This article is atimeline of the history ofEdinburgh, Scotland, up to the present day. It traces its rise from an early hill fort and later royal residence to the bustling city and capital of Scotland that it is today.
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Pre-1st century AD: LateBronze Age (c.600 BC) weapons were found inDuddingston Loch in 1778. Traces of fourIron Age forts have been identified atArthur's Seat, Dunsapie Crag,Salisbury Crags andSamson's Ribs.[1]
2nd century AD:Roman forts were built and manned atCramond andInveresk on the western and eastern margins of the present-day city.
c.600: The traditional date of the military campaign, starting out from Edinburgh ("Din Eydin"), commemorated in theOld Welsh poemY Gododdin by the poetAneirin. At this time the inhabitants of the region spoke predominantly Old Welsh (the ancestor of modern Welsh). The name of the king or chief whom the poem names as the leader of theGododdin wasMynyddawc Mwynvawr.
c.638: Edinburgh is besieged by unknown forces, according to a chronicle kept atIona in theHebrides. Many scholars have supposed that this siege marks the passing of control of the fort of Din Eydin from the Gododdin to the Northumbrian Angles, led byOswald of Northumbria
731: Edinburgh is the most northerly outpost of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria at the time ofBede, who completed hisHistory in this year
840s–50s:Cinaed mac Ailpin (Kenneth MacAlpin) raids NorthumbrianLothian, burningDunbar and possibly Edinburgh, from his kingdom of the Scots north of theFirth of Forth
854: The 12thC chroniclerSymeon of Durham mentions a church at Edwinesburch in 854 AD
934:Æthelstan attacks Lothian – according to theAnnals of Clonmacnoise, "Adalstan king of the Saxons preyed & spoyled the kingdom of Scotland to Edenburrogh, & yet the Scottishmen compelled him to return without any great victory"
c.960: Edinburgh comes under Scottish rule during the reign ofIndulf (954–62)
c.1018:Malcolm II secures Lothian for his kingdom after theBattle of Carham[2]
1074: Refortification of thecastle begins underMalcolm III who uses it increasingly as a royal residence
1093:Queen Margaret dies in the castle and is taken toDunfermline for burial
1124 to 1127: Royal Charter byDavid I granting a toft in "burgo meo de Edenesburg" to the Priory of Dunfermline, perhaps implyingRoyal burgh status for Edinburgh
1128: King David I foundsHolyrood Abbey[3]
c.1130: Probable date ofSt Margaret's Chapel erected inside Edinburgh Castle,[4] now recognised as Edinburgh's oldest building
c.1143: David I grants theAugustinian canons of Holyrood leave "to establish a burgh between that church and my burgh", thus founding the burgh ofCanongate
1162: Edinburgh is the caput of theLothiansheriffdom
1230:Alexander II founds largeDominicanfriary (Blackfriars);[5] a hospital is also open
1243: Edinburgh's parish church dedicated toSt Giles
1274: Lothian is an archdeaconry ofSt. Andrews
1296: Edward I captures and garrisons Edinburgh Castle after a three-day-long siege employing catapults
1314:Edinburgh Castle captured byThomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray; the castle isslighted on the orders ofRobert the Bruce to deny English occupiers a stronghold in the future[6]
1326–1331: Edinburgh's contribution to Scottish burgh taxes is 15%, half that ofAberdeen
1328: TheTreaty of Edinburgh is signed guaranteeing Scottish independence[7]
1329:Robert I's charter confirms the town royal burgh status with powers over the port ofLeith and its mills
1330: Wall between High Street andCowgate is first mentioned
1334: Scotland losesBerwick and Edinburgh Castle to the English (the loss of her main port increases the importance of Edinburgh and Leith)
1335: The castle is refortified byEdward III of England
1341: Scots regain castle from English
1349: An outbreak of theBlack Death occurs[8]
1356:Burnt Candlemas: Edward III burns the town but then retreats from lack of provisions
1357:David II returns after 11 years of captivity in England
1360: The castle is the usual royal residence, being strengthened in stone
1363: First reference toGrassmarket as "the street called Newbygging under the castle"
1364: David II grants ground for building of newtron (weigh beam)
1365:Jean Froissart visits Edinburgh. In hisChronicles he calls Edinburgh the "capital of Scotland" and the "Paris of Scotland"
1367: David II begins work on major fortifications at castle
1371: David II dies unexpectedly at the castle[9]
1384:Duke of Lancaster extorts ransom following end of truce
1385:Richard II of England burns the town
1386:Robert II grants ground for building of atolbooth
1387: Five newchapels are added to the Church of St Giles following English damage in 1385
1398: Edinburgh buys the east bank of the Water of Leith at South Leith from Sir Robert Logan with the right to erect wharves and quays and to make roads through the lands of Restalrig (the laterEaster Road) for the transport of goods and merchandise to and from the town
1400:Henry IV attempts to storm castle whenRobert III refuses homage.
