Nor Loch Trees

Edinburgh Castle rules the city skyline, sitting high up on the Castle Rock.  The area below the castle was formed by glacial erosion.  These trees in Princes Street Gardens make a nice colourful foreground, although hundreds of years ago, this area used to be full of water.  Originally, it was a marsh and provided some defence for the old town.  In 1460, an order was given by King James III to flood the marshes to create a better defence by damming a stream which ran alongside the castle.  Later, in 1603, King James VI gave the loch to the Town Council, since it was not proving to be a great defence mechanism, since any attackers could quite easily appear from the North side of the castle.  Over the years, with the growth of Edinburgh, the Nor Loch became highly polluted with household waste and sewage and in it's time was used for witch 'ducking', smuggling and unfortunately was the spot for many suicides.  In 1763, the east end of the Nor Loch was drained to allow construction of the North Bridge.  Drainage of the west end took place in 1813 to 1820 to enable the creation of Princes Street Gardens.  During the construction of Waverley Station, also on the site of the Nor Loch, several sets of human bones were found from when the site had been a loch.  Nowadays the site is home to the beautiful Princes Street Gardens and is much used by the people of Edinburgh and tourists alike.