50 Fun Facts About Edinburgh

Edinburgh is bounded on its seaward side by which body of water?

The Pentland Hills close it off to the south; with about 506,000 people it is Scotland's second city after Glasgow.

Edinburgh's nickname 'Auld Reekie' is Scots for what?

Country people named it for the cloud of coal smoke over the Old Town; a Fife laird reputedly sent his children to bed when he saw it 'putting on her nicht-cap'.

For its neoclassical New Town and reputation for learning, Edinburgh has been called the 'Athens of' where?

Calton Hill's unfinished National Monument directly copies the Parthenon; Tom Stoppard's Archie suggested 'Reykjavík of the South' would fit better.

The 'Edin' in Edinburgh derives from Eidyn, a name from which ancient language?

The Brittonic 'din' (hillfort) was later replaced by the Old English 'burh'; in Gaelic the city is Dùn Èideann.

Which king founded the royal burgh of Edinburgh in the early 12th century?

The first written evidence is a charter of about 1124–27 granting land in 'burgo meo de Edenesburg' to Dunfermline Priory.

Edinburgh's 17th-century tenements, hemmed in by the town walls, rose to how many storeys?

They have been described as forerunners of the skyscraper; most were replaced by the Victorian buildings of today's Old Town.

The High Constables of Edinburgh, created by an act of 1611, are thought to be the world's oldest what?

They were set up to keep order in the crowded burgh.

The Acts of Union of 1706–07 merged the Scottish and English legislatures into which new body?

The Union took effect on 1 May 1707 and provoked riots in Edinburgh; a devolved Scottish Parliament returned only in 1999.

Which Enlightenment thinkers were familiar figures on Edinburgh's streets in the late 18th century?

James Hutton and Joseph Black were part of the same circle; Smollett's Humphry Clinker called the city a 'hotbed of genius'.

The New Town's geometric street plan came from a Town Council competition in which year?

Its streets were named to flatter the Hanoverians: George, Queen, Hanover, Frederick and Princes Street, plus Rose and Thistle for the union.

Princes Street in the New Town was named in honour of whom?

The council chose the names to proclaim loyalty to George III after the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Edinburgh's Old and New Towns were jointly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year?

The listing includes Dean Village and Calton Hill; Edinburgh World Heritage has managed the site since 1999.

Which building is regarded as the oldest in Edinburgh, standing inside the castle?

It dates from the early 12th century; a royal castle has stood on the rock since Malcolm III's reign.

The castle's One O'Clock Gun has been fired in anger only once, at what target in 1916?

The daily time signal is now fired from an L118 Light Gun on Mills Mount Battery.

Which giant 15th-century bombard was delivered to Edinburgh Castle in 1457?

The castle's first known gun purchase was in 1384; the fortress has served as arsenal, mint, prison, archive and treasury.

In which year was the Stone of Scone returned to Scotland and placed in Edinburgh Castle's Crown Room?

It sits beside the Honours of Scotland, rediscovered in a locked chest in 1818 after they had been thought lost since 1707.

Who was permitted in 1818 to search the castle for the Crown of Scotland, lost since 1707?

He broke into a sealed room, unlocked a chest and found the Honours of Scotland, which went on show for a shilling a head.

The Royal Mile runs downhill from Edinburgh Castle to which building?

It is almost exactly a mile long and made up of the Esplanade, Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand.

Arthur's Seat, the peak of Holyrood Park, is the remains of what?

It rises 250.5 metres a mile east of the castle; Stevenson called it 'a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design'.

How high does Arthur's Seat rise above the city?

The easiest ascent is from the east above Dunsapie Loch; climbing on Salisbury Crags was banned in 2019.

The Edinburgh Fringe began in 1947 as what?

Eight uninvited companies turned up alongside the official festival, giving the world the term 'fringe theatre'.

Which principle governs entry to the Fringe?

In 2025 it sold more than 2.6 million tickets across 53,942 performances of 3,893 shows in 301 venues.

The Fringe is described as the world's largest what?

Combined with the International Festival it is said to be surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup as a ticketed event.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is staged every night for three weeks each August on what?

Massed pipe bands and military bands from around the world take part.

The Scott Monument is the world's second-largest memorial to a writer after one honouring whom?