1403: The earliest burgh record mentions the "Pretorio burgi" – theOld Tolbooth
1414: Edinburgh is granted further lands at Leith by Sir Robert Logan
1427:King's Wall first recorded
1437: The murder ofJames I atPerth leads to Edinburgh becoming the main royal residence and site of Parliaments, hence seen increasingly as the capital of Scotland
1438: The Old Tolbooth is used by theEstates of Parliament for the first time
1440: TheEarl of Douglas and his brother are murdered at the castle byChancellor Crichton
1440s: Edinburgh has 47% of Scottishwool trade
1450:James II grants charter permitting the building of a defensive town wall
1451: First record of Incorporation ofSkinners
1455–1458: Greyfriars (Franciscan)friary is founded
1457: The 20in (508mm) siege gun "Mons Meg" is received at the castle; Deacon ofgoldsmiths begins assaying and marking of works
1458: Edinburgh has one of three supreme courts in the country
1460:Trinity College Kirk and Hospital founded byMary of Guelders
1467–1469: St Giles' gains collegiate status, aprovost and 14prebendaries are established
1474: Furriers andTailors crafts become incorporations
1475:Websters,Wrights andMasons crafts incorporated
1477: Charter ofJames III ratifying and confirming the location of markets within the burgh;[10] The Hammermen (smiths) are incorporated
1479: A hospital is set up in Leith Wynd;Cordiners second Seal of Cause (a charter of privileges) granted
1482:James III awards the Crafts of Edinburgh the flag known as the 'Blue Blanket'
1485: Oppressive rules against dealings with inhabitants of Leith; stonetenements appear in the town
1488: Seal of Cause granted to the Incorporation ofFleshers
1490: The Franciscan friary closes
1492: Goldsmiths, originally part of Incorporation of Hammermen, form their own incorporation;Baxters incorporated
1497: Outbreak of the "grandgore" (syphilis); infected persons are quarantined at the King's command on the island ofInchkeith in the Firth of Forth
1500: Edinburgh pays 60% of Scotland's customs revenue;Waulkers craft granted Seal of Cause; c.1500Candlemakers receive Seal of Cause
1501-5:James IV buildsHolyrood Palace[3]
1503: James IV marriesMargaret Tudor[11]
1505:Barber surgeons form incorporation – later becomesRoyal College of Surgeons[12]
1507: James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland toWalter Chepman andAndrow Myllar[13]
1508: James IV charter allows firstfeuing of theburgh muir
1510: Edinburgh purchasesNewhaven from the Crown
1512: Launching of the "Great Michael" at Newhaven
1513: Defeat atFlodden leads to a new southernwall being begun[5]
1520: "Cleanse the Causeway" (30 April); pitched battle on theHigh Street between theDouglas andHamilton clans leads to theEarl of Angus (Douglas) seizing control of the town; Edinburgh is the "seat of courts of justice"
1523: The town has 14craft guilds
1528:James V enters the town with an army, to assert his right to rule; Holyrood Palace is extended
c.1528–c.1542: printing in Edinburgh re-established under royal licence granted toThomas Davidson
1530: There are 288brewers, mostly "alewives", in the town, one for every 40 people; Bonnetmakers craft receives Seal of Cause
1532: TheCourt of Session is established
1534: Norman Gourlay and David Stratton are burnt asheretics
1535–1556: Edinburgh contributes over 40% of Scotland's burgh taxation
1537:Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis isburnt at the stake
c.1540:Magdalen Chapel built in the Cowgate[14][15]
1544:Earl of Hertfordburns the town, including Holyrood Palace and Abbey
1547: Scottish army defeated by an English army at thebattle of Pinkie six miles east of Edinburgh; the routed Scots are pursued as far as Holyrood outside the town walls
1550:John Napier of Merchiston, discoverer oflogarithms, born
1558: Reformers destroy Blackfriars Monastery and Church;[5] the Flodden Wall is completed; Edinburgh's population is about 12,000; there are 367 merchants, and 400 craftsmen
1559: Town council appointsJohn Knox minister atSt. Giles
1560: English and French troops at theSiege of Leith withdraw underTreaty of Edinburgh;Scottish Reformation Parliament abolishes papal authority in Scotland
1561: Town council quells apprentice riot against banning (by 1555 Act of Parliament) of traditional May Day "Robin Hood" pageant;Mary, Queen of Scots returns to Scotland
1562: St. Giles' churchyard having reached capacity, Queen Mary grants town the use of the grounds of the Greyfriars as a new burial ground; Convenery of the Trades of Edinburgh established
1565: Mary, Queen of Scots, marriesHenry Stuart, Lord Darnley; the beheading machine known as "The Maiden" is introduced for executions
1566:David Rizzio is stabbed to death and Queen Mary is held captive in Holyrood Palace by Scottish nobles. She escapes toDunbar Castle and returns to Edinburgh with an army 9 days after Rizzio's murder.[16]
1567:Darnley is assassinated at theKirk o' Field; the prime suspectJames Hepburn is cleared of the murder; Edinburgh acquires South Leith
1569: The town is hit by an outbreak of the plague
1571:Netherbow Port rebuilt[17]
1573: TheMarian civil war is concluded when "the Queen's Men" are ousted from the castle by theRegent Morton
1574: The castle's Half-MoonBattery is built; there are seven mills in Edinburgh
1579:James VI makes hisState Entry to Edinburgh
1580s: There are some 400 merchants in Edinburgh
1581:James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton is executed for complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley
1582: TheUniversity of Edinburgh is founded and given aroyal charter – it is Scotland's fourth university
1583: Edinburgh, previously a single parish, divided into four parishes, each with its own minister; There are an estimated 500 merchants and 500 craftsmen in the town, of which 250 aretailors
1588: 736 merchants and 717 craftsmen enlisted for defence of the town against theSpanish Armada threat
1590: First paper mill in Scotland opens atMungo Russell's Dalry Mills (nearRoseburn).[18]
1590:Entry and coronation of Anne of Denmark.[19]
c.1590: Riddle's Court, off theLawnmarket, built by BailieJohn MacMorran, reputedly Edinburgh's richest merchant
1591:Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell escapes from imprisonment in Edinburgh castle.[20]
1592: Thekirk session of St. Giles conducts the first Edinburgh census: there are 2,239 households with 8,003 adults (over 12 years of age), split evenly between north and south of the High Street; 45 per cent of the employed (4,360) are domestic servants in households of the legal and merchant professions and town houses of the landed class
1593: Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell,raids Holyrood Palace.[21]
1594: Earl of Bothwell fails to seize the town
1595: Bailie John McMorran shot dead during an occupation by scholars of the Grammar School in High School Yards
1596: Clergy demand arms to defend King and Church against "papists"; Society of Brewers formed
1599: TheConvention of Estates meeting in Edinburgh ordains that the new year should begin on 1 January instead of 25 March
1600: Roads out of Edinburgh number twelve; the town council orders a gun salute, church bells rung and bonfires lit in thanks for King James's escape from theGowrie conspiracy; royal printers active in the period includedRobert Waldegrave and Robert Charteris
1602–c.1620: Construction ofGreyfriars Kirk
1603: KingJames VI of Scotland succeeds to the English throne and leaves Edinburgh;golf clubs manufactured for the King by William Mayne
1604: Execution by hanging of a chief of the MacGregors and eleven of his clansmen for theColquhoun massacre
1606: Netherbow Port rebuilt, replacing ruinous 1571 Port
1607: Town council employs EnglishmanJohn Orley and four "expert musicianes" playingshawms andhautbois as a town band
1608: Town council orders bonfires lit on 5 November in remembrance of the treasonableGunpowder Plot
1610–1621: PrinterAndro Hart active
1611: Town council appoints three postmasters with responsibility for the hiring of post horses.
