1. I MacIvor, Edinburgh Castle, (Batsford/Historic Scotland, 1994), pp.17-18.
2. See the discussion in The City of Edinburgh, (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 1951), pp.lxii-lxvi, and especially the plan on p.lxiii.
3. Daniel Wilson, writing in 1883 and recounting his own recollection of the area before its demolition to allow the construction of Waverley Station, describes it as "mean and squalid." Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 18 (1883-4), p.133.
4. For Milne’s Court, and the overcrowding in the Old Town, see AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), pp.14-15.
5. For a discussion of the rise of the flat in London, see D Olsen, The Growth of Victorian London, (Batsford, 1976), pp.114-118.
6. K Cruft and A Fraser (ed.), James Craig, 1744-1795, (Mercat Press, Edinburgh, 1995), p.48. This refers to one fatality, other sources imply more than one.
7. A wright is a carpenter or joiner. The Incorporation of Wrights and Masons was one of the Edinburgh trade guilds, whose members had the exclusive right to employ labour within the boundaries of the burgh for building or joiner work. James Brown shows that both wrights and masons could work in such a way that they could entitle themselves "architect."
8. Nicolson Street was laid out through what had been the park surrounding Lady Nicolson’s house, and the first feus were offered in 1757. See J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), p.239.
9. Proposals for Carrying on certain Public Works in the City of Edinburgh, (1752), quoted in AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), Chapter One, especially p.3.
10. Town Council Minutes, 1st July 1752, quoted in AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), p.53.
11. AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), pp.55-58. It appears that the Adams tendered for the building contract but were not successful (J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), p.176, note 3).
12. The fullest account of the building of the North Bridge is by EC Ruddock in "The Building of the North Bridge, Edinburgh, 1763-1775," in Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol.47 (1974-6), pp.9-33. See also AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), pp.59-65.
13. See AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), pp.70-81. There are several papers - of varying quality - on aspects of the development of the New Town, in K Cruft and A Fraser (ed.), James Craig, 1744-1795, (Mercat Press, Edinburgh - 1995).
14. A. Fraser, "A Reassessment of Craig’s New Town Plans, 1766-1774", in K Cruft and A Fraser (ed.), James Craig, 1744-1795, (Mercat Press, Edinburgh - 1995), pp.25-47, especially pp.37-38.
15. Act of the Town Council, 13th September 1769, quoted in AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), p.66.
16. K Cruft and A Fraser (ed.), James Craig, 1744-1795, (Mercat Press, Edinburgh, 1995), pp.106-7.
17. J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), pp.281-3.
18. See AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), p.92, for an assessment of the westward progress of construction within the New Town.
19. Youngson discusses the relative proportions of speculative building and feuing directly to prospective owners in the New Town. See AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), especially pp.100-102 and 223-225.
20. J Farington, Notebook No 3, unprinted MS in the Edinburgh Room, Edinburgh Public Library, quoted in AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), p.93. Farington was writing in 1788.
21. I Gow and J Simpson, "8 Queen Street Edinburgh: Restoring an Adam House," in Robert Adam (Architectural Heritage, Vol. 4), (Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, 1993), pp.58-65.
22. J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), p.293 and footnote.
23. J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), p.273. It is also possible that it was the work of William Sibbald.
24. For example, the church of the Aegidienkirche at Nuremberg. See G Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post Reformation Churches, (Oxford University Press, 1957), pp.92-3.
25. Letter from John Paterson to Robert Adam, quoted in AG Fraser, The Building of Old College, (Edinburgh University Press, 1989), p.99.
26. W Taylor, The Military Roads in Scotland, (David and Charles, 1976).
27. For example, Blackfriars Bridge, designed in 1760 by the Scottish architect Robert Mylne and built between 1760 and 1769. See J Summerson, Georgian London, (revised edition, Penguin Books, 1978) p.277.
28. J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), pp.248 (Nicolson Street) and 249 (St Patrick Street and Square).
29. J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, (Penguin, 1984), p.427.
30. The competition for the design of the new Bridewell and the development of Adam’s five successive schemes are discussed by TA Markus in "Buildings for the Sad, the Bad and the Mad in Urban Scotland, 1780-1830", published in TA Markus (ed), Order and Space in Society, (Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1982), pp.25-114.
31. AJ Youngson, The Making of Classical Edinburgh, 1750-1840, (Edinburgh University Press, 1966 and 1988), pp. 122 and 135. Youngson identifies the old House of Correction as being variously beside the Charity Workhouse in Bristo Port and in the Canongate. The former of these may be a mistake for the Bedlam, shown near the Charity Workhouse on 18th-century maps of Edinburgh.
32. The bridge from Princes’ Street to Calton Hill was constructed 1816-22, although the first moves towards its construction were made in 1813.
33. See AT Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Vol. 2 (Country Life, 1922), p.197. The church, which survives only in mutilated form, is generally ascribed to James Adam, principally on the basis that one surviving drawing, dated 1792 (and hence very likely after his brother's death, which occurred on 3rd March that year) is signed by him. The role of Robert Adam in its design has never been properly assessed, although one other of the surviving drawings is dated 1788, well before his death. For comparable examples of octagonal churches, see G Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post Reformation Churches, (Oxford University Press, 1957), pp.95-7.
34. AG Fraser, The Building of
Old College, (Edinburgh University Press, 1989), p.120, quoting the
Minutes of the College Trustees, 6th December 1793.