Princes Street Gardens

East Princes Street Gardens, looking north-east from the Mound, showing the Scott Monument (l), Balmoral Hotel (c) and Waverley Station (r) with the North Bridge behind it.

Princes Street Gardens is a public park in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and the creation of the New Town. The Nor Loch was a large loch in the centre of the city. It was heavily polluted from centuries of sewage draining downhill from the Old Town. In the 1840s the railway was built in the valley, and Waverley Station opened in its present form in 1854.

The gardens run along the south side of Princes Street and are divided by The Mound. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover 8.5 acres (34,000 m²). The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover 29 acres (120,000 m²) and extend to the adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's, near Lothian Road in the west.

The Gardens are a popular meeting place in Edinburgh, and play host to regular concerts at the Ross Bandstand, particularly at the city's Hogmanay celebrations.

Monuments

The Ross Fountain

Within the gardens and running along the south side of Princes Street are many statues and monuments. Most prominent is the gothic Scott Monument built in 1844 to honour Sir Walter Scott. Within East Princes Street Gardens there are statues of explorer David Livingstone, publisher Adam Black and essayist Professor John Wilson. In the West Gardens are statues of poet Allan Ramsay, reformer Thomas Guthrie, obstetric pioneer James Young Simpson, as well as the Scottish American War Memorial, the Ross Fountain and Bandstand, and a popular floral clock.

Winter Wonderland

Every year, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Princes Street Gardens are transformed into 'Winter Wonderland'. This includes a variety of amusement park rides and the Christmas Market; which has food and gifts from all around the world. The most notable attractions are the ice rink and the 33 metre (108 feet) high Ferris wheel, often dubbed 'The Edinburgh Eye'.

External links

• Princes Street Gardens from Edinburgh City Council
• History of Ross Fountain
• A list of Community Gardening Projects in Edinburgh