Timeline of Edinburgh history

This article shows a timeline of the history of Edinburgh, Scotland, up to the present day. It shows its rise from an early hill fort and later royal residence to become the bustling city and capital of Scotland that it is today.

First millennium

Late 1st century: Roman brooch and fine pottery from this period have been found

2nd century: Permanent Roman forts were built and occupied at Cramond and Inveresk on the western and eastern margins of the present-day city.

c. 580: The traditional date of the military campaign, starting in Edinburgh (Din Etin), commemorated in the famous Welsh poem Y Gododdin. At this time most of the inhabitants of southern Scotland spoke British, the ancestor of modern Welsh. The name of the king or chief whom the poem names as the leader of Edinburgh at this time was Mynyddawc Mwynvawr.

c. 638: Edinburgh is besieged by unknown forces, according to a chronicle kept at Iona in the Hebrides. Many scholars have supposed that this siege marks the passing of control of the fort of Din Etin from the Gododdin to the Northumbrian English, led at this time by Oswald of Northumbria

731: Edinburgh is firmly within the kingdom of Northumbria at the time of Bede, who completed his History in this year

840s–50s: Cinaed mac Ailpin ('Kenneth MacAlpine') raids Northumbrian Lothian, burning Dunbar and possibly Edinburgh, from his kingdom north of the Firth of Forth

854: The first St Giles kirk is founded, according to tradition with no basis in evidence

c960: Edinburgh is captured by the Scots during the reign of Indulf (954–62)

Eleventh century

1020: Malcolm II permanently annexes Edinburgh to Scotland

1074: Refortification of the castle and city begins under Malcolm III

1093: Queen Margaret dies at fort on "hill of Agned", regarded as a royal castle – St Margaret's chapel is built soon afterwards

Twelfth century

1114: Infant Scottish heir Malcolm is murdered by a priest

1124 or 1127: First documentary evidence of a "church of the community or burgh of Edin"

c1125: David I founds burgh

1128: David I founds Holyrood Abbey

1162: Edinburgh is the caput of the Lothian sheriffdom

Thirteenth century

1230: Alexander II founds large Dominican friary; a hospital is also open

1274: Lothian is an archdeaconry of St Andrews

1296: Edinburgh is again held by the English, and strongly fortified

Fourteenth century

1314: Edinburgh castle captured by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray

1326–1331: Edinburgh's contribution to Scottish burgh taxes is 15%, half that of Aberdeen

1328: A treaty is signed guaranteeing Scottish independence

1329: Bruce makes the town a burgh, and establishes a port at Leith^{[citation needed]}

1330: Wall between High Street and Cowgate is first mentioned; castle is demolished by David II

1334: Scotland loses major port of Berwick to the English, Edinburgh's importance increases

1341: Scots regain castle from English

1360: Edinburgh has almost 4,000 houses, and is regarded as the nation's capital; the castle is the usual royal residence, being strengthened in stone

1364: David II grants ground for building of new tron (weigh beam)

1367: David II begins work on major fortifications at castle

1371: David II dies unexpectedly at the castle

1384: Duke of Lancaster extorts ransom following end of truce

1386: Robert II grants ground for building of the Tolbooth

1387: Five new chapels are added to St Giles following English damage in 1385; St Giles is High Kirk

1400: Henry IV attempts to storm castle when Robert III refuses homage.

Fifteenth century

1437: Edinburgh becomes the capital of Scotland

1440: The Earl of Douglas and his brother are murdered at the castle by William Crichton

1440s: Edinburgh has 47% of Scottish wool trade

c1449: Cordiners (shoemakers) is incorporated

1450: There is a defensive wall around the city

1455–1458: Greyfriars (Franciscan) friary is founded

1457: The 20in (508mm) siege gun "Mons Meg" is received at castle; there are goldsmiths in the city

1458: Edinburgh has one of three supreme courts in the country

Pre-1460: Trinity is a collegiate church

1467–1469: St Giles' gains collegiate status, a provost and fourteen prebendaries are established

1474–1475: Skinner and weaver crafts become guilds incorporated by the town council

1477: All fifteen of Edinburgh's markets are arranged along the length of the High Street

1479: A hospital is set up in Leith Wynd

1482: The Earls of Atholl and Buchan agree to free James III

1483: The Hammermen (smiths) are incorporated

1485: There is a notary in the Canongate; stone tenements appear in the city

1490: The Franciscan friary closes

1500: Edinburgh pays 60% of Scotland's customs revenue

Sixteenth century

1503: James IV marries Margaret Tudor

1505: Royal College of Surgeons founded

1507: James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar

1513: Defeat at Flodden leads to a new southern wall being begun

1520: "Cleanse the Causey" (30 April); pitched battle on the High Street between the Douglas and Hamilton clans leads to the Earl of Angus (Douglas) seizing control of the city; Edinburgh is the "seat of courts of justice"