1613:John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell hanged for the murder of the Laird ofJohnstone
1614:Napier's book oflogarithms published[22]
1615: Execution ofPatrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney after rebellion to overthrowthe king
1617: James VI visits Edinburgh for the only time after theUnion of the Crowns; 1550s building extended to form 5-storey and attic tenement in Lawnmarket later known asGladstone's Land
1618: Some tenement buildings reach seven storeys; population c. 25,000, of which approx. 475 are merchants
1619: Theprivy council orders the town to clean up its streets; a hospital of 1479 converted into aworkhouse
1620: Construction ofTailor's Hall in the Cowgate[23]
1621: Edinburgh andLeith pays 44% of Scottish non-wine customs duty, and 66% of wine duty
1622: "Lady Gray's House", later "Lady Stair's House" (now theWriters' Museum), built; fleshers required to move slaughterhouses to banks of the North Loch
1624: Plague epidemic;George Heriot dies after bequeathing a hospital for the maintenance and education of the "puir, faitherless bairns" of deceased Edinburghburgesses
1628–1659: Construction ofHeriot's Hospital
c.1628–1636: Telfer Wall, named after its builder, is built to enclose Greyfriars Kirk and Heriot's Hospital within the town's defences
1632: Construction begins on the newParliament House for theParliament of Scotland
1633: Edinburgh designated abishopric; Scottish coronation ofCharles I at Holyrood Abbey offendsPresbyterian sentiments
1635: First public Post established between Edinburgh and London by royal authority
1636: Edinburgh buys Regality of Canongate together with North Leith, parts of South Leith, andPleasance; construction of theTron Kirk begun; population of the town c.30,000
1637: Riots in protest at the introduction of a newPrayer Book;[24]supplication to removebishops from theprivy council
1638:National Covenant signed inGreyfriars Kirkyard[25]
1639: Decisions of GlasgowChurch of Scotland assembly ratified
1640: Completion of Parliament House
1641: Birth of SirRobert Sibbald, Geographer Royal[26]
1642 or 1645:Mary King's Close abandoned
1645-46: Outbreak of plague in Edinburgh and Leith[27]
1647: James Gordon of Rothiemay's map of Edinburgh; completion of the Tron Kirk
1649:Scottish Estates proclaim succession ofCharles II on 5 February; execution ofGeorge Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly byCovenanters; the suburbs ofWest Port and Potterrow purchased by the town council and erected into the barony ofPortsburgh
1650: Execution ofJames Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, by hanging; surrender of Edinburgh Castle to invading forces ofOliver Cromwell; early fire engine in Edinburgh; much of the Palace of Holyrood destroyed by fire;
1652: Introduction of a stagecoach to London with a journey time of a fortnight
1653: General Assembly broken up by English forces
1655: Council of state established; ministers yielded to the English
1657: The Guild of Apothecaries and Surgeons is established by the town council[8]
1659: Camel seen for the first time in the city ("Ane great beast calit ane drummondary, cleven futted like unto a kow.")
1660: Government of Scotland resumed by theCommittee of Estates; theMercurius Caledonius, arguably the first Scottish newspaper, written and edited byThomas Sydserf, published on 31 December
1661: Execution ofArchibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll[28]
1663: Execution ofArchibald Johnston of Warriston, co-author of the National Covenant of 1638; Edinburgh buys the burgh of regality of Leith Citadel
1671:John Law, founder of theBanque Générale, born[29]
1673: City's firstcoffeehouse opens at the head ofParliament Close; 20 licensed hackney coaches are available for hire
1674: German engineer, Peter Brauss or Brusche, creates a piped water supply, drawn gravitationally from Comiston Springs, three and a half miles from the city, to a cistern on Castle Hill; after a major fire in the High Street the town council orders all ruinous and burned tenements henceforth to be rebuilt in stone
1675: Physic garden planted at Holyrood founded byRobert Sibbald[30]
1678: First regular stagecoach to Glasgow
1679: Some 1200Covenanters are imprisoned atGreyfriars after thebattle of Bothwell Bridge; some are executed in theGrassmarket; town council organises a Town Guard (orCity Guard) for prevention of crime and disorder (disbanded 1817)
1681:Royal College of Physicians founded by Robert Sibbald[31] under patronage of the Duke of Albany and York (laterKing James VII and II);Merchant Company of Edinburgh receives Royal Charter;Viscount Stair'sInstitutions of the Laws of Scotland published
1682:Advocates Library, forerunner of theNational Library of Scotland, founded by SirGeorge Mackenzie with the Duke of Albany as patron;Mons Meg bursts during salute to theDuke of Albany and York on his entry to the town
1687: Goldsmiths granted Royal Charter
1688: Collapse of royal government in Scotland after Lord ChancellorJames Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth flees; mob riot wrecksJames VII's royal chapel inHolyrood Abbey
