Scottish American Memorial

Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, beginning in the 1760s. The loch, situated on the north side of the town, was originally an artificial creation forming part of its medieval defences and made expansion northwards difficult. The water was habitually polluted from sewage draining downhill from the Old Town. The gardens run along the south side of Princes Street and are divided by The Mound, on which the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy buildings are located. East Princes Street Gardens run from The Mound to Waverley Bridge, and cover 8.5 acres (3.4 ha). The larger West Princes Street Gardens cover 29 acres (12 ha) and extend to the adjacent churches of St. John's and St. Cuthbert's, near Lothian Road in the west. In 1846 the railway was built in the valley to connect the Edinburgh-Glasgow line at Haymarket with the new northern terminus of the North British line from Berwick-upon-Tweed at Waverley Station.The Gardens are the best known parks in Edinburgh, having the highest awareness and visitor figures for both residents and visitors to the city.

Princes Street (Scottish Gaelic: Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quarters of a mile) from Lothian Road in the west, to Leith Street in the east. The street has few buildings on the south side and looks over Princes Street Gardens allowing panoramic views of the Old Town, Edinburgh Castle, as well as the valley between. Most of the street is limited to trams, buses and taxis with only the east end open to all traffic.

Rose Street is a street in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a narrow street running parallel between Princes Street and George Street. Today, it is principally a shopping street, however, it is well known for its many bars and public houses.

The National War Museum is a museum dedicated to warfare, which is located inside Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. Opened in 1933 in a converted 18th-century ordnance storehouse, the museum is run by the National Museums Scotland and covers 400 years of Scotland at war from the 17th century through permanent exhibits and special exhibitions.It was formerly known as the Scottish United Services Museum, and prior to this, the Scottish Naval and Military Museum.

Freemasons' Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the headquarters of Scottish Freemasonry, the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It is located at 96 George Street.A Category A listed building, the hall was built during 1911–1912 and was designed by the Edinburgh architect Alexander Hunter Crawford. Crawford was himself a prominent freemason, and the hall is described as his most important work. The facade of the building features a large statue of St Andrew, by the sculptor Henry Snell Gamley. The building replaced a previous hall erected in 1858, designed by David Bryce.

The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Waverley station which lie between the Royal Mile and Princes Street.

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.

Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1,100-year history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world". Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace, and the early 16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland, and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Some of the castle buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction. The castle, in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, is Scotland's most and the United Kingdom's second most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 2.2 million visitors in 2019 and over 70 percent of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visiting the castle. As the backdrop to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh Festival, the castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh in particular and of Scotland as a whole.

Castle Rock (Scottish Gaelic: Creag a' Chaisteil, IPA:[ˈkʰʲɾʲekˈaˈxaʃtʰʲɪl]) is a volcanic plug in the middle of Edinburgh upon which Edinburgh Castle sits. The rock is estimated to have formed some 350 million years ago during the early Carboniferous period. It is the remains of a volcanic pipe which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock, before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a coarser-grained equivalent of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted more by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation.The summit of the castle rock is 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north, rearing up to 80 metres (260 ft) from the surrounding landscape. This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is clear, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is an extremely poor aquifer. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28-metre (92 ft) deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege, for example during the Lang Siege of 1573.

The Scottish National War Memorial is located in Edinburgh Castle and commemorates Scottish service personnel and civilians, and those serving with Scottish regiments, who died in the two world wars and subsequent conflicts. Its chief architect was Robert Lorimer, commissioned in 1919, and the monument was formally opened in 1927. It is housed in a redeveloped barrack block in Crown Square, at the heart of the castle, and incorporates numerous monuments. The Rolls of Honour kept in the memorial include the names of those Scots servicemen and women and Scots civilians that died in all wars after 1914. This includes all Scots who were killed as a result of enemy action or who died as a result of wounds, diseases, or injuries while serving in the British Armed Forces, the Merchant Navy, the armed forces of the Dominions, the women's services, and the nursing services, together with all members of Scottish regiments. The Rolls of Honour include those who died between 4 August 1914 and 31 August 1921 as having died in the First World War and those between 3 September 1939 and 31 December 1947 as having died in the Second World War. Those not serving in the Scottish regiments must either have been born in Scotland or have at least one parent born in the country.The memorial rolls list close to 135,000 casualties of the First World War and over 50,000 of the Second World War. More casualties from later wars are also inscribed, including from the Malayan Emergency, the Korean War (1950–1953), Operation Banner (1969–2007) during The Troubles, the Falklands War (1982), and the Gulf War (1990–1991).

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum is a regimental museum displaying the collections of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and its predecessor regiments. It is based in the New Barracks (built between 1796 and 1799) at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.

The Museum of the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) and the Royal Regiment of Scotland is a regimental museum displaying the collections of the Royal Scots and the Royal Regiment of Scotland. It is based in the Royal Scots drill hall (built in 1900) at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.