North Bridge, Edinburgh

The first stone of the original bridge was laid on 21 October 1763 by the Lord Provost, George Drummond, a driving force behind the modernisation of Edinburgh.

As the north side of the hill on which the old part of the city stands is extremely steep, it had been found convenient, in early times, to throw the earth dug from the foundations of houses down this declivity, towards the North Loch.

This, together with other design faults, led to a collapse of part of the structure on 3 August 1769, killing five people.

[5] The medal shows a view of the bridge with trains underneath and on the obverse a bust of the by then knighted Sir Andrew McDonald.

[6] Situated on the bridge is a war memorial, by sculptor William Birnie Rhind which memorialises soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers killed in campaigns between 1878 and 1902.

This involved relaying the paving slabs and kerbs, surfacing works, drainage upgrades and waterproofing, and repairs to the reinforced concrete bridge deck.

To accommodate the work, from 13 November traffic was restricted to one southbound lane, along with the closure of the footpath on the west side, with northbound traffic being diverted via Chambers Street, George IV Bridge and The Mound.

[8] The work was originally planned to take nine months, but in July 2022 it was announced that the time-scale would be extended to Spring 2023.