1689: TheConvention of Estates accepts the rule ofWilliam of Orange by right of conquest;Leven's Regiment (laterK.O.S.B.) raised for defence of the city againstJacobites; John Chiesley of Dalry hanged for the murder of theLord Advocate,Sir George Lockhart
1690s: Legal profession calculated to be more wealthy than merchant class; over 20% of the population employed in manufacture
1691: NewCanongate Kirk completed;[32] tax records reveal the city has 18 schoolmasters, 7 schoolmistresses, 40 booksellers, printers and stationers, and 65 wigmakers
1694: Professional classes outnumber merchants; 200 legals (advocates to lawyers), 24 surgeons, and 33 physicians; other occupations included aleseller, executioner, royal trumpeter, and keeper of thesignet; ratio of sexes, 70 males:100 females; domestic servants number over 5000
1695:Bank of Scotland established by Act of Parliament;[33] the Company of Scotland devises theDarien scheme[34]
1697: Execution ofThomas Aikenhead for blasphemy[35]
1698: Five ships set sail from Leith on 14 July to found a Scottish colony on theIsthmus of Darien
1700: Fire destroys Edinburgh's, some say Europe's, highest buildings behind St. Giles;Darien scheme fails when colony is abandoned
1702: Advocates Library moved from Faculty of Advocates to Parliament House
1706: Framework knitters fromHaddington are working in Edinburgh
1707:Act of Union passed by theParliament of Scotland[36]
1711:David Hume, philosopher, is born[37]
1713: The main radial roads into Edinburgh areturnpiked
1715:Jacobites occupyLeith Citadel, but make no attempt to enter Edinburgh
1718:Edinburgh Evening Courant newspaper is launched;damasks are woven at Drumsheugh
1720s:Daniel Defoe praises theHigh Street, decriesOld Tolbooth, notes sales of woollens, linens, drapery andmercery
1722:Signet Library is founded[38]
1725: Barony of Calton (includingCalton Hill) purchased by the city
1726: The poetAllan Ramsay establishes Britain's first circulating library;[39]Edinburgh Medical School founded at the town's college;[8]James Hutton, geologist, is born
1727:Royal Bank of Scotland established[40]
1729: The city's firstinfirmary is opened
1733:Alexander Monro Secundus, discoverer oflymphatic andnervous systems, is born
1735: Golf is played onBruntsfield Links; also the traditional date for the founding of the Royal Burgess Golfing Society
1736: TheRoyal Infirmary is given aRoyal charter;[41]Porteous Riots shake the city
1737: TheLord provost is debarred from office following the riots
1738: Edinburgh is described as the "world's leading medical centre";George Watson's College is founded[42]
1739:The Scots Magazine is first published in the city
1740: There are four printing firms in Edinburgh; the biographerJames Boswell is born
1741: Royal Infirmary designed byWilliam Adam opens in, what became, Infirmary Street
1744: The first premises at Fountainbridge are built, with more than five looms; first known rules of golf drawn up in Edinburgh for the Gentlemen Golfers of Edinburgh for a competition atLeith Links
1745:Charles Edward Stuart enters the city and proclaims his fatherJames VIII and III; in the "Canter of Coltbrigg", dragoons flee Jacobites
1746: TheBritish Linen Company is formed
1747: A theatre is established at Playhouse Close in the Canongate
1748: Moral philosopher and political economistAdam Smith delivers his first series of public lectures at theUniversity of Edinburgh
1749: A stagecoach service opens between Edinburgh and Glasgow
1750: Birth of the poetRobert Fergusson[43]
1751: A survey shows a severe state ofdilapidation in theOld Town
1752:Convention of Royal Burghs publishes proposals for new public buildings, the draining of theNor Loch and the city's expansion, which are accepted and implemented by the town council
1753: Stagecoach services are introduced to London (taking two weeks)
1754: Building of the Royal Exchange (laterEdinburgh City Chambers) in the High Street begins; the Select Society is founded;Mons Meg removed from the castle to theTower of London
1755: Dr. Webster's census puts the population of Edinburgh, Canongate, St Cuthbert's and Leith at 57,220
1757–1770: Linen weaving works in Canongate
1758: Stagecoach services are introduced toNewcastle (taking one week)
1760:Thomas Braidwood establishes first school in Britain for deaf children; the main linen stamping office is in the city
1760s: Woollen cloth isbeetled in alapping house in Edinburgh
1761: The Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society is formed
1763: Draining of the eastern end of theNor Loch and construction of theNorth Bridge, designed byWilliam Mylne, begins;St Cecilia's Hall, byRobert Mylne, Scotland's first purpose-built concert hall, erected; a four-horse coach runs to Glasgow three times a week
1764:Netherbow Port demolished to facilitate traffic flow
1765: The Glasgow coach now runs daily
1766: The competition to design theNew Town is won byJames Craig
1767: Construction of the New Town begins with the first residence being built in Thistle Court.
