Princes Street Gardens is a public park in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in two phases in the 1770s and 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and the creation of the New Town. The Nor Loch was a large loch on the north side of the town, making expansion northwards difficult. It was heavily polluted from centuries of sewage draining downhill from the Old Town. In 1846 the railway was built in the valley to connect the Edinburgh-Glasgow line from Haymarket with the new northern terminus of the North British line from Berwick-upon-Tweed at Waverley Station.
The gardens run along the south side of Princes Street and are divided by The Mound. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover 8.5 acres (34,000 m2). The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover 29 acres (120,000 m2) and extend to the adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's, near Lothian Road in the west.
The Gardens are the best known park in Edinburgh having the highest awareness and visitor figures for both residents and visitors to the city. Various concerts and other events are held at the Ross Bandstand including the Festival Fireworks Concert and during the city's Hogmanay celebrations.
Read more about Princes Street Gardens: History, Monuments, Winter Wonderland
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)