Calton Hill
One of the most famous hills in Edinburgh is the subject of our post today. Calton Hill is home to a handful of buildings as well as Scotland's iconic monuments, not to mention the views it holds over the city!
But we're here to look at the history of this particular view point, so without further ado...
It all started in 1456, although prior to this it is rumored there was a prehistoric hillfort here. King James II signed a charter that gave Cragingalt to Edinburgh for various activities including war deeds, of course there's various takes on what this name could mean and in what language it originated, but long story short the modern name is Calton Hill. 103 years later as the Siege of Leith was underway, the Lords of the Congregation set up two guns on the hill in order to bombard Leith. It was actually the French who seized one gun and the other ended up destroyed.
Come 1591 a new use had to be found for the Calton Hill Monastery after the various religious grounds over Scotland were abandoned thirty years earlier thanks to the Reformation of 1560. So they converted the space into a hospital for lepers which was founded by John Robertson, a local merchant. However, for some reason some very strict rules applied at the hospital. If someone were to escape, or even open the gates between sunset and sunrise, then they were put to death at the gallows built at the gate.
Despite being allowed to use it for recreational activities originally, Edinburgh didn't actually own the land until 1725 after Calton was combined with Restalrig under one baronry. This came after the Logan family, who owned Calton, forfeited the land in 1609 after Robert Logan was posthumously sentenced for treason.
Even though Edinburgh took the site in 1725, a few years earlier in 1718 Calton was still considered part of the South Leith Parish, so those who lived in and around here had to go to church in Leith and those who died were buried there. Obviously the Calton village expanded and this wasn't fit for an expanding community so they decided to buy half an acre or so of land from Lord Balmerino and make it a cemetery for convenience. This ended up as Old Calton Burial Ground, not to be confused with New Calton Burial Ground which we covered a while back and is the site of the Calton Jail which held William Burke of Burke and Hare fame! This older burial ground was the first big development that the hill had seen, how we missed it when we climbed it we don't know, but we're gutted we did! David Hume, whom we have scheduled to cover next year, is actually buried here too!
As we've mentioned previously in a different post and above, the hill is home to several monuments, and one of which is 'Scotland's Disgrace', otherwise known as the Scottish National Monument. It was intended as a Parthenon and to commemorate Scottish Soldiers who lost their lives in the Napoleonic Wars. Sadly money ran out and so construction was never complete.
Three years later the Royal High School joined 'Scotland's Disgrace' and eleven or so years later they added a tunnel from here to Waverley Station.
However, predating these two structures was the Nelson Monument by only a few years. You then also have the Dugald Stewart monument which we also failed to take a photo of plus the city observatory. We can't believe we missed so much! But to be fair it was getting dark and it is a super popular tourist attraction and huge crowds stress out Yogi especially when they all want to touch him!
We'd imagine that this site is quite haunted. What with two nearby burial grounds, a lot of traumatic activity here, and the fact it is quite an old site, there has to be some ghosties somewhere! There is a bit of an unsettling vibe once you reach the summit, but that may be due to the sheer amount of energy from the crowds, it is hard to tell. But if you're ever in Edinburgh then give it a go and try not to miss all the history like we did!
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images are ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
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