Calton Hill

Calton Hill rises in central Edinburgh just east of Princes Street, part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. The hill commands wide views used in many photographs and paintings of the capital. At its southern foot stands St Andrew’s House, headquarters of the Scottish Government, while the Scottish Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace lie nearby. Calton Hill also carries a cluster of monuments and civic buildings: the National Monument, the Nelson Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the old Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs’ Monument and the City Observatory. The hill has a long history tied to Edinburgh’s development. James II granted the land in 1456 and ordered military training on the slopes. The site later housed a Carmelite monastery, a leper hospital with harsh rules, and a village known as Low Calton. The village was cleared in stages, first for Waterloo Place and Regent Bridge in the 1810s, then in the 1970s, leaving only a row of 1760s houses near the top of Calton Hill. Visitors find a gentle climb through landscaped paths to a summit offering sweeping views of Edinburgh Castle, Arthur’s Seat and the Firth of Forth. The Old Calton Burial Ground holds the simple Roman tomb of David Hume and the Political Martyrs’ Monument. On the west side, the street called Calton Hill preserves a few old houses and the site where Agnes Maclehose once lived. At the top, the City Observatory marks the spot where Robert Barker created the world’s first panorama in 1787.