THE New Town of Edinburgh, which was begun in 1767, is a number of things: it is the site of some of Edinburgh's most majestic architecture, it represents the most significant milestone in the city's history, and it is a distinctive community (some say it is a state of mind!). As Churchill said: 'We make our surroundings, and then they make us.'

Conceived halfway through the eighteenth century, the New Town was born of physical necessity, for the Old Town was overcrowded, malodorous and unhealthy. But the benefits bestowed by the visionary New Town were not only physical, they were intellectual and spiritual also.

St. Andrews Square

Since the Middle Ages and earlier, Edinburgh had been cramped and confined behind its city wall, the cockpit of the Scottish nation, the focal point of constitutional strife, periodically sacked by her powerful neighbour to the south. Not until well into the eighteenth century was there any true prospect of constitutional stability.

While the social climate for a New Town was ripe, it nevertheless required a great deal of courage and vision on the part of the Town Council, led by Lord Provost George Drummond, to undertake a new town from scratch. Drummond was not a native son, incidentally: he was born in Blairgowrie. The selected site was Bearford's Parks, open land lying immediately to the north of what is today Princes Street Gardens.

The New Town

It is tempting to imagine a scene (surely it must have occurred at some stage) in which George Drummond stands amid the pasture of Bearford's Parks, on the rough road that led along the ridge, expounding enthusiastically to silent and more cautious companions his dream of a new city on that very spot. No doubt, to some of his fellow councillors, George Drummond was a very alarming fellow.

The birth was preceded by a gestation period of some 15 years. Though proposals were published as early as 1752, it was not until 1767 that Parliament passed the Act extending the boundaries of the town. An architectural competition was won by a young architect, James Craig, with a simple grid design.

Charlotte Square

The principal street, to be named George Street after the monarch, was to be laid east to west along the gentle ridge of the parks, this thoroughfare being paralleled by Queen Street to the north and Princes Street to the south. At each end of George Street was a square (today St Andrew Square and Charlotte Square). Craig's plan, adopted by the Town Council in 1767, probably won because of the excellent use he made of the site, particularly in relation to the castle, the Old Town and the intervening valley. At the same time, the plan evidently did not see the overwhelming attraction that would be exerted through time by Princes Street, in combination with the valley, castle and Old Town ridge: Craig was turning his back on the Old Town, with its dark and violent history, and placed his emphasis on the northern prospect, which represented a new and better age.

In the eighteenth century the New Town was a remarkable pioneer venture in town planning, and in the twentieth it remains unique in terms of Georgian architecture. Drummond died in 1766, and so did not live to see his great plan reach glorious fruition. The New Town became his monument. As was said of the aesthetic debt owed by London to the architect, Christopher Wren: 'If you would see his memorial, look about you.'

The first necessity was a good road link across the valley between the Old Town and the New. The North Bridge, begun in 1762, had two purposes: access to the site of the New Town and the provision of a better route to Leith. Craig's New Town materialised from east to west: St Andrew Square came first, construction gradually proceeding westwards. Charlotte Square was not completed until about 1810.

Craig's plan provided for a church at each end, but in the event only Charlotte Square got its church (the handsome domed building that is now West Register House). The blame for this imbalance lies with Sir Laurence Dundas, who had acquired the lease of the land earmarked by Craig for the St Andrew Square church. Dundas proceeded quickly to build what was unquestionably a very fine town house, designed by Sir William Chambers. This handsome house is still there to this day, but it is now the head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland. It is famed for the beauty of the ceiling in its banking hall.

The modern St Andrew Square contains the offices of so many banks and insurance companies that it is said their combined assets make this the richest square in Europe. The saying emphasises Edinburgh's importance as a financial centre, which in the context of the United Kingdom is second only to London's. The development of the North Sea oil fields, which called for funding on a scale undreamed of in earlier times, gave impetus to Edinburgh's skills in money management.

The column in the centre of the St Andrew Square garden is that of Henry Dundas (1742-1811), the first Viscount Melville, a Tory who was such an influential figure in Scottish political life that in his time he was called 'the uncrowned king of Scotland'.

St Andrew Square also provides access to Edinburgh's bus station, from which services are operated to all parts of Scotland and, indeed, beyond.

George Street contains a great number of handsome buildings, many of them dating from the earliest years of the thoroughfare. As we leave St Andrew Square and proceed west, we see on the right the portico and spire of St Andrew's and St George's Church, which was built here because Sir Laurence Dundas had thwarted the original scheme for St Andrew Square.

