Princes Street Gardens

Princes Street Gardens
East Princes Street Gardens in 2005, looking north-east from The Mound, showing the Scott Monument (l), Balmoral Hotel (c) and Waverley Station (r) with the North Bridge behind it
Location in Edinburgh
Type	Urban park
Location	Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Coordinates	55°57′01″N 3°12′03″W / 55.950257°N 3.200758°W / 55.950257; -3.200758
Area	8.5 acres (3.4 ha; 0.0133 sq mi; 0.034 km2)
Created	c. 1825
Owned by	City of Edinburgh

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Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, beginning in the 1760s.

The loch, situated on the north side of the town, was originally an artificial creation forming part of its medieval defences and made expansion northwards difficult. The water was habitually polluted from sewage draining downhill from the Old Town.

The gardens run along the south side of Princes Street and are divided by The Mound, on which the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy buildings are located. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover 8.5 acres (3.4 ha). The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover 29 acres (12 ha) and extend to the adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's, near Lothian Road in the west.

In 1846 the railway was built in the valley to connect the Edinburgh-Glasgow line at Haymarket with the new northern terminus of the North British line from Berwick-upon-Tweed at Waverley Station.^[1]

The Gardens are the best known parks in Edinburgh, having the highest awareness and visitor figures for both residents and visitors to the city.^[2]