In this video, we're going to share with you 50 facts about Edinburgh!
Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland since the 15th century. It has two distinct
areas: Old Town, dominated by Edinburgh Castle, and the neoclassical New Town, which was developed
between 1767 and 1850.
Edinburgh Castle sits on Castle Rock, a 700 million year old extinct volcano.
St Margaret’s Chapel, within Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest building in Edinburgh. Built
in the early 12th century, St Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest surviving building in
Scotland. It pays tribute to Queen Margaret, who according to legend, died of a broken
heart in 1093, when she received news of her husband’s death.
The “Stone of Destiny” is the traditional coronation stone of British royalty and is
kept at Edinburgh Castle with the crown jewels of Scotland. According to legend, the real
stone was secretly swapped for a fake one at some point in history.
Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall has a small window above the fireplace known as “laird’s
lug”, which translates into “the Lord’s ear”. The window allowed castle residents
to listen in on conversations taking place in the Great Hall.
Every day since 1861 (except for Sundays, Good Friday, and Christmas Day), the One O’Clock
Gun has been fired at 1pm on Mill’s Mount Battery at Edinburgh Castle.
Edinburgh Castle is the most besieged place in the UK. The castle has faced hostile forces
23 times.
While Edinburgh Castle is the most famous castle, there are actually 2 additional castles
in Edinburgh: Craigmillar and Lauriston Castles.
There are 7 hills in Edinburgh: Castle Rock, Calton Hill, Arthur’s Seat, Blackford Hill,
Braid Hills, Corstorphine Hill, and Craiglockhart Hill.
The highest hill is Arthur’s Seat at 250.5 metres or 822 feet.
The National Monument on Calton Hill is known as “Edinburgh’s Folly” or “Edinburgh’s
Shame”. It was modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, but funding for the monument ran
out and it was never completed.
The Royal Mile is actually 1 mile and 107 yards long.
Edinburgh used to be a walled city. Walls included the King’s Wall, Flodden Wall,
Telfer Wall, and Netherbow Port. The walls were used more to control trade as they were
not very good at defending the city.
Because of the city walls, Edinburgh built some of the first skyscrapers in the world,
where 11-storey buildings were common.
Grassmarket, which sits below Edinburgh Castle, was not only a market place but also a place
for public executions. The pub The Last Drop is located right next to where public hangings
used to take place.
Another place famous for public executions was the Old Tolbooth, which used to sit at
the northwest corner of St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile. To mark the entrance of
the now demolished building is the Heart of Midlothian, a heart-shaped mosaic built onto
the pavement. It is common to see people spitting on the heart, which is now done for good luck,
but originally done as a sign of contempt for former prisoners.
Edinburgh has 112 parks and more trees per head of population than any other city in
the UK.
Princes Street Gardens used to be the Nor Loch, or North Loch, a manmade lake that became
polluted with sewage and other waste.
Edinburgh used to be called Auld Reekie back in the day, meaning Old Smokey. This name
came from the pollution from chimneys and coal fires. Thick smog filled the city air,
and mixed in with the nasty smell from the Nor Loch, Auld Reekie was born.
There are a number of private gardens in Edinburgh, including Queen Street Gardens, Regent Gardens,
and Dean Gardens. This means that typically, only property owners that live near a private
garden can receive a key, and annual fees average between £100 and £150 per household.
Edinburgh is said to have the most listed buildings in the world. A listed building
is a building or structure that has been deemed to be of national importance and must be protected.
More than 4,500 buildings in Edinburgh make the list.
Edinburgh had the world’s first fire brigade. In 1824, after a number of devastating fires
in Old Town, the world’s first municipal fire service was formed.
The clock at The Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street doesn’t show the right time (apart
from New Year’s Eve). Since 1920, the clock has run 3 minutes fast so travellers don’t
miss their trains at Edinburgh Waverley Train Station.
Edinburgh Waverley Train Station got its name from The Waverley Novels by Sir Walter Scott.