Its 61-metre Gothic spire is climbed by 287 steps; nearby Waverley Station is named after Scott's novels.

What happened to Scott Monument architect George Meikle Kemp before it was finished?

He fell into the canal walking home on a foggy night in March 1844; his son placed the finial that August.

Greyfriars Bobby, whose statue draws visitors, reputedly spent 14 years doing what?

The Skye Terrier's owner, nightwatchman John Gray, was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard; the Lord Provost paid for the dog's licence in 1867.

Which Edinburgh councillor, respectable by day and burglar by night, inspired Jekyll and Hyde?

Burke and Hare, who sold fresh corpses to the anatomist Robert Knox, are the city's other notorious criminals.

Which author moved to Edinburgh in 1993 and wrote much of her first book in the city's coffee shops?

Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont, and Muriel Spark's Miss Jean Brodie was set in Morningside.

Which Edinburgh-born actor was the first cinematic James Bond?

Alastair Sim, Ronnie Corbett and Rory Bremner were also born in the city.

Edinburgh's two big football clubs are known locally as Hearts and what?

Heart of Midlothian dates from 1874 and Hibernian from 1875; Hearts have eight Scottish Cups to Hibs' three.

Murrayfield Stadium, home of Scottish rugby, seats roughly how many, making it Scotland's largest?

It has hosted rugby league's Magic Weekend, NFL Europe's Scottish Claymores and big concerts.

Edinburgh Trams began operating on 31 May of which year, restoring a service the city had lost in 1956?

Lothian Buses and the trams are both run by Transport for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Waverley station is named after what?

It is Scotland's second-busiest station and the UK's second biggest by platforms and area; most trains from London King's Cross end there.

The Forth Bridge, opened in 1890 nine miles west of the city, is what type of bridge?

Designed by John Fowler and Benjamin Baker, it was voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in 2016 and is a UNESCO site.

Which Spanish architect designed the Scottish Parliament but died before it opened?

It came in more than three years late at an estimated £414 million, against early estimates of £10–40 million.

The Scottish Parliament Building's final cost was estimated at roughly what?

Initial estimates had been between £10 million and £40 million; an inquiry criticised the project's management.

Which decommissioned vessel is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal in Leith as a visitor attraction?

It was decommissioned in 1997; Leith's waterfront has been redeveloped from Granton to the docks.

Which famous animal's stuffed body is displayed in the National Museum of Scotland?

Edinburgh Zoo, on Corstorphine Hill, was home to two giant pandas on loan from China.

Edinburgh, like Rome, is often said to be built on how many hills?

They are Calton, Corstorphine, Craiglockhart, Braid, Blackford, Arthur's Seat and the Castle Rock.

The persistent coastal fog that easterly winds bring to Edinburgh is called what?

Easterlies are drier but much colder than the prevailing westerlies.

Which river runs 18 miles through Edinburgh from the Pentland Hills to the sea?

It runs 18 miles; the deep gorge at Dean Village is spanned by Thomas Telford's 1832 Dean Bridge.

The University of Edinburgh, founded as the Tounis College, received its royal charter in which year?

James VI granted it; the city now has four universities and pioneered medicine, law and philosophy.

Whose New Model Army occupied Edinburgh in 1650?

Scottish backing for Charles II's restoration provoked the invasion during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

Which force briefly occupied Edinburgh in 1745 before marching into England?

After Culloden the council named its New Town streets to prove its loyalty to George III.

By 2024, Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebration stretched over how many days?

The street party begins on 31 December; 2 January is a Scottish bank holiday, and the first-foot is the year's first guest.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse serves as what?

Edinburgh has been recognised as Scotland's capital since at least the 15th century and hosts the Church of Scotland's General Assembly each year.

Where was the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area, a Mesolithic camp of about 8500 BC?

Bronze and Iron Age traces have also been found on Castle Rock and Arthur's Seat.

Edinburgh Zoo was previously home to two giant pandas named what?

The 82-acre zoo on Corstorphine Hill is Scotland's second most-visited paid attraction.

Which naturalist in 1818 called Edinburgh 'a very correct model of a Grecian city'?

Painter Hugh William Williams then exhibited views of Athens beside views of Edinburgh in 1822, and the parallel caught on.