The Mound - Izeria

The Mound is an artificial slope and road in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New and Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into Nor Loch, which was drained in 1765 and forms today's Princes Street Gardens.

1. History

The construction of the Earthen Mound, as it was originally called, was first proposed in 1783 by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, John Grieve to support merchants on the Royal Mile to improve connection to the residents on Princes Street (which was then built only from St Andrew Square to Hanover Street and was wholly residential) in correct anticipation of the need for such a new route. Its completion was not formally agreed until the 1827 Improvement act. It was improved over the years until by 1830 it was macadamised and landscaped so that it appeared more or less complete. A need for a railway tunnel was pre-empted in 1844 with the current southern tunnel completed in 1846 to a design by William Henry Playfair (prior to the construction of the gallery above). A second northern tunnel was added in 1892 beneath the then extant galleries above.

1. Description

The Mound is a busy, if fairly steep, thoroughfare taking traffic to and from Princes Street in the New Town to the Royal Mile in the Old Town. The top end of the Mound is named Bank Street North, adjoining Bank Street. The lower end, or 'Foot' of the Mound is a few metres' walk from the Princes Street tram stop. Due to its raised elevation, the Mound commands expansive views over Princes Street and the New Town of Edinburgh and towards Calton Hill. An 'electric blanket' was installed under the surface of the roadway of the mound to keep this clear of ice and snow in 1959. It is no longer operational but was one of the first of its type.

1. Notable buildings

Some of Edinburgh's most notable buildings and institutions have their premises on the Mound, including the National Gallery of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy, the spires of the University of Edinburgh's New College, the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, the elegant domed Headquarters of the commercially owned Bank of Scotland, and its museum, Museum on the Mound.

1. See also

Sermon on the Mound

1. References

Nearby Places View Menu

Bust of Carlo Antonio del Pozzo

The Bust of Carlo Antonio del Pozzo is a sculptural portrait by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini. It is in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. Carlo Antonio was the Archbishop of Pisa and the uncle of the noted seventeenth-century collector, Cassiano del Pozzo, who commissioned Bernini to create the sculpture. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Scotland in 1986, at a cost of 3m British Pounds, although the value at the time was said to be much higher (around 7.5m pounds). It had previously been in the British stately home of Castle Howard, since 1715.

Art Landmark

New College, Edinburgh

New College is a historic building at the University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious Studies in the United Kingdom. Students in M.A., M.Th. and Ph.D. degree programmes come from over 30 countries, and are taught by almost 40 full-time members of the academic staff. New College is situated on The Mound in the north of Edinburgh's Old Town. New College originally opened its doors in 1846 as a college of the Free Church of Scotland, later of the United Free Church of Scotland, and since 1935 has been the home of the School of Divinity (formerly the Faculty of Divinity) of the University of Edinburgh. As "New College" it continues the historical commitment to offer a programme of academic preparation for ministry in the Church of Scotland, also made use of by ministerial candidates from other churches. In the 1970s the Faculty of Divinity also began offering undergraduate degrees in Theology and Religious Studies, and students in these programmes now make up the majority of the nearly 300 undergraduates enrolled in any given year.

Church School

General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland

The Assembly Hall is located between Castlehill and Mound Place in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the meeting place of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Church Event

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland (CoS; Scots: The Kirk o Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais na h-Alba) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades (in 1982 it had nearly 920,000 members), the government Scottish Household Survey concluded that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019. In the 2022 census, 20.4% of the Scottish population, or 1,108,796 adherents, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity. The Church of Scotland's governing system is presbyterian in its approach; therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a proper noun, the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland used in the media and by the church itself. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church and established itself as a church in the Reformed tradition. The Presbyterian tradition in ecclesiology (form of the church government) believe that God invited the church's adherents to worship Jesus, with church elders collectively answerable for correct practice and discipline. The Church of Scotland celebrates two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as well as five other ordinances, such as Confirmation and Matrimony. The church adheres to the Bible and the Westminster Confession of Faith and is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The annual meeting of the church's general assembly is chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Church