Edinburgh/Timelines: Difference between revisions
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:'''1760s''': Woollen cloth is ''beetled'' in a ''lapping house'' in Edinburgh | :'''1760s''': Woollen cloth is ''beetled'' in a ''lapping house'' in Edinburgh | ||
:'''1761''': The [[Bruntsfield]] Golfing Society is formed | :'''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 | :'''1763''': Construction of the North Bridge, designed by [[Robert Adam]], begins; a four-horse coach runs to Glasgow three times a week. Buccleuch Cemetery opened | ||
:'''1765''': The Glasgow coach now runs daily | :'''1765''': The Glasgow coach now runs daily | ||
:'''1766''': The competition to design the [[Edinburgh#New Town|New Town]] is won by [[James Craig]] | :'''1766''': The competition to design the [[Edinburgh#New Town|New Town]] is won by [[James Craig]] | ||
Line 208: | Line 208: | ||
:'''1785-1786''': Stone bridge at [[Stockbridge, Edinburgh|Stockbridge]] | :'''1785-1786''': Stone bridge at [[Stockbridge, Edinburgh|Stockbridge]] | ||
:'''1786-1788''': The South Bridge is built | :'''1786-1788''': The South Bridge is built | ||
:'''1788''': [[William Brodie|William "Deacon" Brodie]] | :'''1788''': [[William Brodie|William "Deacon" Brodie]] leader of a gang of robbers is executed. He is buried at Buccleuch Cemetery; the first stone of Edinburgh University's [[Old College, University of Edinburgh|Old College]] is laid | ||
:'''1792''': The Friends of the People Society meets for the first time; Charlotte Square designed by Robert Adam | :'''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 | :'''1793''': [[Thomas Muir]] of Huntershill, a radical reformer, is arrested and sentenced |
Revision as of 07:21, 12 March 2008
This represents a timeline of the history of Edinburgh, up to the present day.
1-999
Late 1st century: Roman brooch and fine pottery from this period have been found
- c638: The Gododdin are defeated and the site is captured by Edwin of Northumbria
- 731: Edinburgh is possibly the town of Guidi mentioned by Bede
- 854: The first St Giles kirk is founded
- 960: Edinburgh temporarily falls into Scottish hands
1000-1099
- 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 after.
1100-1199
- 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
1200-1299
- 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
1300-1399
- 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: Robert the Bruce makes the town a burgh, and establishes a port at Leith
- 1330: Wall between High Street and Cowgate is first mentioned; the 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 a new tron (weigh beam)
- 1367: David II begins work on major fortifications at the 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 a tolbooth
- 1387: Five new chapels are added to St Giles' after English damage in 1385; St Giles' is the High Kirk
1400-1499
- 1400: Henry IV attempts to storm castle when Robert III refuses homage
- 1404: Old Corstorphine Parish Church built by Sir Adam Forrester
- 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
- 1450-1475: There is a defensive wall around the city (The King's Wall)
- 1455-1458: Greyfriars (Franciscan) friary is founded
- 1457: The 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
1500-1599
- 1500: Edinburgh pays 60% of Scotland's customs revenue
- 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 by the English at the Battle of Flodden Field leads to a new southern wall being begun
- 1520: Archibald Douglas, [Earl of Angus, seizes 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
- 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, Lady of Glamis is burned at the stake for witchcraft and for conspiring to poison King James V.