Scott Monument, on Princes Street, is the world’s largest monument to a writer, Sir
Walter Scott.
Sir Walter Scott was responsible for the rediscovery of Scotland’s lost crown jewels.
Famous people from Edinburgh include Robert Burns, Sean Connery, Tony Blair, and Alexander
Graham Bell.
Sean Connery, who played James Bond, was born here. Thomas Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge,
Edinburgh on 25 August 1930.
Hogmanay is the Scottish name for New Year’s Eve.
Robert Burns, or Rabbie Burns, is the National Bard of Scotland, and was a poet and lyricist.
He wrote the famous poem, now a song, Auld Lang Syne, which is often sung at Hogmanay.
Haggis, the national Scottish dish, is traditionally made of sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs
mixed with onion, spices, salt, oatmeal, beef fat, and stock. It is usually served with
neeps and tatties, or turnips and potatoes.
“You’ll have had your tea?” was once a common Edinburgh greeting. It is still used
today to avoid putting on the kettle. The phrase likely originated in the 18th century
by Mackintosh of Borlum, a nobleman, who didn’t like the sound of slurping tea at social gatherings.
A whisky has to be distilled and matured in Scotland for it to be called Scotch whisky.
In the UK, Scotch whisky is referred to as “whisky”, whereas in other English-speaking
countries, Scotch whisky is referred to as “Scotch”.
Although Rose Street is now full of pubs, in the 18th century, it was home to over 100
brothels. Most people believe this is how it got the name Rose Street. However, it is
more likely to have been named in association with the English who had moved into the area,
just as Thistle Street was named after the Scottish national flower.
JK Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter in The Elephant House, an Edinburgh cafe, and took
inspiration from the surrounding landscape for her characters and locations.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica was first produced in Edinburgh between 1768 and 1771.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world. There are over
3,000 shows with 50,000 performers across 300 venues during the month of August. The
population of Edinburgh doubles in size during the Fringe with people travelling from all
over the world to experience it.
In 2019, 3,012,490 tickets were sold at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the 3rd largest ticketed event in the world after the Olympic
Games and the FIFA World Cup.
It would take five years to watch every performance at the Fringe.
Other festivals that take place in August alongside the Fringe include: the Edinburgh
International Festival, the Art Festival, and the International Book Festival.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is another annual event that has been taking place in
August since 1950. It takes place on the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade and is a series of military
music performances by the British Armed Forces and other international military bands.
Many people who don’t know what the Tattoo is are often confused about why it’s called
the Tattoo. The term comes from the Dutch phrase “doe den tap toe”, meaning “turn
off the tap”, which signalled for innkeepers near military garrisons to stop serving beer
so that soldiers could return to their camp. It has nothing to do with ink tattoos.
Each performance has included a fireworks display since 2012. Keeping in mind that performances
take place every weekday evening and twice on Saturdays all through August, that is a
lot of fireworks!
There are 6 universities in Edinburgh: Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University,
Queen Margaret University, The University of Edinburgh, Royal College of Surgeons, and
Scotland’s Rural College.
The University of Edinburgh is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world as
well as one of Scotland’s ancient universities, having been founded in 1582.
According to the 2020 QS World University Rankings, The University of Edinburgh is ranked
20th in the world. The US News’ Best Global Universities Ranking places the University
of Edinburgh as the 6th best university in Europe.
Edinburgh Zoo is the only zoo in the UK that houses koalas and giant pandas.
There is only one knighted penguin in the world, and he lives at Edinburgh Zoo. His
name is Sir Nils Olav III and he is a king penguin. The Norwegian King’s Guard first
adopted a penguin in 1972 and named him Nils Olav. Every time the King’s Guard returns
to the zoo, Nils Olav gets promoted. Nils Olav III was last promoted to brigadier in
August 2016.
The national animal of Scotland is a unicorn. While unicorns may not be real, the Scots
didn’t seem to care!
We hope you enjoyed this video on 50 facts about Edinburgh!
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