Throughout the length of George Street, every cross street presents an interesting prospect - either classical architecture or the castle to the south, or a distant vista of sea and hills to the north. The fact that the land falls away to the north provided the architects of the New Town with an additional dimension to be exploited visually. There are innumerable properties in which the visitor, having passed through an unexceptional entrance, is startled by a panoramic view from the rear windows. He suddenly realises that the back of the building is perched on a cliff.

Between Hanover Street and Frederick Street are the Assembly Rooms (1787), built originally for the holding of formal dances in gracious surroundings: the elegant rooms are noted for their magnificent chandeliers and numerous wall mirrors. Many a brilliant function has been held within these walls. One of the favourite stories is that it was here in 1827 that Sir Walter Scott finally acknowledged what had been an open secret, namely, that he was the author of the Waverley novels.

The Music Hall was added to the Assembly Rooms at a later stage, and the combined facilities, which are owned by the City of Edinburgh, are regularly used for meetings, concerts, social functions and business conferences. During the Edinburgh Festival they are a principal venue of dramatic and musical entertainment.

In Craig's plan, in addition to the three principal thoroughfares, there was also sensible provision for subsidiary service streets and mewses. These were later named Rose Street and Thistle Street, and the former has become celebrated in particular as the home of a number of excellent pubs. While it would be invidious to make comparisons on the basis of quality of their product or service, it may be permissible to award the architectural palm to the Abbotsford Bar, which has unsurpassed woodwork, allied to a fine plaster ceiling. Rose Street in recent years has written a new chapter in its history, and one that would not have displeased its eighteenth-century creator: sections of the street are now pedestrian precincts, promenaders strolling among smart boutiques and other interesting shops.

At the western end of Rose Street, on the west side of South Charlotte Street, an inscribed stone records that this was the birthplace, in 1847, of Alexander Graham Bell, the man who invented the telephone and thus changed the world for ever.

And so to Charlotte Square, the north side of which has been described as Robert Adam's masterpiece. The memorial in the centre of the garden commemorates Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. West Register House, whose noble dome is a prominent landmark of the area, was formerly St George's Church but has now been adapted for a new career as an extension to Register House. No. 6 Charlotte Square is the official residence of the secretary of state for Scotland. No. 7 is the 'Georgian House', and has been furnished by the National Trust for Scotland in order to show the public the lifestyle that would have been enjoyed by a family occupying it in the eighteenth century. Each year many thousands of visitors pass through this magnificent house, which is equipped down to the last iron griddle in its fascinating old-fashioned kitchen. The top floor of no. 7 is the official residence of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Lord Cockburn (1779-1854), Whig lawyer, historian, and father-figure of Edinburgh conservationists, lived for a time at no. 14. Field Marshal Earl Haig, the British Army commander in France during the First World War, was born in a house at the south-west corner of the square.

There was more than one New Town: it is a generic title that covers a number of separate developments, executed over a long period for different owners. However, a set of architectural and building controls, adhered to remarkably well in the circumstances, brought about a high degree of uniformity and, as can be seen today, a satisfying homogeneity.

One important factor, which ought not to be overlooked, was the high quality of the sandstone available and the skill of the masons. Both these advantages are now being revealed anew as buildings in the New Town undergo restoration and cleaning.

Queen Street, which was the northern fringe of Craig's New Town, mirrors Princes Street in that it is built up on only one side. This was in order that the residents of Queen Street might have an uninterrupted view of the Firth of Forth and Fife beyond. The well-wooded gardens which run the length of Queen Street are privately owned by the proprietors.

The handsome red sandstone building at the east end is the Royal Museum of Scotland, Queen Street, designed by Sir Rowand Anderson and opened towards the end of the nineteenth century. It contains a comprehensive collection of antiquities illustrating the history of Scotland from the earliest times. The building is shared with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, whose large collection includes both paintings and rare photographs.

Royal Circus

Before the first New Town was complete there was talk of a second. This extended the first from Queen Street Gardens northwards, and created streets, crescents and circuses that are now among the most celebrated in Edinburgh. These include Heriot Row, Northumberland Street, Abercromby Place, Drummond Place, Great King Street, India Street and Royal Circus. This second New Town was created over a period of about 20 years from 1802.

