The Nor' Loch

Immediately to the north of Edinburgh Castle today is a shallow depression filled with park space known as Princes Street Gardens. Today it is a popular tourist venue, and on sunny days local shop and office workers will join them to enjoy ice cream or latte coffees whilst admiring the lofty Castle above. If you do this however, be prepared for a loud bang at 1pm! To the east of the Gardens is Waverley Station, Edinburgh's main railway station, named after Sir Walter Scott's novels of that name. Indeed, a huge gothic memorial to that writer in the same area is one of the city's best-known landmarks.

Originally this area was marshland, part of the natural defences of the Castle from time immemorial. During the reign of James III the king ordered the area to be flooded in order to strengthen the defences. The resulting loch was in existence up until the mid 18th century, when it was drained, at first partially and then in the 1780s completely, as part of the scheme to expand the town northward of its natural limitations.

The loch could never have been very deep and must have suffered from the close proximity of the Old Town above, which lacked any sanitation worth mentioning; the effluvia that must have run down into the Nor' Loch from that densely populated area over the centuries can well be imagined. This did not prevent local taverns from proudly advertising the availability of Nor' Loch eels and "troots"!

For many years after being drained, the Nor' Loch showed distinct signs of wishing to return. After heavy rainfall the area was liable to become very marshy, and at first sheep and cattle were grazed here, probably as a prelude to slaughter in the adjacent Fleshmarket. With the coming of the railways, the area was more thoroughly engineered to allow the line to Glasgow direct access into the city.