- 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 army of Henry VIII destroys Edinburgh again
- 1555: John Knox returns from exile
- 1558: Riots break out over French prosecution of Protestants; the Flodden Wall is complete; Edinburgh's population is now 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 Lord Darnley, Henry Stuart
- 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
- 1572 John Knox' Protestant leader dies in Edinburgh on 24 November
- 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 by King James VI - 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"
1600-1699
- 1600: There are twelve roads out of Edinburgh
- 1602: Greyfriars Kirk is begun
- 1603: The headquarters of the Scottish Post Office is in Edinburgh - there is another post office in the Canongate; William Mayne makes golf clubs for James VI;
- 1604: The Laird of MacGregor and fourteen others are hanged for the Colquhoun massacre
- 1610: First factories spring up in Dalry
- 1610-1621: Andrew Hart is a busy publisher; they publish Napier's book of logs
- 1613: Lord Maxwell is hanged for the murder of the Laird of Johnstone
- 1615: The Earl of Orkney is executed after a rebellion to overthrow James VI
- 1617: Gladstone's Land, 6-storey tenement in Lawnmarket, expanded (built originally in 1550s);
- 1618: Some seven-storey buildings have been built in the city; its population is c25,000, with about 475 merchants
- 1619: The privy council orders the city to clean up its streets; a hospital built in 1479 becomes a workhouse
- 1621: Edinburgh and Leith pay 44% of Scottish non-wine customs duty, and 66% of wine duty
- 1624: Edinburgh is hit by a plague epidemic
c1625: Tailor's Hall is built in the Cowgate
- 1628-1636: The Teflfer Wall is built, from the Grassmarket to just beyond Greyfriars
- 1628-1693: George Heriot's Hospital, now a private school was erected to the South of Edinburgh Castle. The hospital was paid for by a gift of £30,000 from George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI.
- 1632: Work begins on Parliament House to house the Parliament of Scotland
- 1633: Charles I visits Edinburgh for his coronation at St Giles' Cathedral, but soon after precipitates a crisis by introducing episcopacy to the Church of Scotland, in the process making Edinburgh a bishopric for the first time.
- 1636: The construction of the Tron Church is begun; the city's population is c.30,000
- 1637: Introduction of new Prayer Book causes riots; a supplication is delivered to remove bishops from the privy council
- 1639: Decisions of Glasgow assembly are ratified
- 1640: Parliament House is completed
- 1641: Sir Robert Sibbald, later the Geographer Royal, is born
- 1642 or 1645: Outbreak of bubonic plague, the last of several outbreaks during the 16th and 17th centuries. Mary King's Close is abandoned
- 1647: A well-known map of the city is drawn by Rothiemay; the Tron Kirk is completed
- 1649: Covenanters execute royalist Marquis of Huntly; the town Corporation buys the area around West Port
- 1650: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, is hanged; the castle surrenders to Oliver Cromwell's men; James Colquhoun builds early [[fire apparatus|fire engines: one for Edinburgh, one for Glasgow
- 1650s: A new church is built in the Canongate
- 1652: A 'journey coach' to London is introduced - it takes a fortnight to make the journey
- 1653: English forces break up the General Assembly
- 1655: A council of state is set up; ministers yield to the English
- 1660: A committee of estates resumes government of Scotland
- 1661: Thomas Sydserf produces the first Scottish newspaper; Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, is executed
- 1663: The former Covenanter Archibald Johnston is executed
- 1667: The privy council empowers magnates to police the highlands
- 1670: Water is piped into the city from Comiston Springs
- 1670s: Butchering of animals moves from the Grassmarket to Dalkeith
- 1671: John Law is born - he set up the national bank of France.
- 1675: Robert Sibbald co-founds physic garden planted at Holyrood
- 1677: The first coffee house opens in the city
- 1678: The first stagecoaches run to Glasgow
- 1679: Covenanters defeated at Bothwell Bridge, more than 1,000 survivors are imprisoned in Greyfriars.
- 1681: Robert Sibbald founds Royal College of Physicians, whose patron is the Duke of York; Viscount Stair publishes his Institutions of the Laws of Scotland
- 1682: Sir George Mackenzie founds Advocates' Library - patron the Duke of York - forerunner to the National Library of Scotland
- 1688: Royal government collapses as Chancellor Perth flees
- 1691: Canongate Church built and open for burial.