1523: City has fourteen craft guilds

1528: James V enters city with an army, to assert his right to rule; Holyrood Palace is built for him

c.1528–c.1542: printing in Edinburgh re-established under royal license granted to Thomas Davidson

1530: There are 288 brewers known as alewives in the city, one for every forty people

1532: Holyrood Abbey is transformed into a royal palace; the Court of Session is built

1534: Norman Gourlay and David Stratton are burnt as heretics

1535–1556: Edinburgh contributes over 40% of Scotland's burgh taxation

1537: Jane Douglas is burnt at the stake

1542: Cardinal Beaton is chosen as chief ruler of the city council

1544: Earl of Hertford burns the city; Holyrood Palace and abbey burn

1547: The English destroy Edinburgh again

1558: Riots break out over French prosecution of Protestants; the Flodden Wall is complete; Edinburgh's population is about 12,000; there are 367 merchants, and 400 craftsmen

1559: John Knox is appointed minister of St Giles' church

1560: English and French troops to withdraw under Treaty of Edinburgh; Reformation: 40 altars, aisles, and pillars are dedicated to different saints in St Giles'

1565: Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

1566: Mary is held captive in Holyrood Palace; David Rizzio is stabbed

1567: Darnley is assassinated at Kirk o' Field House; James Hepburn is cleared of the murder

1569: The city is hit by an outbreak of the plague

1573: A pro-Mary garrison is ousted from the castle by the regent, the Earl of Moray

1574: The castle's Half-Moon Battery is built; there are seven mills in Edinburgh

Late 1570s: Edinburgh now has 4 ministers, previously it had only one

1579: James VI makes his state entry

1580s: There are some 400 merchants in Edinburgh

1581: James Douglas is executed for complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley

1582: The University of Edinburgh is founded and given a royal charter – it is the fourth university in Scotland

1583: There are an estimated 500 merchants and 500 craftsmen in the city, of which 250 are tailors

1586: Skinners and goldsmiths form their own companies (previously part of the Company of Hammermen)

1591: Francis Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell escapes from imprisonment in castle

1592: Earl of Moray murdered by catholic Earl of Huntly; the presbytery takes the first Edinburgh census: there are c8,000 adults, split evenly between north and south of the High Street

1593: Earl of Bothwell take over at Holyrood Palace

1594: Earl of Bothwell fails to seize city

1596: Clergy demand arms to defend king and church against "papists"

1600: Roads out of Edinburgh numbered twelve; royal printers active in the period included Robert Waldegrave and Robert Charteris

Seventeenth century

1602: Construction of Greyfriars Kirk started

1603: Scottish Post Office headquarters located in Edinburgh, with a second office on the Canongate; Golf clubs for the king manufactured by William Mayne

1604: Execution by hanging of the Laird of MacGregor and fourteen others for the Colquhoun massacre

1610: First factories founded in Dalry

1610–1621: Printer Andro Hart active; publications included Napier's book of logs

1613: Lord Maxwell hanged for the murder of the Laird of Johnstone

1615: Execution of the Earl of Orkney after rebellion to overthrow the king

1617: Expansion of Gladstone's Land, a 6-storey tenement in Lawnmarket built in the 1550s

1618: Some tenement buildings reach seven storeys; population c. 25,000, of which merchants c. 475

1619: The privy council ordered the city to clean up its streets; a hospital of 1479 converted into a workhouse

1621: Edinburgh and Leith paid 44% of Scottish non-wine customs duty, and 66% of wine duty

1624: Plague epidemic

c1625: Construction of Tailors Hall in the Cowgate

1628–1693: Construction of Heriot's Hospital

1632: Construction began on the new Parliament House for the Parliament of Scotland

1633: Edinburgh designated a bishopric; Scottish coronation of Charles I of England at St Giles' High Kirk during which the Cahrles managed to offend Presbyterian sentiments

1636: Construction of the Tron Church begun; population of the city c. 30,000

1637: Riots in protest at the introduction of a new Prayer Book; supplication to remove bishops from the privy council