1768-71: First edition ofEncyclopædia Britannica produced in Anchor Close
1769: Opening of the firstTheatre Royal at the north end of the North Bridge; 5 people killed by the collapse of the bridge's southern abutment; Society of Bowlers founded and draws up rules of the game
1770s: There are 27 competing printing firms in the city
1771: SirWalter Scott is born in College Wynd
1772: Reconstruction of the North Bridge completed; building ofDundas House, onSt Andrew Square, designed bySir William Chambers begins
1773:Dr Johnson visits Edinburgh;Penny Post begun byPeter Williamson
1774: Construction ofRobert Adam'sRegister House at east end of Princes Street begins
Mid 1770s: TheBritish Linen Company completely switches to banking[44]
1775: Population of Edinburgh, Canongate, St Cuthbert's and Leith is 70,430; new St Cuthbert's Church opens; a directory of brothels and prostitutes is published
1777: A newHigh School building opens in High School Yards; 8 legal and 400 illegaldistilleries in the city
1778:Younger's Brewery established within the precincts of Holyrood Abbey[45]
1780: National Museum of Antiquities established as part ofSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland (later housed in the Royal Institution on The Mound in 1827 and in Queen Street in 1891)
1782: System of parliamentary representation is criticised by Thomas McGrugar in "Letters of Zeno"
1783:Royal Society of Edinburgh created by Royal Charter for "the advancement of learning and useful knowledge";Society of Antiquaries of Scotland incorporated by Royal Charter for "the study of the antiquities and history of Scotland..."; proposal for the construction of "The Earthen Mound" begins[46]
1784:James Tytler makes the first hot-air balloon ascent in Britain from Comely Gardens to Restalrig village; meeting discusses corrupt electoral system
1785: Italian balloonistVincent Lunardi makes his first Scottish hydrogen balloon flight from the grounds of Heriot's School, landing 46 miles away inCeres, Fife; Old Tolbooth becomes usual place of execution[47]
1785–1786: Stone bridge atStockbridge
1785–1788: TheSouth Bridge is built
1786: TheAyrshire poetRobert Burns is fêted by the city's social elite
1787: NewAssembly Rooms opened in George Street[48]
1788:William Brodie is executed – leader of a gang of robbers
1789: The first stone of Edinburgh University'sOld College is laid[49][50]
1791: A census puts the population of the city at 82,706 with 29,718 in the City of Edinburgh (22,512 in the Old Town and 7,206 in the New Town), 6,200 in Canongate Parish, 32,947 in St Cuthbert's Parish, 11,432 in South Leith Parish and 2,409 in North Leith Parish;Robert Burns visits the city for the second and last time
1792:The Friends of the People Society meets for the first time; Charlotte Square designed by Robert Adam; James Craig's Old Observatory completed on Calton Hill
1793: Sedition trials held:Thomas Muir of Huntershill and other radical reformers are sentenced to transportation
1794: Robert Watt, a former spy, is sentenced to death for "Pike Plot"
1797: Snuff manufacturer James Gillespie dies after bequeathing a hospital for the aged poor and a "free school for the education of poor boys"
1799: City has access to 3 million litres of drinking water a day
1800: Stein's Canongate brewery is built
1802: Demolition of theLuckenbooths (apart from east-most) in the High Street begins; architects William Sibbald andRobert Reid produce a final plan for the building of a 'Second New Town' north of James Craig's New Town; theEdinburgh Review is published[51]
1802–1806:Bank of Scotland head office is built
1803:William andDorothy Wordsworth stay in the White Hart Inn in the Grassmarket
1805: Edinburgh Police Act 1805 (45 Geo. 3. c. xxi) establishes police commissioners with responsibility for policing the city (and also cleansing and lighting)
1807-15:Nelson Monument erected onCalton Hill
1810: Construction of Signet Library building byRobert Reid begins (interior by William Stark, 1812–13)
1811–1812:Tron riot, 68 youths were arrested[52]
1813:Royal Edinburgh Hospital, originally called the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum, opens inMorningside[53][54]
1814:Waverley, the first of theWaverley Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott, is published; a protest meeting againstWest Indian slavery is held; two coaches a day run toStirling
1815:Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society established[55]
1816–1819:Regent Bridge is built
1817: First copy ofThe Scotsman newspaper is published in January;Blackwood's Magazine first published; theOld Tolbooth and the remaining Luckenbooth in the High Street are demolished; new County Buildings are erected on the west side of Parliament Square
1818: TheUnion Canal is begun; newCalton Hill observatory is founded by theEdinburgh Astronomical Institution; theScottish regalia are found in Edinburgh Castle; Cambridge geologist and antiquarianEdward Daniel Clarke likens Edinburgh topographically to Athens, a view echoed in 1820 by landscape painter Hugh William Williams who coins the terms "Modern Athens" and "Athens of the North"; gas lighting makes its first appearance[56]
1819: Five coaches a day run between Edinburgh and Glasgow, taking 12 hours for the journey of 42 miles (68 km)
1820: Remaining western end of the Nor Loch drained;Charlotte Square completed; there are protests atGeorge IV's treatment of Queen Caroline; theRoyal Botanic Garden begins its move from Leith Walk to Inverleith; the Radical Road built along base of Salisbury Crags
1821: The official government census gives the population of Edinburgh and Leith as 138,235 with Leith as approx. 26,000; Melville Monument in honour ofHenry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville erected in St. Andrew Square
1822:George IV visits Edinburgh and wears thekilt; the firstHighland and Agricultural Show takes place; theUnion Canal opens; Princes Street's 79 oil lamps are replaced by 53 gas lamps
1822–29: Building of National Monument dedicated to Napoleonic war dead and designed in style of the Parthenon begun on Calton Hill (but abandoned through lack of public subscriptions)
1823: The Bannatyne Club is founded; the Edinburgh Academy is built at a cost of £12,000
1824: TheGreat Fire of Edinburgh destroys the buildings between theTron Kirk (which loses its spire) and Parliament Close just months afterJames Braidwood organises Britain's first municipal fire brigade;James Hogg's novelConfessions of a Justified Sinner, set in Edinburgh, is published
1825:Standard Life Assurance Company established;[57] eight Royal Mail coaches and over fifty stage coaches leave Edinburgh each day; the foundation stone of the newRoyal High School, costing £17,000, is laid
1826: TheRoyal Institution opens, designed byWilliam Henry Playfair; the Scottish Academy (later theRoyal Scottish Academy) is founded;John Bartholomew founds the mapmaking firmJohn Bartholomew & Son Ltd.
