Marchmont & Sciennes: the great Victorian tenement south

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

1. 01

   1

   Middle Meadow Walk

   Start where the city tips into green — the broad tree-lined path that runs from the old town down through the Meadows. Coffee from one of the stalls at the top, then walk south under the limes. On a clear morning the path frames Arthur's Seat behind you.

   01

   Middle Meadow Walk

   Start where the city tips into green — the broad tree-lined path that runs from the old town down through the Meadows. Coffee from one of the stalls at the top, then walk south under the limes. On a clear morning the path frames Arthur's Seat behind you.

   ◉Street View
2. 02

   2

   The Meadows & the whalebone arch

   Cross the great flat park the Victorians drained from a loch. Find the jawbone arch of a whale near Jawbone Walk — a leftover from an 1886 exhibition, and an odd thing to come upon under the cherry trees. In spring the blossom along Middle Meadow Walk is the city's quiet showpiece.

   02

   The Meadows & the whalebone arch

   Cross the great flat park the Victorians drained from a loch. Find the jawbone arch of a whale near Jawbone Walk — a leftover from an 1886 exhibition, and an odd thing to come upon under the cherry trees. In spring the blossom along Middle Meadow Walk is the city's quiet showpiece.

   ◉Street View
3. 03

   3

   Marchmont Road tenements

   Turn into Marchmont proper. These are the tenements the photograph on every Edinburgh postcard forgets — four storeys of warm sandstone, bay windows stacked one above the other, built in the 1870s for the comfortable middle class. Look up; the rhythm of the bays is the whole point.

   03

   Marchmont Road tenements

   Turn into Marchmont proper. These are the tenements the photograph on every Edinburgh postcard forgets — four storeys of warm sandstone, bay windows stacked one above the other, built in the 1870s for the comfortable middle class. Look up; the rhythm of the bays is the whole point.

   ◉Street View
4. 04

   4

   Warrender Park Road

   The grandest of the Marchmont terraces, facing the green of the Meadows across the road. Walk the pavement slowly and read the doorways — corniced, fanlit, a different colour of paint on every one. This is the street the students dream of and the old families never leave.

   04

   Warrender Park Road

   The grandest of the Marchmont terraces, facing the green of the Meadows across the road. Walk the pavement slowly and read the doorways — corniced, fanlit, a different colour of paint on every one. This is the street the students dream of and the old families never leave.

   ◉Street View
5. 05

   5

   Sciennes

   Drop east into Sciennes (say it 'sheens'), the older, lower-built pocket where Marchmont meets the Southside. Quieter, gentler, with a primary school that's stood here since the 1890s. The streets narrow and the tenements give way to something more like a village.

   05

   Sciennes

   Drop east into Sciennes (say it 'sheens'), the older, lower-built pocket where Marchmont meets the Southside. Quieter, gentler, with a primary school that's stood here since the 1890s. The streets narrow and the tenements give way to something more like a village.

   ◉Street View
6. 06

   6

   Sciennes Hill House plaque

   End at the spot where, in 1787, the boy Walter Scott met Robert Burns — the only time the two ever met, marked now by a plaque on a back wall off Sciennes House Place. A small, specific thing to finish on. Buses run from Sciennes Road back to the centre.

   06

   Sciennes Hill House plaque

   End at the spot where, in 1787, the boy Walter Scott met Robert Burns — the only time the two ever met, marked now by a plaque on a back wall off Sciennes House Place. A small, specific thing to finish on. Buses run from Sciennes Road back to the centre.

   ◉Street View