1639: Decisions of Glasgow Church of Scotland assembly ratified

1640: Completion of Parliament House

1641: Birth of Sir Robert Sibbald, Geographer Royal

1642 or 1645: Mary King's Close abandoned

1647: Rothiemay's map of Edinburgh; completion of the Tron Kirk

1649: Execution of the Marquis of Huntly by covenanters; area around the West Port purchased by the town Corporation

1650: Execution of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, by hanging; surrender of Edinburgh castle to invading forces of Oliver Cromwell; early fire engines built by James Colquhoun, one for Edinburgh, one for Glasgow; much of the Palace of Holyrood destroyed by fire;

1650s: Canongate saw construction of another kirk

1652: Introduction of a Journey coach to London with a journey time of a fortnight

1653: General Assembly broken up by English forces

1655: Council of state established; ministers yielded to the English

c1657: An engine for the occasion of sudden fire, in spouting out water thereon obtained by the city;

1660: Government of Scotland resumed by the Committee of Estates

1661: First Scottish newspaper published by Thomas Sydserf; execution of Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll

1663: Execution of former Covenanter Archibald Johnston

1667: Privy council empowered magnates to police the Scottish Highlands

1670: Water piped into Edinburgh from Comiston Springs

1670s: Relocation of animal slaughter from Grassmarket to Dalkeith

1671: John Law, founder of the National Bank of France, born

1675: Physic garden planted at Holyrood founded by Robert Sibbald

1677: First coffee house opened in the city

1678: First regular stagecoach to Glasgow

1681: Royal College of Physicians founded by Robert Sibbald under patronage of the Duke of York; Viscount Stair's Institutions of the Laws of Scotland published

1682: Advocates' Library, forerunner to the National Library of Scotland, founded by Sir George Mackenzie with the Duke of York as patron

1688: Collapse of royal government in Scotland after Chancellor Perth flees

1690s: Lawyer classes calculated to be more wealthy than those of merchants and craftsmen; over 20% of the population employed in manufacture

1694: Professional classes outnumber merchants; 200 legals (advocates to lawyers), 24 surgeons, and 33 physicians; other occupations included aleseller, executioner, royal trumpeter, and keeper of the signet; ratio of sexes, 70 males:100 females; domestic servants number over 5000

1697: Execution by kirk ministers of Thomas Aikenhead for blasphemy

1700: A severe fire leads to new buildings, built in stone; the estimated population is 60,000

Eighteenth century

1702: Advocates' Library moved from Faculty of Advocates to Parliament House

1706: Framework knitters from Haddington are working in Edinburgh

1707: Act of Union

1711: David Hume, philosopher, is born

1713: The main radial roads into Edinburgh are turnpiked

1715: Jacobites fail to take castle

1718: Edinburgh Evening Courant newspaper is launched; damasks are woven at Drumsheugh

1720s: Daniel Defoe praises the Royal Mile, decries Tolbooth or prison, notes sales of woollens, linens, drapery and mercery

1722: The Signet Library is founded

1726: The first circulating library is established; a medical school at the city's college is founded; James Hutton, geologist, is born

1729: The city's first infirmary is opened

1733: Alexander Munro, discoverer of lymphatic and nervous systems, is born

1735: Golf is played on Bruntsfield links; also the traditional date the Royal Burgess Golfing Society is founded

1736: The Royal Infirmary is incorporated; riots shake the city

1737: The Lord Provost is ousted following the riots

1738: Edinburgh is described as the "world's leading medical centre"; George Watson's College is founded

1739: The Scots Magazine is first published in the city

1740: There are four printing firms in Edinburgh; the biographer James Boswell is born

1744: The first premises at Fountainbridge are built, with more than five looms

1745: Charles Edward Stuart enters the city

1746: The British Linen Company is formed

1747: A theatre is established at Playhouse Close in the Canongate

1749: A stagecoach service opens between Edinburgh and Glasgow

1750: A ropery is established in the city

1751: A survey shows a severe state of dilapidation in the Old Town

1752: Proposals are heard for new public buildings and bridges

1753: Stagecoach services are introduced to London (taking two weeks)

1754: The Select Society is founded

1757–1770: Linen weaving works in Canongate

1758: Stagecoach services are introduced to Newcastle (taking one week)

1760: First school for deaf children opens; the main linen stamping office is in the city

1760s: Woollen cloth is beetled in a lapping house in Edinburgh

1761: The Bruntsfield Golfing Society is formed

1763: Construction of the North Bridge, designed by Robert Adam, begins; a four-horse coach runs to Glasgow three times a week

