Emperor

Calton Hill

Greenside · 0.1 miles

Offering extensive panoramas of Edinburgh, Calton Hill stands just beyond the east end of Princes Street and forms part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage area. The elevated ground hosts a collection of prominent structures, including the National Monument, the Nelson and Dugald Stewart monuments, the former Royal High School, and memorials to Robert Burns, the Political Martyrs and other historic figures. The southern slope accommodates St Andrew’s House, the headquarters of the Scottish Government, while the Scottish Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace lie close to the hill’s base. The site is identified on OpenStreetMap as a park, with Greenside recorded as the nearest settlement. The hill’s name appears in a 1456 charter as “Cragingalt”, suggesting an origin linked to a crag or a small wood. Archaeological hints point to a possible prehistoric hill-fort and historic quarrying activity on the eastern side. In the mid-15th century James II granted the surrounding low ground for tournaments and archery practice, and the area later served as an open-air theatre venue. A Carmelite monastery was established at Greenside in 1518, later converted into a leper hospital after the Reformation. Ownership passed from the Logan family to the Elphinstone barony, and the western portion was sold to Edinburgh in 1725, with the eastern side retained by Heriot’s Trust. Calton remained a burgh of barony until its formal incorporation into the city under the 1856 Municipality Extension Act.

Dugald Stewart Monument

Greenside · 0.1 miles

A prominent memorial to the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Dugald Stewart rises on Calton Hill, giving a clear view across Edinburgh. The monument, commissioned by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1830, marks the site where the university professor held the chair of moral philosophy from 1786 until his death in 1828. Designed by William Henry Playfair, the structure follows the form of the ancient Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, presenting a circular podium surrounded by nine fluted Corinthian columns that support an elevated urn. Construction finished in September 1831 and the monument has been protected as a category A listed building since 19 April 1966. Playfair’s work on the monument links it to other classical commissions on the hill, including the nearby Robert Burns Monument by Thomas Hamilton and the National Monument of Scotland, which he co-designed with Charles Robert Cockerell. The thoroughfare that frames Calton Hill on three sides—Royal Terrace, Carlton Terrace and Regent Terrace—was also laid out by Playfair, reinforcing the hill’s architectural cohesion. The site is recorded in OpenStreetMap as a landmark and historic memorial, with Greenside identified as the nearest town. Visitors can approach the monument on foot along the established paths that traverse Calton Hill; no specific admission charge or visitor facilities are noted in the available material.

Nelson Monument

Greenside · 0.1 miles

Perched on the summit of Calton Hill at the western end of Princes Street, the Nelson Monument dominates the Edinburgh skyline. Erected between 1807 and 1816, the tower commemorates Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and his death in that engagement. Public subscription funded the project, and after several design revisions an up-turned telescope form by architect Robert Burn was adopted, later completed by Thomas Bonnar. The structure stands 32 metres tall, its pentagonal castellated base echoing the early-19th-century prison buildings that once occupied the hill’s south side. Visitors can ascend 143 steps to reach a viewing gallery that offers extensive city vistas. A time ball, installed in the 1850s and synchronised with the One O’Clock Gun from Edinburgh Castle, drops each day at 13:00; the mechanism is now operated manually following the 2009 restoration that also repaired stonework and metalwork. The monument is listed as a category A building and flies the Royal Navy’s White Ensign and signal flags spelling “England expects that every man will do his duty” on Trafalgar Day each year. Access to the tower is governed by published opening times, though the site is not wheelchair-accessible. Admission historically required a modest fee, but current pricing is not detailed in the available material. The nearest town identified in mapping data is Greenside, and the landmark is recorded as a historic monument built in 1816.

Museum of Edinburgh

Canongate · 0.6 miles

The Museum of Edinburgh occupies the historic Huntly House on the Canongate, at 142-146 Canongate in the city’s central area. Managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, the three-storey building is recognisable for its distinctive yellow façade. Opening hours are listed on the museum’s own timetable, and the venue is readily reachable on foot from the surrounding streets of the Old Town. Inside, the displays trace the capital’s development from its earliest origins to the present, drawing on a collection of roughly 220,000 objects. Highlights include an original copy of the 1638 National Covenant, a reconstruction of Field Marshal Earl Haig’s Western Front headquarters from the Great War, and James Craig’s original plans for the New Town. The museum also presents a range of decorative arts – cut and engraved glass, silverwork, costume, long-case clocks and Scottish pottery and porcelain dating from the 1760s – alongside items bequeathed to the institution. Four of its collections have been recognised by the Scottish government as of national significance. The building’s history dates back to 1570, when it was erected for members of Clan Gordon, although the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has questioned that attribution. It passed to the Incorporation of Hammermen in 1647, who enlarged it under architect Robert Mylne, and was acquired by the city in 1924 to become the museum. Locals continue to refer to the site as Huntly House, and it has featured in popular media, notably in season three of the television series *Outlander*.

Melville's Monument

New Town · 0.6 miles

A striking column dominates St Andrew Square in Edinburgh’s New Town, rising to roughly 45 m and serving as a memorial to the Scottish statesman Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. Construction began in 1821 and, after cost overruns, the monument was completed in 1827; the debt was finally cleared a decade later. Designed by William Burn and modelled on Rome’s Trajan’s Column, the shaft supports a 4.2 m statue of Dundas, sculpted by Francis Leggatt Chantrey and carved by Robert Forrest. The structure is listed as a historic monument and is recognised as one of Edinburgh’s most prominent landmarks. In recent years the monument has attracted debate over Dundas’s role in delaying the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Following protests in 2020, the City of Edinburgh Council added a plaque in October 2021 that attributes responsibility for “deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade” and “imposing colonial rule on indigenous peoples” to Dundas. A planning committee voted in March 2023 to remove the plaque, although the council later confirmed it does not intend to do so. The monument is situated at the eastern end of St Andrew Square, readily reachable on foot from the surrounding New Town streets; no specific admission facilities are mentioned.

John Knox House

Canongate · 0.6 miles

A 15th-century townhouse standing on the historic High Street of Edinburgh’s Canongate draws interest for its well-preserved interiors and the layers of civic history embedded in its walls. Constructed from 1470, the house features a fine wooden gallery and a hand-painted ceiling. Its early owners included Walter Reidpath, whose grandson John Arres passed the property to his daughter Mariota Arres in 1556; she married the goldsmith James Mosman, whose family were involved in refashioning the Scottish crown for James V and later in the valuation of Mary, Queen of Scots’ jewels during the Lang Siege. After Mosman’s execution for counterfeiting in 1573, the house was forfeited and granted in the name of James VI to James Carmichael. Carvings uncovered behind later woodwork in 1849 were restored by Alexander Handyside Ritchie the following year, and a further restoration took place in 1984. Today the building functions as a museum, owned by the Church of Scotland and administered together with the adjacent Scottish Storytelling Centre. The house’s popular identification with Protestant reformer John Knox stems from a 19th-century tradition that linked the reformer to the site, though contemporary research finds no definitive proof of his residence there. A visitor’s pamphlet notes that Knox may have occupied the house for a few months during the siege of Edinburgh Castle and possibly died within its walls, while a plaque in Warriston Close marks the location of his confirmed dwelling. The building was threatened with demolition in 1849 but was saved through the intervention of Lord Cockburn. Admission to the museum requires a charge, and the nearby Fountain Well, a 1675 public cistern rebuilt most recently in 1997, adds an additional point of historic interest.