures, special services. In the autumn of 2011, there was a Festival of Aging and Faith and in autumn 2012 a Festival of Science, more information may be found here. In 2013 there was a Year of Pilgrimage and it is also used as a venue during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. List of Church of Scotland parishes Mayfield Salisbury Church Web Site Church of Scotland Official Web Site
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Teviot Row House
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Teviot Row House, or Teviot, is one of the student union buildings at Edinburgh University, Scotland. Run by Edinburgh University Students Association, the building in Bristo Square is the oldest purpose built student Union building in the world, other rooms include The Debating Hall, The Dining Room and The Study, alongside a number of smaller meeting rooms available to student societies. In 2014 the privately operated Teviot Print Shop was opened in the lobby area, during the university period Teviot hosts a number of regular events catered towards local students. These include Open Mic Nights, Monday Night Jazz, club nights, special one off annual events utilising the entire building include a semester ending Christmas party, the Graduation Ball, and a Halloween party. The building also plays host to EUSAs regular democratic meetings and student society events, during the Edinburgh Festival, the building is used by the Gilded Balloon and is one of the citys largest Fringe venues. It was formerly the venue for the Fringe Club, and in modern times is configured to create eight performance spaces, eight bars, and a café. Teviot was built in Hailes sandstone in a 16th Century Scots palace style with a coped crowstepped and pinnacled gables clasped by drum towers of the Falkland or Holyrood type and it features large late Gothic traceried windows. In 1905 the 16th Century style west wing, containing the Dining Hall, Library Bar, in 1962 a Modernist style extension was added to the rear, containing the Study and the Billiards Room. Prior to construction the site housed Lord Rosss house, built c.1740, University of Edinburgh Building Profile No spirits and precious few women, Edinburgh University Union 1889 -1989
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Traverse Theatre
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The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, Jim Haynes, the Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays, adaptations, dance, physical theatre, the Traverse is a pivotal venue in Edinburgh, particularly during the Edinburgh Festivals in August. It is also the home of the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival and it was a long, low-ceilinged first-floor room barely 15ft wide by 8ft high with 60 seats salvaged from the Palace Cinema placed in two blocks on either side of the stage. The theatre is named because Terry Lane mistakenly believed that the arrangement is called traverse, he later realised that it is transverse. In its first year of operation, a Theatre Conference was organised by director Jim Haynes, John Calder and Kenneth Tynan, the first performance was on 2 January 1963. This larger space had a 100-seat theatre with seating configurations. The first performance in this venue was on 24 August 1969, in 1992, the Traverse moved to its current location,10 Cambridge Street. A £3.3 million purpose-built two theatre space with bar café created as part of Saltire Court development on Castle Terrace, the theatres first performance at this location was on 3 July 1992. Traverse 1 is the space with flexible seating that can be moved to create many different configurations. The most common configuration is end on and has 216 seats, Traverse 2 is the smaller studio space. New flexible seating was installed in September 2005 to allow for different staging configurations, founded in 1963 by John Calder, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco, the mission was to continue the spirit of the Edinburgh Festivals all year round. During the Festivals in August, the Traverse continues to present cutting edge new writing, the Traverse is occasionally referred to as The Fringe venue that got away, reflecting its current status as a permanent and integral part of the Edinburgh arts scene throughout the year. Today August remains the busiest time for the Traverse, during the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Traverse played host to 19 shows. One third of 2010 Scotsman Fringe First Award winners were shows performed at the Traverse, the Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner has described the Traverses programme as, The backbone to the Fringe programme. What you see there will set the tone and tenor of the rest of the Fringe. From its beginning in 1963, the Traverse Theatre has launched the careers of many of Scotlands best-known writers including John Byrne, Gregory Burke, David Greig, David Harrower, during the 1960s Richard Wilson was a regular performer
Media related to George Square, Edinburgh at Wikimedia Commons