1765: The Glasgow coach now runs daily

1766: The competition to design the New Town is won by James Craig

1767: Construction of the New Town begins

1770: The British Linen Company switches to banking; the Heriot Brewery starts

1770s: There are 27 competing printing firms in the city

1771: Sir Walter Scott is born

1772: Construction of the North Bridge is completed

1773 or 1777: Penny-post service begins

1775: A directory of brothels and prostitutes is published; Edinburgh's estimated population is c. 57,000

1777: 8 legal and 400 illegal distilleries in the city

1781: The Mound road is opened

1782: The voting system is criticised by Thomas McGrugar in "Letters of Zeno"

1784: Meeting discusses corrupt electoral system

1785–1786: Stone bridge at Stockbridge

1786–1788: The South Bridge is built

1788: William "Deacon" Brodie is executed – leader of a gang of robbers; the first stone of Edinburgh University's Old College is laid

1792: The Friends of the People Society meets for the first time; Charlotte Square designed by Robert Adam

1793: Thomas Muir of Huntershill, a radical reformer, is arrested and sentenced

1794: Robert Watt, a former spy, is sentenced to death for "Pike Plot"

1799: City has access to 3 million litres of drinking water a day

1800: Charlotte Square is completed; Stein's large Canongate brewery is built

c1800: National Museum of Antiquities is established

Nineteenth century

1802: The Edinburgh Review is published, offering literary criticism

1802–1806: The Bank of Scotland head office is built

1803: Dorothy Wordsworth stays in the "White Hart" inn in the Grassmarket

1814: A protest meeting against West Indian slavery is held; two coaches a day run to Stirling

1816–1819: Regent Bridge is built

1817: Coal gas supplies are available in the city; coal fires lose popularity; the old tolbooth in Waterloo Place is demolished

1818: The Union Canal is begun; Calton Hill observatory is founded by the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution

1819: Five coaches a day run between Edinburgh and Glasgow

1820: There are protests at George IV's treatment of Queen Caroline

1822: George IV visits Edinburgh and wears the kilt; the first Highland and Agricultural Show takes place

1823: The Bannatyne Club is founded

1824: A large fire destroys many buildings

1825: Eight Royal Mail coaches and over fifty stage coaches leave Edinburgh each day

1826: The Royal Scottish Academy is founded

1828: Burke of Burke and Hare is tried for murder

1829: Burke is hanged

1831: The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway opens (known as The Innocent Railway), as railways start to come to the city

1829–1832: George IV Bridge is built

1832: A cholera outbreak occurs in the city; The Scotsman newspaper incorporates the Caledonian Mercury

1833: The city goes bankrupt; partly due to the development of Leith docks

1835: Edinburgh's New Town is completed, and the Old Town becomes a slum

1836: The Royal Institution opens, designed by William Playfair

1840: Barnard's Canongate brewery is expanded

1841–1851: Donaldson's hospital for the deaf is built

1842: Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line is open to the public

1843: Disruption of the Church of Scotland

1844–1846: The Scott Monument is built

1846: The North British Railway company is established

1847: Alexander Graham Bell is born in the city; half Edinburgh's population attend the funeral of Thomas Chalmers

1850: The foundation stone of the Scottish National Gallery is laid; the Holyrood brewery is enlarged for the third time

1851: The British Linen Bank head office opens on St Andrews Square

1853: The Edinburgh Trades Council is established

1856: The burgh of Canongate becomes part of Edinburgh

1859: The National Gallery opens

1860: Bank of Scotland has 43 branches

1861: Industrial museum built beside university (now the Royal Museum)

1864–1870: Bank of Scotland head office re-designed and extended

1865: Report on city's sanitation paints picture of degradation

1867: Scottish Women's Suffrage Society holds meetings for first time

1869: Sophia Jex-Blake becomes first female medical student

1870: Fettes College opens

1870–1879: New buildings for the Royal Infirmary

1872: Watt Institution and School of Arts begins to be built

1875: Royal Theatre destroyed by fire; Institute of Bankers founded; Cockburn Association (Edinburgh Civic Trust) founded

1881: Dean Distillery opens, converted from Dean Mills

1882: City brought to standstill by severe winter weather

1883: Chair of Celtic established at the university

1885: Watt Institution and School of Arts merges with George Heriot's to become Heriot-Watt College

1889: City hit by earthquake; Charles Parnell granted freedom of the city

1890: Free public library opens to public

1892: Drybroughs' brewery moves to Craigmillar; McVitie's devise 'digestive biscuits'

1896–1900: Abbey brewery built by Robert Younger

1900: Stockbridge gains a library and hall; character actor Alastair Sim is born

Twentieth century

1901: University appoints its first Professor of Scottish history; the Royal High School has 350 pupils

1902: Waverley Station is complete, covering 70,000 square metres; the North British Hotel is also built

1905: Moray House in Canongate becomes a teacher training centre

1905–1906: King's Theatre is built at Tollcross

1907: Work begins on constructing the Edinburgh College of Art

1910: First electric trams run; Bank of Scotland has 169 branches

1911: The Empire Palace Theatre, now Festival Theatre, partially burns down during The Great Lafayette's final act. 10 people die, including The Great Lafayette, and the theatre is closed while the stage is rebuilt and reopened in 1913.