- 1690s: Lawyers have more wealth than all merchants and craftsmen in the burgh combined; over 20% of the population is in manufacturing
- 1694: There are more professionals than merchants in Edinburgh; 200 legals (advocates to lawyers), 24 surgeons, and 33 physicians; other occupations include aleseller, executioner, royal trumpeter, and keeper of the signet; the ratio of sexes in the city is 70 males:100 females - there are over 5000 domestic servants in Edinburgh
- 1697: Thomas Aikenhead is executed for blasphemy
1700-1799
- 1700: A severe fire leads to new buildings, built in stone; the estimated population is 60,000
- 1702: Advocates' Library moved from Faculty of Advocates to Parliament House
- 1706: Framework knitters from Haddington are working in Edinburgh
- 1707: Act of Union- The Union of the Scottish and English Parliaments
- 1711: David Hume, philosopher, 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
- 1723: Adam Smith, political economist, born in Edinburgh
- 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"; John 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 ("Bonny Prince Charlie")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. Buccleuch Cemetery opened
- 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; this will lead to the "Great Flitting" as the middle classes move from the Old Town. The Theatre Royal opens on 9 December 1767, in Shakespere Square, at the east end of Princes Street. The occasion is commemorated in verse by James Boswell. The foundation stone was laid on 16 March 1768.
- 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 c57,000
- 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 leader of a gang of robbers is executed. He is buried at Buccleuch Cemetery; 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". Sir Walter Scott is involved in a riot at the Theatre Royal when some of the audience refuse to stand for the National Anthem.
- 1799: City has access to 3 million litres of water a day
1800-1899
- 1800: Charlotte Square is completed; Stein's large Canongate brewery is built
c1800: National Museum of Antiquities is established
- 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 Association
- 1819: Five coaches a day run between Edinburgh and Glasgow
- 1820: There are protests at George IV's treatment of Queen Caroline
- 1820: the population is now 138,000
- 1822: King George IV visits Edinburgh and wears the kilt; the first Highland and Agricultural Show takes place
- 1823: The Bannatyne Club is founded by Sir Walter Scott to publish rare works of Scottish interest in history, poetry, or literature. It published 116 volumes before being dissolved in 1861.
- 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: William Burke is tried for murder, to supply bodies for anatomical dissection
- 1829: Burke is hanged and his body given for anatomical dissection
- 1831: The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway opens (known as The Innocent Railway), as railways start to come to the city
- 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, and railways link Edinburgh and London
- 1847: Alexander Graham Bell is born in the city; half of 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. Robert Louis Stevenson is born in Edinburgh
- 1851: The British Linen Bank head office opens on St Andrews Square, in the New Town
- 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:On 21st June, George Bryce ("The Ratho murderer") was hanged for the murder of Jane Seaton: the last public execution in Edinburgh.
- 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 the 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
- 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
1900-1999
- 1901: University appoints its first Professor of Scottish history
- 1902: Waverley Station is complete, covering 70,000 square metres; the North British Hotel opens (later to become the 'Balmoral')
- 1903: The Floral Clock was installed in Princes Street Gardens. Hands were added in 1904, and the cuckoo in 1905.
- 1905: Moray House in Canongate becomes a teacher training centre
- 1905-1906: The "King’s Theatre" is built at Tollcross
- 1907: Work begins on constructing the Edinburgh College of Art
- 1910: First electric trams run
- 1911: Palladium Cinema opens
- 1911-1914: Usher Hall is built
- 1912: La Scala Cinema opens
- 1916: Bank of Scotland has its first female employee
- 1916-1918: Tanks are built by Brown Brothers in the city
- 1921: Garrick Theatre burns down
- 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
- 1943: The North 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: Whole tram system closes
- 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
- 1966: Heriot-Watt gains university status
- 1968: The Palladium Theatre fails, and becomes a disco
- 1968-1969: The Royal Bank of Scotland takes over National Commercial Bank of Scotland
- 1969: The 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
- 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
- 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: Infirmary St baths close
- 1998: The Museum of Scotland is built
- 1999: The Scottish Parliament is opened by the Queen
2000-2007
- 2004: The Scottish Parliament Building opens