This migration changed the social character of Edinburgh, which a kind of double city—first, an ancient and picturesque hill-built one, occupied chiefly by the humbler classes; and second, an elegant modern one, of much regularity of aspect, and possessed almost as exclusively by the more refined portion of society.According to Youngson, the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented."

Its origins as a settlement can be traced to the early Middle Ages when a hillfort was established in the area, most likely on the Castle Rock. The 6 ton mammoth cannon is capable of firing solid stone cannon balls three times the size of an average human head and weighing nearly 400 pounds. It has been part of Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1995.

Scottish Historical Review.

Confined by the small compass of the walls, and the narrow limits of the royalty, which scarcely extends beyond the walls, the houses stand more crowded than in any other town in Europe, and are built to a height that is almost incredible.

A city of somber theatricality, it is a major center for finance, law, tourism, education, and cultural affairs.

Dickens was horrified by the inscription “Meanman” on the successful Edinburgh merchant, Ebenezer Scroggie’s, tombstone.

Edinburgh Castle is now one of Scotland’s top tourist sites, attracting more than one million visitors annually. "More piecemeal improvements to the Old Town followed in the early 20th century at the instigation of the pioneering town planner Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including a new Union of the Crowns to Parliamentary Union (17th century)Union of the Crowns to Parliamentary Union (17th century)G and A Ritchie, Scotland, Archaeology and early history, Thames & Hudson 1981, reports Bronze Age finds at Magdalen Bridge, Duddingston Loch, Moredun, Granton and MortonhallG & A Ritchie, Edinburgh and South-East Scotland, Regional Archaeologlogies Series, Heinemann 1972, p.51þam ylcan geare feaht Beorhtfrið ealdorman wið Pehtas betwux Hæfe & CæreAaron M. Allen, "Conquering the Suburbs: Politics and Work in Early Modern Edinburgh," R C Paterson, A Land Afflicted, Scotland And The Covenanter Wars 1638–1690, John Donald 1998Helen Dingwall, The Importance of Social Factors in Determining the Composition of the Town Councils in Edinburgh 1550–1650. Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland, located in southeastern Scotland with its center near the southern shore of the Firth of Forth.

If they couldn’t, they were presumed innocent … even though they met the same bitter end.Our list of interesting facts about Edinburgh would not be complete without a strange superstition or two of the city’s locals. When the army stepped in to calm things down, a young schoolboy picked up a gun and killed a soldier. Seán Damer recalls growing up in the 1940s and 1950s in working-class Irish Catholic neighbourhoods. With a rich and diverse history, Edinburgh is home to a multitude of interesting facts and titbits.

The area around modern-day Edinburgh has been inhabited for thousands of years. If they could float their fate was sealed and they were executed as witches. Getting off scot-free originated when a schoolboy shot a soldier in Edinburgh.

He describes a Catholic culture surrounded by Protestant animosity and excluded from power.

When this news travelled down to …

(1986) 65#1 pp 17–33.M Lynch, Scotland, A New History, Pimlico, London 2000, p.174J Keay & J Keay, Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland, HarperCollins 1994, p.285Stana Nenadic, "Architect-Builders in London and Edinburgh, c. 1750–1800, and the Market for Expertise," C Byrom, The Development Of Edinburgh's Second New Town in The Book Of The Old Edinburgh Club, New Series vol.3, Edinburgh 1994, pp.37–61Roger L. Emerson, "The Founding of the Edinburgh Medical School," Lisa Rosner, "Student Culture at the Turn of the Nineteenth-Century: Edinburgh and Philadelphia," Donald B. McIntyre, "James Hutton's Edinburgh: The Historical, Social, and Political Background," Joe Rock, "The Temple of Harmony: New Research on St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh," Jennifer Macleod, "The Edinburgh Musical Society: its membership and repertoire, 1728–1797" (PhD dissertation 2001, University of Edinburgh) p 1 Michael Atiyah, "Benjamin Franklin and the Edinburgh Enlightenment," P. J. Smith, "Slum Clearance as an Instrument of Sanitary Reform: The Flawed Vision of Edinburgh's First Slum Clearance Scheme," Robert J. Scholnick, "The Fiery Cross of Knowledge": Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, 1832–1844," Seán Damer, "Memoirs of a Catholic Boyhood: A Map of Catholic Edinburgh," C McKean, Edinburgh, Portrait Of A City, Century Ltd, London 1991, p.229,