55°57′02″N3°11′08″W / 55.95056°N 3.18556°W /55.95056; -3.18556
 View looking east down the Royal Mile past theTron Kirk | |
| Type | Commercial |
|---|---|
| Length | 1.58 km (0.98 mi) |
| Location | Edinburgh |
| Postal code | EH1 |
| Nearest metro station | Waverley |
TheRoyal Mile (Scottish Gaelic:Am Mìle Rìoghail)[1] is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of theOld Town ofEdinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage.[2]
The Royal Mile runs between two significant locations in the royalhistory of Scotland,Edinburgh Castle andHolyrood Palace, and has a total length of approximately one mile.[3] The streets which make up the Royal Mile are (west to east) Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand. The Royal Mile is the busiesttourist street in the Old Town, rivalled only byPrinces Street in theNew Town.
The Royal Mile contains a variety of shops, restaurants, public houses, and visitor attractions. During the annualEdinburgh Fringe, the High Street becomes crowded with tourists, entertainers, andbuskers. Parliament Square is at the heart of Scotland's legal system, being the home of both the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session.[4]
Retreating ice sheets, many millennia ago, deposited theirglacial debris behind the hardvolcanic plug of the castle rock on which Edinburgh Castle stands, resulting in a distinctivecrag and tail formation. Running eastwards from the crag on which the castle sits, the Royal Mile sits upon the ridge of the tail which slopes gently down to Holyrood Palace. Steepcloses (or alleyways) run between the many talllands (ortenement buildings) off the main thoroughfare. The route runs from an elevation of 138 feet (42 m) above sea level at the palace to 358 feet (109 m) at the castle, giving an averagegradient of 4.1%.
The Castle Esplanade was laid out as a parade ground, in 1753, using spoil from the building of the Royal Exchange (now theCity Chambers). It was formalised in 1816 when it was widened and provided with decorative railings and walls. The Esplanade with its several monuments has been Category A-listed byHistoric Scotland.[5] It is the venue of the annualEdinburgh Military Tattoo at which time specially designed temporarygrandstands are erected.
From the Castle Esplanade, the first building on the right isCannonball House which has a cannonball lodged in the wall facing the Esplanade, often said to have been accidentally fired from the Castle but which actually marks the elevation of Comiston Springs, three miles to the south of the Castle, which fed acistern on Castlehill, one of the first piped water supplies in Scotland.[6]
Castlehill is dominated by the former Tolbooth-Highland-St John's Church (on the south side at the foot of this section), now the headquarters of theEdinburgh International Festival society –The Hub, and on the north side by theOutlook Tower and Camera Obscura. TheAssembly Hall of theChurch of Scotland andNew College are further down on the same side. TheScottish Parliament met in the Assembly Hall between 1999 and 2004.
The Lawnmarket is a separately named part of the High Street. Addresses are a continuation of the High Street numbers. It runs from the West Bow to St Giles Street.
A charter of 1477 designated this part of the High Street as the market-place for what was called "inland merchandise" – items such as yarn, stockings, coarse cloth and other similar articles. In later years, linen was the main product sold. As a result, it became known as the Land Market[7] which was later corrupted to Lawn Market.[8][9] Located in a close on the south side, Riddle's Court is the well-preserved 16th-century house of a merchantJohn MacMorran, who was shot by rioting schoolboys in 1595.[10]
Today, the majority of shops in the street are aimed at tourists. On the north side is the preserved 17th century merchant's townhouseGladstone's Land owned by theNational Trust for Scotland. The lower end of the Lawnmarket is intersected byGeorge IV Bridge on the right (south) and Bank Street on the left (north), leading toThe Mound and the New Town. The view down Bank Street is closed by thebaroque headquarters of theBank of Scotland.
On the south-west corner of this intersection, with its entrance on George IV Bridge, is the Hotel Missoni, replacing the former Lothian Regional Council offices. This building is of controversial design, winning aScottish Civic Trust award and a 2010RIBA award,[11] but also being nominated for (but not winning) theCarbuncle Cup in 2009.[12]
Between Bank Street and St Giles Street, marking the end of the Lawnmarket, theHigh Court of Justiciary, Scotland'ssupreme criminal court, is housed in theJusticiary Building.[13]
On the south side, about one-third of the way down from the Castle toward the Palace isParliament Square, named after the oldParliament House which housed both the law courts and the oldParliament of Scotland between the 1630s and 1707 (when its existence was ended by theAct of Union). Parliament House now houses theCourt of Session,Scotland's supreme civil court.St Giles' Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, also stands in Parliament Square.
