New Calton Burial Ground - Edinburgh, Scotland,

This cemetery was opened in 1820 and lies to the south of Regent Road and to the east of the Canongate kirkyard. It was created in part to re-inter the remains from Old Calton Burial Ground when Waterloo Place was constructed. There are some early 18th Century monuments the old cemetery and a watch-tower to guard against body-snatching; there was at one time a lucrative market for anatomical research.

It includes some early 18th Century monuments which had been brought from lost sections of the old cemetery and a watch-tower to guard against the theft of bodies for anatomical classes, a popular practice at the time. Notable residents include architect David Bryce (1803-76).

 The first recorded interment (as opposed to re-interment) is noted on a vault on the north wall, and relates to John Fyfe who died on 27 February 1817 and was buried in the newly constructed vault of his father, Andrew Fyfe, approximately midway along the north wall.

New Parliament House (Royal High School) in Edinburgh

New Parliament House (often still referred to as the Old Royal High School) lies in need of a new purpose having been controversially spurned as the permanent debating chamber for the reconvened Scottish Parliament (created in 1999) in favour of a purpose-built new building in the Canongate. Widely regarded as the city's best Neo-Classical building, this A-listed structure takes the form of a Greek temple and occupies a dramatic location high above the Canongate. The Royal High School was built in 1829 by Thomas Hamilton (1784 - 1858) and is regarded as his finest work. There was great rivalry between this building and Burn's Edinburgh Academy in Inverleith, and Hamilton's budget was augmented to ensure his was the grandest, yet the cost of £24,000 seems a bargain, even then. It consists of a central block with two small temples forming pavilions, all with grand porticos and linked by colonnades. By the middle of the 20th Century the building had become too small and was difficult to adapt to the needs of a modern school, thus these premises were abandoned and a very ordinary new Royal High School building in the Barnton district of the city was occupied in 1969. The High School was originally founded in 1128 making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom.

Edinburgh’s Acropolis - Calton Hill

The panoramic views from Calton Hill

Dreams come in the real

 Major landmarks can be seen from a bird’s eye view: Arthur’s Seat with the Crags behind Holyrood Palace and the Parliament, Leith and the Firth of Forth, Princes Street in its New Town grid and the Royal Mile climbing up towards the Castle.

 

 

 

 Located at the highest point in Holyrood Park, Arthur’s Seat is a dormant volcano which gives incredible views of the city. It sits at 251 m above sea level and is a must-visit spot for anyone traveling to Edinburgh.

famous for its collection of historic monuments

 The City Observatory is also located here, a Greek temple styled building designed by William Henry Playfair in 1818. It was here that Professor Thomas Henderson, appointed first Astronomer Royal for Scotland in 1834, discovered how to measure parallax and the distance of the stars in this building.

 One of the most striking is the National Monument, inspired by the Parthenon in Athens. Intended to commemorate the Scottish servicemen who died in the Napoleonic Wars, it was never completed leaving just the twelve columns you see today.

  Nelson Monument, shaped like an up-turned telescope. Completed in 1816 the monument commemorates the death of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. However in 1852 a time ball was added to the top to enable ships moored in the Firth of Forth to set their time-pieces accurately.

The Deepdene Trail

The landscape and key architectural features on the estate once owned by Thomas Hope, who lived in Deepdene House during the early 19^th century.

 The house and landscape Thomas bought had been first created by the Howard family. Charles Howard created an Italianate garden out of the Deepdene, one of the first in England, in the mid-17^th century complete with terraces, grotto and even a laboratory built into natural tunnels in the Gardens. Several generations of Howards then developed the Deepdene further including building the house in the late-18^th century that Thomas Hope eventually bought.

one of the country's most historically significant gardens - privately owned since their creation in the 17th Century.

Coady the Lion in situ

The magnificent Hope Mausoleum is one of the most important historic buildings of its kind and the sole intact surviving structure created by the highly influential, collector, builder and designer of major international importance, Thomas Hope.

 Thomas was an extraordinary collector, builder and designer of major national and international importance.  He is regarded as a definitive Regency tastemaker and played a unique role in the arts as patron, collector, writer and designer being credited with inventing the phrase 'interior design'.