Then, to the west, there arose Shandwick Place, Coates Crescent, Atholl Crescent and Melville Street. However, the acknowledged pice de resistance evolved between 1824 and 1827 with the development of the Earl of Moray's property: the preceding developments were brilliantly linked together by the architect, James Gillespie Graham, employing a geometric design that created Moray Place, Ainslie place and Randolph Crescent.

One of the dominant features of the New Town skyline is St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Palmerston Place, with its three towering yet graceful spires. It is seen to best effect from the eastern end of Melville Street. The passer-by will readily accept that this is one of the largest Gothic churches to have been erected in Britain since the Reformation. The money for its construction was bequeathed by two maiden ladies, Misses Barbara and Mary Walker, of Coates, in 1870. The nave was consecrated for services nine years later. The design, by Sir Gilbert Scott, provided a building 260 ft long, and a single spire 276 ft high. The two twin spires were added between 1915 and 1917. Picturesque Easter Coates House, immediately north of the cathedral, is St Mary's Music School.

Stockbridge, another interesting part of the city, has its part in the New Town story. The portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn, who owned land in the Stockbridge area, feued it out for building in 1813. This led to the creation of such streets as Raeburn Place, Dean Street, the charming Ann Street, India Place and St Bernard's Crescent. There are well-known antique shops in the neighbourhood. Theatre Workshop, whose base is at no. 34 Hamilton Place, is dedicated to promoting theatre in its widest sense, particularly among the young.

Stockbridge lies beside the Water of Leith, and there is easy access to the Water of Leith Walkway. On the walkway between Deanhaugh Street and the Dean Bridge is St Bernard's Well, which has an interesting history. A mineral spring, which had always bubbled on the riverbank, was believed by many in the eighteenth century to be beneficial to their health. In 1789 the Court of Session judge Lord Gardenstone, who was convinced the waters eased his rheumatism, commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to build a proper pump-room, surmounted by a Doric temple. At the centre of the pillared temple is a statue of Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health, sculpted by D.W. Stevenson (1888).

The pump-room, which has a fine mosaic ceiling and is beautifully decorated throughout, is open to visitors at certain times. The medicinal waters are not, however, restored.

The Water of Leith Walkway is a series of pleasant footpaths, constructed in recent years along the riverbank. Eventually there will be a continuous walkway throughout the 15 miles' length of the river from its source in the Pentland Hills to its mouth at Leith.

This sketch of Edinburgh's Georgian development is almost complete. However, tribute must be paid to Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, a graceful masterpiece which soars 100 ft above the Water of Leith to bridge another of Edinburgh's many chasms. Curiously, in view of its public importance in improving access to the north, the Dean Bridge was almost wholly privately funded. Its instigator was Lord Provost John Learmonth, who owned land in the Dean area, north of the Water of Leith, and was aware that better access was essential if he were ever successfully to feu the land for housing. The Dean Bridge was opened to traffic in 1831 and admirably served its purpose, as such splendid streets as Clarendon Crescent, Learmonth Terrace and Buckingham Terrace eloquently testify.

Almost in the shadow of Telford's bridge is the interesting and picturesque Dean Village, which can be reached by Bell's Brae. The village was founded and prospered in ancient times because its numerous mills derived their power from the river. That economic motivation has gone now, but the village, an architectural curiosity nestling in its tranquil valley only a few minutes from the frenetic roar of the West End, is a convenient and desirable residential area. One of the charms of Edinburgh is that the city continues to nurture a number of peaceful village communities in which there survives a rural atmosphere only a stone's throw from bustling highways.

An important milestone in the life of the New Town was reached in 1970, with the founding of the Edinburgh New Town Conservation committee. Funded by the City of Edinburgh, Historic Scotland and the property owners themselves, the committee's continuing task is to conserve the fabric of this cultural asset. This is done by offering grant aid to property owners and expert advice on external repairs. The New Town is, of course, primarily a residential area: its hundreds of households form a thriving community and provide the Scottish capital with a living heart. For many years the City of Edinburgh, through its Planning and Development Committee, has actively practised a policy of discouraging the conversion of New Town residential properties to commercial use. The area has been formally recognised by the European Community as a valuable part of Europe's heritage: in 1988, the Europa Nostra silver medal was awarded for this 'outstanding example of co-ordinated rehabilitation and maintenance management in an area of high architectural values'. The offices of the New Town Conservation Committee are at 13a Dundas Street, where there is a gallery which presents temporary exhibitions. Admission is free.