1827: Walter Scott reveals himself to be the author of theWaverley novels at a Theatrical Fund dinner in the George Street Assembly Rooms
1828:Burke and Hare are arrested for the "West Port Murders". Burke is put on trial and convicted on Hare's evidence[58]
1829: Building ofGeorge IV Bridge andDean Bridge begins; the murderer William Burke is hanged; the new Royal High School opens;Walter Scott arranges the return ofMons Meg to Edinburgh Castle
1830:Advocates Library by William Henry Playfair constructed; The Mound is macadamised and more or less complete
1831: Major outbreak of cholera;[8] the official government census puts Edinburgh's population at 162,403;James Clerk Maxwell born in India Street; opening of theEdinburgh and Dalkeith Railway (known as The Innocent Railway), the first to come into the city. It uses horse-drawn carriages
1832:Surgeons' Hall by William Henry Playfair, the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, completed; outbreak ofcholera in the city (recurs 1848 and 1866); The Scotsman newspaper incorporates the Caledonian Mercury
1833: The city goes bankrupt; partly due to the development ofLeith docks[59]
1835: No further expansion of the New Town takes place after the incomplete building of Hopetoun Crescent off Leith Walk
1836: The Royal Institution extended
1840: Bernard's Edinburgh Brewery in North Back of Canongate (Calton Road) opens
1841: The population according to the government census is 133,692. The figure for Leith is 26,026
1841–1851:Donaldson's Hospital (school for the Deaf) is built
1842: Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line is open to the public; Queen Victoria includes the city in her first visit to Scotland
1843:Disruption of theChurch of Scotland; Queen's Drive laid through theQueen's Park (completed 1847; extended toDuddingston, 1856);Warriston Cemetery opened
1844: Tolbooth Church (nowThe Hub) completed to house theGeneral Assembly of the Church of Scotland;Political Martyrs' Monument erected on Calton Hill;North British Railway Company established
1844–1846: TheScott Monument is built
1846:New College byPlayfair built for theFree Church of Scotland; publication of pioneering inquiry 'Day And Night in the Wynds of Edinburgh' by Dr. George Bell draws public attention to poverty, overcrowding and slum conditions in the Old Town; North British Railway opens the North Bridge terminus of its Berwick-Edinburgh line
1847: Half of Edinburgh's population attend the funeral ofThomas Chalmers;[citation needed]Dr. Simpson announces his discovery of the anaesthetic properties ofchloroform;[8] theEdinburgh and Glasgow Railway line is extended from itsHaymarket terminus to a new Edinburgh General station adjoining the newCanal Street station and North British terminus (the three termini becoming known collectively asEdinburgh Waverley, c.1854);Alexander Graham Bell is born in South Charlotte Street
1848:Trinity College Kirk dismantled to make way for the expansion of North Bridge station; EdinburghBurns Supper Club first established
1849: New reservoir building erected on Castlehill
1850:Robert Louis Stevenson born in Howard Place;[60] the foundation stone of theScottish National Gallery is laid;Younger's Holyrood Brewery is enlarged for the third time
1851: According to the census, Edinburgh and Leith's population is 191,303; the British Linen Bank head office opens on St. Andrew Square
1852:Duke of Wellington statue erected in front of Register House
1853: TheEdinburgh Trades Council is established; acamera obscura is installed inShort's Observatory on Castle Hill (renamed theOutlook Tower in 1896)
1854: Several passers-by killed when part of the old town wall collapses on the west side of Leith Wynd; town council orders removal of a 150-foot long stretch of remaining wall south of the collapsed section.
1856: Edinburgh Municipal Extension Act incorporates the Canongate, Calton and Portsburgh in the city;North British Rubber Company rubber mill (in former silk mill) andMcEwan's Fountain Brewery open in Fountainbridge
1857: Fire destroys the western half of James' Court, off the Lawnmarket; St. Margaret's Loch formed in theQueen's Park
1859: The National Gallery opens; Cockburn Street laid to give access to Waverley Station from the High Street; Melville Drive laid throughthe Meadows;Arthur Conan Doyle born in Picardy Place: last performance at the Theatre Royal in Shakespeare Square, the site is compulsorily purchased for the erection of a General Post Office; firstSt. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society shop opens on corner of Fountainbridge and Ponton Street
1860: Bank of Scotland has 43 branches
1860-68: First edition ofChambers Encyclopaedia published byRobert andWilliam Chambers
1861: Building of Industrial Museum (called the Museum of Science and Art by the time it opened and later theRoyal Scottish Museum) begins beside theOld College of the University; construction of the General Post Office on Waterloo Place (on the site of the Theatre Royal) begins; first firing of the Time Gun ("one o'clock gun") from the castle; 35 are killed in a tenement collapse between Bailie Fyfe's Close and Paisley Close in the High Street
1864: Last public hanging in theLawnmarket; the Bank of Scotland head office re-designed and extended over the next 6 years
1865:Dr. Littlejohn's report on the city's sanitation paints a picture of degradation and high death rates; Queen's Theatre and Opera House, built in 1855 in Broughton Street, changes name to Theatre Royal
1867: The Edinburgh City Improvement Act, conceived in the wake of Littlejohn's report, receives the Royal assent and initiates the rebuilding of theOld Town; Scottish Women's Suffrage Society holds meetings for first time
1868: Craigleith Hospital and Poorhouse opens, later develops into theWestern General Hospital
1869:Lorimer & Clark's brewery opens on Slateford Road,Gorgie;Sophia Jex-Blake becomes first female medical student
1870: FirstPrinces Street railway station opens (replaced 1893);[61]Fettes College opens; Chambers Street is laid
1870–1879: Building of the new Royal Infirmary, the biggest hospital in Europe under one roof
1871: First street tramway (between the Bridges and Haymarket);[62]Greyfriars Bobby Fountain is erected outsideGreyfriars Kirk;[63] firstrugby international (Scotland v. England) played on theEdinburgh Academy ground atRaeburn Place[64]
1872:Ross Fountain erected in Princes Street Gardens; construction of Watt Institution and School of Arts begins in Chambers Street
1872–1883: Restoration ofSt. Giles'
1874:Heart of Midlothian F.C. formed
1875:Hibernian F.C. formed; Institute of Bankers founded;Cockburn Association (Edinburgh Civic Trust) founded
