Victoria Street Travel

A multi-arched stone bridge built 1827-1836, designed by Edinburgh's most distinguished neoclassical architect Thomas Hamilton, forming the northern gateway to Victoria Street. Built of local grey sandstone, the largest semicircular vault spans the Cowgate valley 36 feet below, with cast-iron railings adorned with anthemion leaf motifs. To the east stands the National Library of Scotland (designed by Reginald Fairlie in 1958, with relief portraits by Hew Lorimer), to the west is Andrew Carnegie-funded Edinburgh Central Library (designed by George Washington Browne in French Renaissance style, its lintel incorporating a Latin-inscribed doorway from Sir Thomas Hope's 1616 townhouse). This is the portal to Victoria Street and the heart of Edinburgh's literary and intellectual life.

Edinburgh Old Town's most beautiful and photographed street, built 1829-1834 by George Smith under Hamilton's master plan. The street zigzags downhill about 250 metres, lined with iconic two-storey bow-fronted shops — residences above, retail below — each bow window painted a different colour, creating a rainbow-like visual spectacle flowing with the curve. This is the most widely recognised real-world inspiration for Harry Potter's Diagon Alley: J.K. Rowling passed by daily while writing at the nearby Elephant House café; the cobbled winding lane, colourful independent shops and quirky stores selling magical props bear striking resemblance to descriptions in the books. Must-visit shops: Museum Context (Harry Potter-themed store, often queues), The Boy Wizard (robes and wands), Mr. Wood's Fossils (fossils and minerals spanning billions of years), I.J. Mellis Cheesemonger (Scottish artisan cheese), Walker Slater (Harris Tweed jackets).

West Bow was the only route connecting Grassmarket to the Royal Mile's Lawnmarket before Victoria Street was built — an extremely steep, narrow Z-shaped medieval lane that was Edinburgh's most important western entrance since the 1400s, featuring an upper bow gate (Bow Port) as early as 1450. The lane was once lined with the Knights of St John house (marked by an iron cross on the outer wall), merchant David Williamson's 1604 house (lintel inscribed "SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA"), and the infamous residence of "The Wizard of West Bow" Major Thomas Weir — who confessed to witchcraft on his deathbed in 1670, was executed, after which his house stood empty for nearly 50 years amid rumours of haunting. When Victoria Street was built in the 1830s, the upper portion of West Bow was transformed into Victoria Terrace, a raised pedestrian walkway extending along the south side of the street — the best vantage point for photographing the entire curved street panorama, free from traffic interference, overlooking layered bow-fronted roofs and colourful storefronts.

The trapezoidal square at the southern end of Victoria Street, serving as Edinburgh's livestock and produce market since 1472, with weekly markets continuing until 1911. But its darker identity is as Edinburgh's official public execution ground from 1660 to 1784 — over 100 Covenanters were hanged here during the "Killing Time," the original gallows position marked today by dark paving stones at the eastern end of the square. In 1736, a mob dragged Captain John Porteous from Tolbooth Prison, hauled him up West Bow (now Victoria Street) to Grassmarket, and hanged him from a dyer's pole — an event immortalised as the core incident in Sir Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian. In 1724, Margaret Dickson miraculously revived after being hanged, becoming the famous "Half-hanged Maggie." Between 1827-1828, Burke & Hare murdered 16 people nearby and sold their bodies to the University of Edinburgh's anatomy department. Today Grassmarket has transformed into a vibrant dining district, with pavement pubs complementing the cobblestone square.

The street extending from the western end of Grassmarket, providing convenient access to Greyfriars Kirkyard. It retains several independent bookshops (West Port Books, Edinburgh Books), exuding the literary atmosphere of the Old Town's west end. Greyfriars Kirkyard, just a 3-minute walk from West Port, is Edinburgh's most famous cemetery — it holds the real-life prototype for The Heart of Midlothian, Captain John Porteous (his epitaph reads "All Passion Spent"), and University of Edinburgh anatomy professor Alexander Monro. Many names in the kirkyard — Tom Riddle, McGonagall, Moodie — were borrowed by J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter characters. In 1638, the Scottish Presbyterian Church signed the National Covenant here, resisting Charles I's religious policies, with covenanters' inscriptions still visible on the kirkyard walls. On summer evenings, the slanted sunlight casts long Gothic spire shadows across the graveyard, making it one of Edinburgh's most atmospheric walking destinations.