The Rise of Edinburgh

Page 3 of 5

• 1. Small beginnings
• 2. A New Town
• 3. Athens of the North
• 4. Separate lives
• 5. Find out more
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Athens of the North

Other aspects of Edinburgh's economy flourished in response to public investment. The financial industry was an area of particular growth, as new banks came into existence to service the needs of government and the landed gentry, and increasingly to provide financial support for the developing industrial giants of the west of Scotland in cotton, coal, iron and eventually, by the mid-19th century, in engineering and ship building.

Reflecting this growth, major bank buildings, dominated by the Bank of Scotland's new headquarters on the Mound, became prominent features of the cityscape.

The importance of Edinburgh as a financial centre was further developed in the early 1800s with the founding of a number of insurance companies, in response to the growing market for life insurance. Firms of stock brokers and investment managers were an established part of the scene by the 1820s, making Edinburgh the most important financial city in Britain outside London.

The presence of large numbers of legal and educational institutions, in addition to generating significant buildings such as the new University, also gave rise to a series of magnificent libraries, reflecting the unique place of Edinburgh in the European Enlightenment. One of the most spectacular was the Library of the Writers to the Signet (solicitors), adjoining the High Courts in the Old Town.

'...making Edinburgh the most important financial city in Britain outside London.'

Education, government and law spawned a massive printing and publishing industry, with some of the household names of British publishing being based in the city. Some of the greatest publications of the period - notably the Encyclopaedia Britannica - were first produced in Edinburgh.

Sir Walter Scott, a novelist of international renown and a lawyer by profession, was a central figure in the literary and legal milieu of early 19th-century Edinburgh. And inspired by the popularity of the Romantic movement, there was a major growth in European interest in Scotland as a tourist destination. Large numbers of visitors now travelled to Edinburgh en route to the Highlands, and these included such famous figures as Mendelssohn, the composer, in the 1820s.

By the late 18th century, Edinburgh already enjoyed a remarkable reputation as a city of intellectual brilliance and beautiful architecture. Many new public buildings were built at great expense in the Greek neo-classical style, giving rise to its sometimes being called the 'Athens of the North'.

A series of fine churches, the Assembly Rooms in George Street, the Register House at the east end of Princes Street - a government building to house the public records of Scotland - and the Napoleonic War monuments on Calton Hill, were of a type that could rival the great buildings of any city in Europe.

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Published: 2001-05-01