1877: Hall of new Trinity Church in Chalmers Close completed incorporating apse fromTrinity College Kirk
1879:St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Palmerston Place consecrated; R. L. Stevenson'sPicturesque Notes, describing the city and its society, is published;William Ewart Gladstone addresses 20,000 people in Waverley Market at start ofMidlothian campaign;[citation needed] theRoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh moves toLauriston Place[8]
1881:Queen Victoria hosts a parade of 39,473 Scottish Volunteers in a heavy downpour of rain at Holyrood, giving rise to the occasion being remembered as the "Wet Review"; Dean Distillery opens, converted from Dean Mills
1882: Chair of Celtic established at Edinburgh University;[65] City brought to standstill by severe winter weather
1883:Royal Lyceum Theatre built[66]
1884:Blackford Hill acquired by the city for use as a public park
1885: Watt Institution and School of Arts becomesHeriot-Watt College; reconstructedMercat Cross handed over to the city by benefactor William Ewart Gladstone; Caledonian Distillery opens at Haymarket, at one time the largest distillery in Europe
1886: The EdinburghInternational Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art takes place in theMeadows; 'Cooke's Circus', a combined circus and variety theatre, opens in East Fountainbridge
1887: TheEdinburgh School of Medicine for Women founded bySophia Jex-Blake;[8] production starts atNorth British Distillery inGorgie area
1888: Slight earthquake felt in the city at 5am on 2 February;Flying Scotsman train reaches Edinburgh from London in 6 hours 19 minutes during theRace to the North
1889: Opening of theBraid Hills to the public following acquisition by the city
1890:Central Library on George IV Bridge, partly paid for byAndrew Carnegie, opens to public
1891:Scottish National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland opens on Queen Street; the census gives Edinburgh's population as 269,407 (including 8,182Portobello residents)
1892:Jenners department store in Princes Street burns down (rebuilt store opens 1895);Drybrough's brewery moves to Craigmillar
1893:Caledonian Railway'sPrinces Street Station completed
1894:McVitie & Price Ltd bakery rebuilt in Gorgie; the newParish Church of St Cuthbert, byHippolyte Blanc, is dedicated
1895:Royal National Observatory built on Blackford Hill; first electric street lighting installed
1896: First female doctors graduate from theUniversity of Edinburgh;[8] Portobello is incorporated into Edinburgh
1897: Opening of the rebuilt North Bridge at a cost of £90,000; cable car track laid in Princes Street
1900: Construction of newMidlothian County Buildings begins, replacing old County Hall of 1817; Stockbridge gains a library and hall; character actorAlastair Sim is born; Robert Younger's St Ann's Brewery, Abbeyhill begins brewing
1901: University appoints its firstProfessor of Scottish history; theRoyal High School has 350 pupils; first use of the name 'Royal Mile' to describe the main thoroughfare of the Old Town
1902: NewWaverley Station completed, covering 70,000 square metres; theNorth British Hotel is also built
1903: Caledonian Hotel opens;[66] world's firstfloral clock installed in West Princes Street Gardens
1905: Moray House in Canongate becomes a teacher training centre
1905–1906:King's Theatre is built at Tollcross[67]
1907: Work begins on constructing theEdinburgh College of Art[68]
1908: Scottish National Exhibition held inSaughton Park[69]
1910: First electric trams run; Bank of Scotland has 169 branches
1910–1913:Scottish National Zoological Park laid out at Corstorphine
1910–1914:Usher Hall is built[66]
1911: Empire Palace Theatre, nowFestival Theatre, partially burns down during The Great Lafayette's final act. 10 people die, including The Great Lafayette, and the theatre is closed while the stage is rebuilt and reopened in 1913; 'Cooke's Circus', East Fountainbridge converted to the Palladium Cinema
1912: La Scala Electric Theatre (cinema) opens in Nicolson Street; the first purpose-built cinema in the city, the Haymarket, opens in Dalry Road
1914: Sixteen players ofHeart of Midlothian F.C. enlist for active service in theGreat War; seven players from the first team are subsequently killed in action; construction ofHM Prison Edinburgh begins
1915: Funeral and burial of victims of theQuintinshill rail disaster atRosebank Cemetery
1916:Zeppelin raid causes 11 fatalities; Bank of Scotland has first female employee
1916–1918: Tanks are built by Brown Brothers in the city
1920: Edinburgh Extension Act:Leith,Colinton,Corstorphine,Cramond,Gilmerton,Liberton andLongstone incorporated into city
1921: Garrick Theatre in Grove Street burns down[70]
1923:Edinburgh Corporation Tramways operates its last cable-hauled tram; last hanging takes place at the Calton Prison (executions continue at HM Prison Edinburgh)
1925: TheNational Library of Scotland is formed from the non-legal collections of theAdvocates Library;[71]Murrayfield Stadium opens[64]
1926:Calton Prison closes[72] and later demolish in the 1930s
1928: The inaugural non-stop Flying Scotsman train hauled by theFlying Scotsman locomotive – regular journey time between Edinburgh and London cut to 7 hours 30 minutes; the city's first traffic lights are at Broughton Street
1928–1939: Edinburgh's firstSpeedway track operates at Marine Gardens,Portobello
1929: Statues ofWallace andBruce unveiled at the castle as part of sexcentenary celebrations to mark the granting of Robert the Bruce's burgh charter;Playhouse cinema opens;crematorium opens atWarriston Cemetery
1930: BBC moves its Scottish headquarters from Glasgow to EdinburghQueen Street (until 1935); actorSean Connery born inFountainbridge
1932: George Watson's College moves to Morningside
1934: Royal visit of KingGeorge V andQueen Mary; several people injured in disturbances when SirOswald Mosley addresses aFascist rally at the Usher Hall
1934–1937: Construction of Sheriff Courthouse (now theHigh Court of Justiciary) in the Lawnmarket
1935: Ross Bandstand replaces the Victorian bandstand in Princes Street Gardens
1935–1939:St. Andrew's House built on site of recently demolished Calton Prison to house theScottish Office and offices of theSecretary of State for Scotland
1936: 17 per cent of Edinburgh's houses are overcrowded; Portobello Open Air Bathing Pool opens
1939: The Bank of Scotland has 266 branches; the headquarters of Edinburgh Savings Bank is built
1943: TheNorth of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board is created, with its headquarters in Edinburgh
