EDINBURGH EXPERT WALKING TOURS
  • Home
  • Plan Your Edinburgh Tour
    • Customised Edinburgh Tours
    • Fixed Route Walking Tours >
      • Royal Mile Tour
      • New Town Tour
      • Old and New Towns Tour
      • Close Encounters Self Guided Audio Trail
  • About Your Guide
  • Book Online
  • FAQs
    • Tour Pricing
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Plan Your Edinburgh Tour
    • Customised Edinburgh Tours
    • Fixed Route Walking Tours >
      • Royal Mile Tour
      • New Town Tour
      • Old and New Towns Tour
      • Close Encounters Self Guided Audio Trail
  • About Your Guide
  • Book Online
  • FAQs
    • Tour Pricing
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Blog

EDINBURGH EXPERT WALKING TOURS - BLOG

Picture
Enjoy the blog but can't take a tour?
​Show your support for a local business and
​buy me a coffee instead!
BLOG ARCHIVE

History, Squared: Charlotte Square

19/11/2014

 
Picture
Charlotte Square at the west end of Edinburgh's New Town is a part of the city bursting with historical and architectural interest. If you're visiting the city, or even if you live here, take some time to walk around its four sides to experience what life was like at the heart of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town.

​
Many buildings around the square have historical significance - Field Marshall Douglas Haig was born in a house on the southern side in June 1851, and a few years previously at number 14 South Charlotte Street, leading off the square to the south, Alexander Graham Bell had been born, later to become popularly credited with inventing the telephone.

Number 6 Charlotte Square - called Bute House - is today the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, and at number 7 is the Georgian House, a period recreation of what these properties were like, run and managed by the National Trust for Scotland. The offices of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, held on the square every summer, are at number 5a Charlotte Square.

Charlotte Square was the final area of construction from the first phase of the New Town development, finally being completed in 1820, over fifty years since the construction had begun at the east end of the city. 

Picture
At the centre of the (still private) gardens in the middle of the square is a statue of Prince Albert, commissioned by Queen Victoria following Albert's death. Victoria considered the statue a great likeness of her husband, and at its unveiling is said to have knighted the sculptor, John Steell, on the spot.

James Craig's original designs for the New Town stipulated that both Charlotte Square and its opposite number at the east end of George Street, St Andrew Square, would be graced by a church. The squares would be named for the respective patron saints of Scotland and England - St Andrew to the east and St George at the west end of the city.

By the time they came to develop St George Square, however, another development south of the Royal Mile had taken the name George Square - in order to avoid confusing postmen and tourists, they renamed the New Town develop Charlotte Square, after the wife of the monarch, George III.

The building of the former St George's church still stands on the west side of Charlotte Square, but is today one of the offices of the National Archive of Scotland. The dome at the top of the building was modelled on the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in London, and the building itself was originally designed by Robert Adam. 

When severe subsidence was discovered under the church building in the 1960s the Church of Scotland sold the building to the city council who could afford to restore it to the perpendicular, and it has remained in the portfolio of council properties ever since.

Explore Charlotte Square and the New Town in more detail with my private city walking tours!


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Author

    Edinburgh Expert Walking Tours is run by Gareth, an adopted native of Edinburgh, with over 20 years experience of living and working in the city...


    Search the blog archive...

    Categories

    All
    Around Town
    A To Z Of Edinburgh
    City Of Literature
    Edinburgh History
    Edinburgh Local Heroes
    Edinburgh's Graveyards
    Expert Advice
    Local Flavour
    New Town
    Old Town
    Scottish History

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

EDINBURGH TOURS
​Customised Edinburgh Tours
Old Town and Royal Mile Walking Tour
​Edinburgh's New Town Walking Tour

Edinburgh's Old and New Towns Tour
​
BOOK A TOUR ONLINE
​Book an Edinburgh Tour
Edinburgh Tour Pricing
​Terms and Conditions
​
​
Picture
Picture
Featured on KAYAK Travel Guides
CONTACT​
About Your Tour Guide
Edinburgh Expert Blog
​Frequently Asked Questions
​Telephone: +44 (0) 131 235 2351
Email: gareth@edinburghexpert.com
© COPYRIGHT GARETH DAVIES ​2014-22