The Meadows, Edinburgh

[1] It consists largely of open grassland crossed by tree-lined paths, but also has a children's playground,[2] a croquet club,[3] tennis courts[4] and recreational sport pitches.

[5] It is bordered by the University of Edinburgh's George Square campus, the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, the main university library, St Thomas of Aquin's High School and the Quartermile development on the site of the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to the north, Marchmont, Summerhall and Sciennes to the south and Newington to the east.

In 1722 Sir Thomas Hope, 8th Baronet Hope of Craighall (c. 1681–1771), an agricultural improver and politician, ordered more drainage work, making the marshy land into a park with a path round the edge, hedges, avenues of lime trees, drainage canals and a summer house.

Though animals were grazed there and notable Edinburgh citizens are known to have walked there, there was no full right of public access until the middle of the 19th century when new paths were gradually added, criss-crossing the park.

An exception to city council rules against building on the land was allowed for the temporary large glass pavilion of the 1886 International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art.

[12] Although a modern plaque has been placed near Whalebone Arch to commemorate the event, the main pitch was on the eastern fringe of the park, running from east to west, parallel with the Boroughloch Brewery.

[14] The most significant event in the history of the Meadows was the International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art in 1886, during which a high percentage of the park was built over.

It is also the venue for the start and finish of the Edinburgh Moon Walk, an annual event involving 12,000 walkers raising money for breast cancer research and treatment.

Being one of the few flat stretches of open land in the central area of the city, it is occasionally host to public protests and rallies, including the 225,000-strong Make Poverty History march on 2 July 2005.