1946: A telephone upgrade takes place, allowing all-city dialling; major fire closes down the Theatre Royal, Broughton Street, the last of four Theatres Royal to be burnt out on this site
1946–1947: Electric trams in the city carry 16 million passengers a month
1947:Edinburgh International Festival is launched; Turnhouse aerodrome becomes Edinburgh's civil airport; restoration of theCanongate begins
1948: FirstMilitary Tattoo performed at the castle (becomes an official part of the Festival in 1950)
1948–1954:Speedway racing revived atOld Meadowbank stadium, home ofLeith Athletic F.C. (and again between 1960 and 1967)
1949: The Abercrombie Plan proposes major road developments in Edinburgh which remain unimplemented
1950:Tram system begins to be run down; the firstRoyal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the Castle Esplanade attracts around 6000 spectators
1951: March of the Thousand Pipers on Princes Street and Gathering of the Clans at Murrayfield Stadium; two central (manual) phone exchanges handle over 9,500 lines
1952: Bank of Scotland takes over Union Bank of Scotland, giving 453 combined branches;Murrayfield Ice Arena (built 1938–39) opens after use as army depot since outbreak of war; Cold War bunker atBarnton Quarry established at site of wartime operations room[73]
1953: First royal visit ofQueen Elizabeth to Edinburgh following her coronation. She attended a National Service at St Giles' Cathedral on 24 June[74]
1954: Last judicial execution (by hanging) takes place atSaughton Prison
1955:Museum of Childhood, the world's first museum dedicated to childhood, opens;C&A Modes department store on Princes Street destroyed by fire
1956:Edinburgh Corporation Tramways operates for the last time on 16 November;National Library of Scotland opens; USSR premier Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev visit Holyrood Palace andScottish National War Memorial
1958: Queen receives lastdebutantes at Holyrood Palace[75]
1959: Old Town population declines to 2,000
1961:Muriel Spark's novelThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is published
1962: State visit ofKing Olav of Norway;[76] theUnion Canal, having fallen into disuse, officially closes
1963:Evening Despatch andEdinburgh Evening News merge;[77] Gaumont Cinema fire leads to closure (demolished three years later); Empire Theatre becomesbingo hall;Traverse Theatre opens in Lawnmarket
1964: Rock groupThe Beatles perform at the ABC Cinema, Lothian Road;[78]The Rolling Stones perform at the Usher Hall and return the following year[79]
1965: Princes Street railway station closes;[61] the City Planning Committee announces the building of an inner ring road in the form of a partly elevated six-lane highway encircling central Edinburgh, but the plan is abandoned after public opposition and the negative findings of a public inquiry held at the end of 1967
1966:Heriot-Watt gains university status[80]
1967:Mortonhall Crematorium is dedicated[81]
1968: Palladium Theatre fails, and becomes a disco
1968–1969: TheRoyal Bank of Scotland takes overNational Commercial Bank of Scotland
1969: Bank of Scotland absorbsBritish Linen Bank; Tollcross Bus Depot closes
1970: City hosts the 9thCommonwealth Games;[82] the St James' Centre, including New St. Andrews House, is completed
1971:Tom Farmer startsKwik Fit[83]
1972: A youth hostel opens at Eglinton Crescent; Bell's Mills are destroyed by an explosion;Eurovision Song Contest held in Usher Hall[84]
1975: Local government reorganisation replaces Edinburgh Corporation withLothian Regional Council and the City of Edinburgh District Council;Balerno,Currie,Ratho,Newbridge,Kirkliston andSouth Queensferry are included within the city boundary
1976: A new Fountain Brewery is built byScottish & Newcastle (the last of its buildings demolished in 2012)
1980:Debenhams open a Princes Street store
1980s: Restoration of houses in the Old Town leads to a population increase in the area
1981: Royal Insurance Group headquarters moves to Glasgow
1984:Mikhail Gorbachev, Chairman for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Soviet Union, stays at Holyrood Palace during his visit to Scotland
1985: The population of the city is 440,000; Edinburgh University institutes a Chair ofParapsychology;[85] Portobello Open Air Bathing Pool closes
1986: City hosts the 13thCommonwealth Games[82]
1988:Eleanor McLaughlin becomes Edinburgh's first femaleLord Provost
1989: National Gallery of Scotland renovated
1990:Edinburgh Castle is first, andHolyrood Palace eighth, in ranking of paid Scottish tourist attractions
1993: First EdinburghHogmanay Street Party held as an organised event[86]
1994:Murrayfield Stadium rebuilt[64]
1995:Cutty Sark Tall Ships at Leith Docks;[87] Infirmary Street baths close[88]
1996: TheCity of Edinburgh Council is created, replacing the former District and Regional Councils;[89] theStone of Destiny transported from Westminster Abbey to Edinburgh Castle[90]
1998: TheMuseum of Scotland is built as an extension to the Royal Scottish Museum.[91]
1999: TheScottish Parliament is opened byQueen Elizabeth in theAssembly Hall on The Mound[92]
2002: A majorfire destroys part of the Cowgate and buildings on the South Bridge;[93] first EdinburghMakar appointed,Stewart Conn[94]
2003:MTV Europe Music Awards held atOcean Terminal, Leith;[95] theRoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh moves toLittle France[8]
2004: TheScottish Parliament Building opens[96]
2005: An estimated 225,000 people march through the city as part of the "Make Poverty History" campaign, calling on world leaders to act at theG8 summit being held atGleneagles.[97]
2008: Work begins on newtramway (the project is beset by difficulties, taking six years to lay 14 km of track)[98]
2009: City hosts the biggest international clan gathering as part ofHomecoming Scotland[99]
2010:Pope Benedict XVI received byQueen Elizabeth at Holyrood Palace at the start of his state visit to Great Britain.[100]
2010–13:Waverley Station roof renovated[101]
2011: TheScottish National Portrait Gallery opens after two years long renovation;[102] the city hostsArmed Forces Day;[103] two giant pandas from China, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, arrive atEdinburgh Zoo[104]
2012:The Edinburgh Agreement between theScottish Government and theUK Government on the terms of theScottish independence referendum 2014 is signed in Edinburgh.[105]
2013: To mark the 500th anniversary of theBattle of Flodden, a minute's silence for the town's dead is observed at theMercat Cross on 8 September.[106]
2014: Completion ofnew tramway between the city centre andEdinburgh Airport[98]
Account of the Procession, & c. at laying the Foundation-stone of the New College Of Edinburgh, Nov. 16. ...