1911: Palladium Cinema opens

1911–1914: Usher Hall is built

1912: La Scala Cinema opens

1916: Bank of Scotland has first female employee

1916–1918: Tanks are built by Brown Brothers in the city

1920: Leith is incorporated into Edinburgh

1921: Garrick Theatre burns down

1923: Edinburgh Corporation Tramways operates its last cable-hauled tram

1925: The National Library of Scotland is formed from the former Advocates' Library

1928: The Flying Scotsman provides a fast rail link to London; the city's first traffic lights are at Broughton Street

1932: George Watson's College moves to Morningside

1932–1935: Edinburgh has headquarters for BBC Scotland

1936:17% of Edinburgh's houses are overcrowded

1939: The Bank of Scotland has 266 branches; the headquarters of Edinburgh Savings Bank is built

1943: The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board is created, with its headquarters in Edinburgh

1946: A telephone upgrade takes place, allowing all-city dialling

1946–1947: Electric trams in the city carry 16 million passengers a month

1947: The Edinburgh International Festival is launched; restoration of Canongate

1949: The Abercrombie Plan introduces ring roads and a bypass

1950: Tram system begins to be run down

1951: 2 central (manual) phone exchanges handle over 9,500 lines

1952: Bank of Scotland takes over Union Bank of Scotland, giving 453 combined branches

1956: Edinburgh Corporation Tramways operates for the last time on 16 November

1958: Queen receives last debutantes

1959: Old Town population declines to 2,000

1960: Infirmary Street baths are damaged by fire

1963: "Evening Despatch" and "Edinburgh Evening News" merge; Empire Theatre becomes bingo hall

1965: Princes Street railway station closes

1966: Heriot-Watt gains university status

1968: Palladium Theatre fails, and becomes a disco

1968–1969: Royal Bank of Scotland takes over National Commercial Bank of Scotland

1969: Bank of Scotland absorbs British Linen Bank; Tollcross Bus Depot closes

1970: The Commonwealth Games are held in the city; the St James' Centre, including a new St Andrews House, is completed

1971: Tom Farmer starts Kwik-Fit

1972: A youth hostel opens at Eglington Crescent; Bell's Mills are destroyed by an explosion

1974: David Murray, later connected with Glasgow Rangers, starts Murray International Metals

1975: Local government reorganisation results in the replacement of Edinburgh Corporation by Lothian Regional Council and the City of Edinburgh District Council; Kirkliston and South Queensferry are included within the city boundary

1976: A new Fountain Brewery is built by Scottish & Newcastle

1980: Debenhams open a Princes St store

1980s: Restoration of houses in the Old Town leads to a population increase in the area

1981: Royal Insurance Group headquarters moves to Glasgow

1985: The population of the city is 440,000; Edinburgh University institutes a Chair of Parapsychology

1986: The 13th Commonwealth Games are held in the city

1989: The National Gallery of Scotland is renovated

1990: Edinburgh Castle is first, and Holyrood Palace eighth, in ranking of paid Scottish tourist attractions

1996: The City of Edinburgh Council is created, replacing the former District and Regional Councils. Infirmary Street baths close.

1998: The Museum of Scotland is built

1999: The Scottish Parliament is opened by the Queen

Twenty-first century

2004: The Scottish Parliament Building opens
2009: Holds the biggest clan gathering for Homecoming Scotland

See also

• Edinburgh
• Scotland
• History of Scotland
• Timeline of Scottish history
• Timeline of Glasgow history

Sources

• The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, ed. Michael Lynch, Oxford University Press, 2001
• The Making of Scotland, Robin Smith, Canongate Books, 2001
• The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, 1997 ed., Helicon Publishing Ltd, 1996
• Chronicle of Britain, Chronicle Communications Ltd, 1992

External links

• Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: edited by J.D. Marwick for the Burgh Records Society, beginning in 1403. Full-text edition, as part of British History Online.