Down the centuries the capital has been the home of master poets, such as Robert Burns and Robert Fergusson, influential novelists including Sir Walter Scott and Muriel Spark and modern-day writers like JK Rowling and Irvine Welsh.
But while all these figures have had a huge impact on Edinburgh’s literary scene with many boasting their own dedicated tourist trails, only one has a 200ft monument, a railway station, and numerous pubs named after them.
Oh, and an entire Edinburgh suburb.
READ MORE: How Edinburgh's Scott Monument almost ended up as an Egyptian-style obelisk
Born in the capital precisely 251 years ago, on August 15, 1771, Sir Walter Scott earned worldwide fame in the early part of the 19th century for his historical novels and his hometown has never been shy of paying homage to this fact.
To many literary experts, Sir Walter Scott is by far the most important writer to have emerged from Scotland's capital.
In the years following his death in 1832, his memory would be kept alive with the construction of the Scott Monument on Princes Street and with the opening of the adjacent Waverley Station, which is named after a series of Scott’s novels.
Few are aware, however, that there’s a whole district in south Edinburgh that’s packed to the gunnels with references to the literary legend’s characters and geographical connections.
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Developed from 1950 onwards, the Inch estate, which lies between Cameron Toll and Liberton Golf Club, memorialises Sir Walter Scott’s life and almost the entirety of his body of work.
Most obvious is Walter Scott Avenue, but the 130-acre estate has more than 30 different streets, the names of which were directly inspired by places and characters in Sir Walter’s poems and novels.
Notable hat-tips to the writer can be found at Marmion Crescent, Lammermoor Terrace, Kenilworth Drive, Peveril Terrace and Ivanhoe Crescent, which are named after Scott’s novels, and at Bellenden Gardens and Claverhouse Drive, honouring characters from his poems.
Other examples include Glendinning Crescent, Glenvarloch Crescent, Greenmantle Loan, Inglewood Place, Mannering Place, Monkbarns Gardens, Nigel Loan, Pleydell Drive, Ringwood Place, Rutherford Drive, Talisman Place and Woodstock Road.
While it may not be on the scale of the Scott Monument, as a gesture of appreciation to the great man’s literary prowess, the names of the Inch estate certainly make for a unique and beautiful tribute.
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