Parliament Square, Edinburgh

Parliament Square, Edinburgh, Scotland, is located off the High Street, part of the Royal Mile.

The Edinburgh Mercat Cross[2][3] is located on the east side of the square while an equestrian statue of Charles II of Scotland[note 1] stands in front of the entrance to the Supreme Courts of Scotland adjoining Parliament House, on the west side.

This made the square a centre for the meeting of politicians and lawyers before they entered the building, from the time of its creation until the dissolution of the Scottish parliament with the Act of Union in 1707.

[5] Another building adjacent to the square was the Old Tolbooth, which was "used variously as a meeting place for the Town Council, a tax office, law court and prison, it was finally torn down in 1817".

[7] Henry Cockburn lamented the loss of the square's historical name, Parliament Close, a change he attributed to the silliness of fashion ("foppery") when he wrote his memoir of life in Edinburgh in the 1820s.

Parliament Square, Edinburgh facing east, showing the equestrian statue of Charles II and the facade of the Law Courts designed by Robert Reid .
A painting showing Edinburgh characters in Parliament Close in the late 18th century, before the church and Parliament House were re-faced