Edinburgh
New Town
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Symbol
of the Scottish Enlightenment
 Scotland’s
new imperial vision can be seen in the practical, physical improvements
of Edinburgh’s New Town. Its combination of Gothic and Greek
architectural styles reflected the roots of European civilisation
and aimed to establish Edinburgh as the Athens of the North. The
initiative was a symbol of Scotland’s involvement in European
culture of the time and demonstarated the North Britons’
desire to play a central role in the British Empire.
North Britons
The idea for a New Town in Edinburgh emerged after the defeat
of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Architect James Craig initially envisaged
a ‘patriotic’ street plan in the shape of a Union Jack,
but this was soon abandoned. The
imposition of Scotland’s new British identity is, however,
reflected in the New Town’s very British street names: Cumberland
Street, after the Duke of Cumberland (the ‘butcher’
of the Battle of Culloden); Hanover Street, after the House of
Hanover; Frederick Street, after George III’s father; with
Thistle Street and Rose Street symbolising the Union of 1707.
Scotland’s own distinctive religious identity was recognised
in St Andrew Square.
Factsheet
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George Street
was named after the Hanoverian King George III; it was intended
to be the grandest street (and widest, at 115 ft) in the New
Town linking two identical squares: St Andrew, patron saint
of Scotland, in the east, with St George, patron saint
of England, in the west (although this was renamed Charlotte
Square). George IV's visit in 1822 prompted a commemorative
statue, which can be seen at the junction with Hanover Street,
and which portrays him in ceremonial robes worn over a kilt
(reportedly he wore silk stockings under his kilt). Also, there
are statues of Dr Thomas Chalmers,
 who
was instrumental in the formation of the Free Church of Scotland,
and William Pitt, who was Prime Minister when the New Town was
under construction.
- St Andrew
Square. In the centre is the statue of Henry Dundas, the
colossus of late 18th century Scottish politics. He wielded
considerable power in Scotland, earning himself the nickname
‘Harry the Ninth, uncrowned King of Scotland’. Dundas
was the Government’s political manager in Scotland, distributing
offices to the nobility and representing the interests of the
landed class. He also created overseas posts for favoured Scots.
His lasting achievement was to convince Scotland’s nobility
into a new form of patriotism founded on improving schemes,
self-interest, Scots sentiment, and a firm commitment to the
British Empire. Dundas House, built for Lawrence Dundas in 1774,
is on the east side of the square and has been the HQ of The
Royal Bank of Scotland since 1825. The house was modelled on
a Roman villa, showing the fashions and aspirations of the Edinburgh
gentry and aristocracy of the time.
- Charlotte
Square: named after Queen Charlotte, wife of George III.
The square was designed as an integral unit by Robert Adam in
1791, with the exception of St George’s Church on the west
side which was designed by Robert Reid to replace a more costly
Adam design.
- Princes
Street.
Not really thought of as part of the New Town by locals, the
street was originally to be named St Giles Street after the
patron saint of Edinburgh, and was renamed Princes Street after
King George III’s sons (Prince George, the future George
IV, and the Duke of York). Construction began at its east end
and reached Hanover Street by 1786, Frederick Street by 1795,
and its west end by 1805. Designed to have one of the finest
panoramas in Europe, commercial considerations bedevilled the
plan to fill it with fine residences right from the start. Tradesmens'
booths had to be demolished on its south side as they spoilt
the view, but, nevertheless, Princes Street became increasingly
commercial, eventually becoming the busy shopping street which
we see today.
- Princes
Street Gardens. The idea of an ornamental park between Edinburgh’s
Old and New Towns was incorporated in James Craig’s original
plan to replace the Nor’ Loch, which for centuries had
formed a crucial defensive barrier on Edinburgh’s north
side. Craig’s idea was for an ornamental canal but plans
for its construction were abandoned after the Mound was built
to connect the New Town and the Old in 1790- the mound itself
was formed from millions of
 cartloads
of earth created by the excavation of foundations for houses
in Princes Street. The gardens’ construction blocked up
a culvert running between St Cuthbert’s Church and the
North Bridge, resulting in a kind of swamp, which became ‘the
receptacle for many sewers and seemingly all the worried cats,
drowned dogs and blackguardism of the city.’ From 1816
the Gardens began to replace the swamp although the East Garden
succumbed in 1845 to the North British Railway’s plans
for Waverley Station.
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