Talk:Cowgate

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I'm a little dubious as to the meanings presented for the word "cowgate". South Bridge wasn't built until the 18th century, and George IV until the 19th (see Thomas Hamilton (architect)), but I'm sure the name dates from before the bridges. Does the contributor have an sources for their information? Maccoinnich 08:48, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

The Derivation of Edinburgh's Street Names gives "The line of this ancient thoroughfare, once a path along which cows were driven to pasture, follows the south flank of the Old Town ridge as far as St. Mary's Street. Centuries ago the Cowgate was a fashionable quarter of the town." [1].

More to the point, if it was named for the bridges no-one told James VI - he referred to (a different) Thomas Hamilton, his advisor, as "Tam o' the Cowgate"... [2] Shimgray | talk | 13:26, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Given the second point, which seems to pretty strongly delink it from the bridge, I've gone back to an old version of the etymology. It strikes me as more likely to be correct. Shimgray | talk | 13:33, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Merger proposal

The Edinburgh Cowgate fire page needs a bit of a tidy, and I was going to do it, but I think it would function better as a section in the main Cowgate page. It's hardly a long page as it is. The fire page seems to have been created almost straight after the fire, before this page even existed. Also, I seem to remember that was another, and much larger, fire sometime in the 19th century (?) that could, and should, also be covered in this page. Maccoinnich