Edinburgh, Midlothian : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Edinburgh. You may be able to find further references to Edinburgh in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Edinburgh ancient capital, parliamentary and royal burgh, and county town Bartholomew
Edinburgh the metropolis of Scotland and county town of Midlothian Groome

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Edinburgh within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 11: South-Eastern Scotland 21
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 2: Glasgow and central Scotland 17
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 2: Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands 13
James Boswell November 8th to 22nd, 1773: Back to Edinburgh 11
William Camden Scotland: South of the Antonine Wall 11
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 1: Fife and Perth 11
Thomas Pennant July 17-23: The Borders and Edinburgh 11
James Boswell August 14th to 17th, 1773: In Edinburgh 10
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 7
Feargus O'Connor O'Connor's tour of Scotland, January 1839 7
John Wesley 1781-4: An Ideal Circuit; Wesley in his Eighties; Wesley Visits Holland; Scotland 6
James Boswell September 8th to 12th, 1773: Raasay; meeting with Flora McDonald 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 5
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 5
Thomas Pennant July 24-31: Fife and Perthshire 5
James Boswell August 18th to 20th, 1773: From Edinburgh to Montrose 4
James Boswell August 21st to 23rd, 1773: Montrose to Aberdeen 4
Thomas Pennant September 5-17: Inveraray to Edinburgh 4
James Boswell Introduction 3
James Boswell Sept. 1st to 7th, 1773: Glen Moriston to Skye 3
James Boswell September 14th to 20th, 1773: Dunvegan, Skye 3
James Boswell October 23rd to 26th, 1773: Inveraray 3
William Camden Coins of Britain; The Celts, Picts and Scots 3
Samuel Johnson Arbroath and Montrose 3
John Wesley 1760-2: Letter to an Editor; Impositions and Declarations; Speaking Statue; Pentecost 3
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 3
James Boswell August 27th to 31st, 1773: Forres to Glen Moriston via Inverness 2
James Boswell September 25th to October 2nd, 1773: South east Skye 2
James Boswell October 3rd to 8th, 1773: Coll 2
James Boswell October 9th to 16th, 1773: Mull 2
William Camden The Division of Britaine 2
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Carlisle to Newcastle 2
Samuel Johnson South to Glasgow and Auchinleck 2
John Wesley 1744-5: First Methodist Conference; Pressgangs and Mobs 2
John Wesley 1751-3: Wesley's Marriage; Cornwall Smugglers; Illness and Recovery 2
John Wesley 1777-80: On the Isle of Man; City Road Chapel; Wesley Visits Lord George Gordon 2
Thomas Pennant September 18-23: The Borders and back to Cheshire 2
Thomas Pennant Appendix IV: Of the Murder of a Laird of Innes 2
Thomas Pennant Appendix VIII: Itinerary 2
James Boswell September 21st to 24th, 1773: Dunvegan to Talisker 1
James Boswell October 17th to 22nd, 1773: Inchkenneth and Iona 1
James Boswell October 27th to November 7th, 1773: Through Glasgow to Ayrshire 1
William Camden Romans in Britaine (2) 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 1: The Trent Valley 1
Robert Gammage Working and Campaigning in Chelmsford in 1841-2 1
Robert Gammage To Scotland in 1843 1
Samuel Johnson Inch Keith and St. Andrews 1
Samuel Johnson Aberdeen 1
Samuel Johnson Glen Shiel and Glen Elg 1
Samuel Johnson Arrival on Skye; Armadale 1
Samuel Johnson Ulva and Inch Kenneth 1
John Wesley 1757-9: "I do Indeed Live by Preaching"; Advice to Travelers; French Prisoners 1
Thomas Pennant August 1-6: Loch Tay to Deeside 1
Thomas Pennant August 14-18: Inverness and the Black Isle 1
Thomas Pennant August 18-29: Sutherland and Caithness 1
Thomas Pennant August 30-September 5: The Great Glen and Argyll 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Calton Hill 2 1
Canongate 0 2
Broughton 0 1
Abbey 0 3
Holyrood 6 1
Salisbury Crags 2 1
Abbeyhill 0 2
Arthurs Seat 2 2
Bonnington 0 2
Jocks Lodge 0 2
Duddingston 0 3
Morningside 0 1
Leith 33 2
Tynecastle 0 2
Restalrig 0 2
Newhaven 0 2
Gorgie 0 2
Granton 0 2
Craigmillar 1 2
Liberton 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Edinburgh. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
CASTRUM ALATUM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
DUN EADEN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDEN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDENBOROUGH Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
EDENBORROW William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDENBURGH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDENBUROUGH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDENBURROW William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDEN HILL William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
EDINBURGH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.