The New Town

Playfair's finishing touch on Calton Hill was his spectacularly positioned circular monument to Dugald Stewart, the professor of moral philosophy, a more exact copy of the Lysicrates monument, put up only a year after Hamilton's one for Burns down below. If it looks familiar, it may be because television journalists seem fond of choosing it as the ideal backdrop for their reports on the latest hot developments from the Scottish political scene.

To get down to the bottom of the hill, take the path to the left of the monument, enjoying the fine view down Princes Street. Go down the steps to the left and, just before you get to the bottom, look out for the unusual memorial to Saint Wolodymyr the Great, Ruler of Ukraine, hidden in the ivy. Turn right on to Regent Road and walk back down Waterloo Place to the Register House.

Before the Battle of Waterloo had ever happened, the area in front of Register House was Shakespeare Square, famous for its Theatre Royal, where the most celebrated actress of the day, Sarah Siddons, appeared in 1784. Nothing daunted by her initial failure to draw the expected applause, she continued with her performance. In one of the silences that followed a voice was heard to murmur 'that's no' bad!', which provoked a thunderous ovation. Walter Scott's dramatised version of 'Rob Roy' was another highlight which saved the theatre's by then ailing fortunes, but it was a short reprieve.

In 1859 it was demolished to make way for the new General Post Office, the large Italianate building now standing empty on the North Bridge opposite the Balmoral. Prince Albert laid the foundation stone in 1861. 

Pass Register House on your right, heading west, and turn right into a narrow alley called West Register Street.

On the right is New Register House (for records of births, marriages and deaths), and the Court of the Lord Lyon, final arbiter on all matters heraldic and genealogical. On the left, the Guildford Arms is an excellent real ale pub with a late 19th-century ribbed ceiling, next door to the famous Café Royal with its long island bar, green leather benches and antique tiled walls depicting industrial pioneers.

If you are doing this walk during bank opening hours continue straight on, down a paved alley called Gabriel's Road (keeping New Register House on your right), turn left through a narrow gate and you will emerge into the front courtyard of the Royal Bank of Scotland in St Andrew Square. If the bank is closed, follow West Register Street round into St Andrew Square and tuft right until you are standing in front of the bank.