By the West Door of St Giles' is theHeart of Midlothian, a heart-shaped pattern built into the "setted" road, marking the site of theOld Tolbooth, formerly the centre of administration, taxation and justice in theburgh. The prison was described bySir Walter Scott as the "Heart of Midlothian", and soon after demolition the city fathers marked the site with a heart mosaic. Locals have traditionally spat upon the heart's centre as a sign of contempt for the prison. On the north side, opposite St Giles', standEdinburgh City Chambers, where theCity of Edinburgh Council meets. On the south side, just past the High Kirk, is theMercat Cross from which royal proclamations are read and the summoning of Parliament announced.
The whole south side of buildings from St Giles to theTron Kirk had to be rebuilt or refaced in the 1820s following theGreat Edinburgh Fire of 1824. This was done in a Georgian style, stepping down the hill.
The central focus of the Royal Mile is a major intersection with the Bridges.North Bridge runs north overWaverley station to the New Town's Princes Street.South Bridge (which appears at street level to be simply a road with shops on either side—only one arch is visible from below) spans theCowgate to the south, a street in a hollow below, and continues as Nicolson Street past theOld College building of theUniversity of Edinburgh.
AtJohn Knox's House the High Street narrows to a section of the street formerly known as the Netherbow, which, at its crossroads with Jeffrey Street (north) and St Mary's Street (south), marked the former city boundary. At this point stood theNetherbow Port, afortified gateway between Edinburgh andthe Canongate (until 1856 a separate burgh), which was removed in 1764 to improve traffic flow. TheScottish Storytelling Centre is a modern extension to John Knox House, owned by the Church of Scotland. It opened in 2006, replacing the former Netherbow Arts Centre, which itself replaced the Moray-Knox Church in the 1960s. Following the English victory over the Scots at theBattle of Flodden in 1513, a city wall was built around Edinburgh known as theFlodden Wall, some parts of which survive. The Netherbow Port was a gateway in this wall andbrass studs in the road mark its former position. On the corner of St Mary's Street is the World's End Pub which takes its name from the adjacent World's End Close, whimsically so named because this was in former times the last close in Edinburgh before entering the Canongate.[14][15]
There was a triumph or show at the Salt Tron and other locations on the Royal Mile to celebrate the marriage ofMary, Queen of Scots, andFrancis II of France, on 3 July 1558. Thewedding itself took place in Paris on 24 April 1558.[16] The Edinburgh entertainment was written and produced byWilliam Lauder and William Adamson.[17]Walter Binning painted the "play cart" for actors portraying the signs of the seven planets and Cupid. Artificial "summer trees" decorated with fruit made from tennis balls covered with gold foil or leaf were placed on four stages.[18] The seven planets had been portrayed in a show in Paris after the wedding.[19]
Other 16th-century royal entertainments at the Tron and on the Royal Mile include theEntry of Mary, Queen of Scots (1561), theEntry of James VI (1579), and theEntry of Anne of Denmark (1590).[20] In July 1598, scholars fromEdinburgh High School put on a satirical play at the Tolbooth. Costumes were made for the characters of a Pope, two Cardinals, and several friars. After the performance the costumes were donated to the poor.[21]
Several infamous murders have taken place on the central section of the Royal Mile:
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Beyond the crossroads, the Royal Mile continues down the Canongate, meaning literally "the canons' way" when it was used in former times by theAugustinian canons ofHolyrood Abbey.[22] The street continues downhill pastMoray House (now the main academic offices ofMoray House School of Education of the University of Edinburgh), theCanongate Tolbooth (now a museum of social history calledThe People's Story), theKirk of the Canongate (the Canongate's parish church and a thriving congregation of the Church of Scotland) and the newScottish Parliament Building to Holyrood Palace and the ruined abbey. Until 1856 the Canongate was not merely a street, but the name of the surrounding burgh, separate from Edinburgh and outside the Flodden Wall.
This street is the short approach to the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the foot of the Canongate. One of the buildings On the north side, the building to the east was the house of Lucky Spence, a notorious brothel madam, remembered inAllan Ramsay's poem,Lucky Spence's Last Advice.[23] The building to the west was described as a new "Great Mansion" in 1570.[24][25]Renaissance painted ceilings were salvaged from the building in 1967. Some of the timbers were felled in the 1560s. During 20th century restorations by theMinistry of Works, other painted beams found atMidhope Castle andCaroline Park were inserted into the buildings.[26]
On the south side is theKing's Gallery, used to exhibit items in the Royal collection, in the shell of the former Holyrood Free Church and Duchess of Gordon's School. There are also the remains of the gatehouse of Holyrood Palace built byWalter Merlioun forJames IV, with a carving of the royal coat-of-arms ofJames V set in the wall.[27]
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