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__NOTOC__ The Meadows is a large public park in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the south of the town centre.〔(The Meadows | EdinburghGuide.com )〕 It consists largely of open grassland crossed by tree-lined paths, but also has a children's playground,〔https://www.littletrekkers.co.uk/little-trekkers-ambassadors/ambassador-blog/item/edinburgh-play-park-in-the-meadows.html〕 a croquet club,〔(Meadows Croquet Club, Edinburgh )〕 tennis courts〔(Meadows City Tennis Club Edinburgh )〕 and recreational sport pitches.〔(The Meadows, Edinburgh )〕 It is bordered by the University of Edinburgh's George Square campus and the Quartermile development on the site of the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to the north and Marchmont to the south.〔 To the south-west it becomes Bruntsfield Links where there is a free, public pitch and putt golf course.〔 ==History== The Meadows originally contained a loch, known as the "burgh loch" or, later, the "South Loch". It covered much of the area bounded in the east by Hope Park Terrace and in the west by the point where Melville Drive becomes Brougham Street, and in the south by Melville Drive and in the north by the site later occupied by the Old Royal Infirmary, a total of . The loch drained from east to west, where the burn known as the Loch-rin was sluiced to prevent the water from draining out. It is from this burn that the street names Lochrin Buildings and Lochrin Place in Tollcross derive. Until Edinburgh's first piped water supply from Comiston arrived in 1621, the loch provided much of the town's drinking water. It was partially drained in the mid-17th century and for a time named Straiton's Loch or Straiton's Park after the burgess who tried to improve the area. From 1722 century Sir Thomas Hope (c. 1681–1771), an agricultural improver and politician, ordered more drainage work, making the marshy land into a park with a path round the edge, hedges, avenues of lime trees, drainage canals and a summer house.〔(Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links )〕 The central tree-lined path known as Middle Meadow Walk followed, and for several decades maps labelled this area as "The Meadows or Hope Park". It is the traditional practice ground of the Royal Company of Archers, whose meeting-place is nearby. In 1827 an Act of Parliament protected the Meadows from being built upon. Though animals were grazed there and notable Edinburgh citizens are known to have walked there, there was no full right of public access until the middle of the 19th century when new paths were gradually added, criss-crossing the park. An exception to city council rules against building on the land was allowed for the temporary large glass pavilion of the 1886 International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art.〔(The Meadows, Edinburgh )〕 The whale's jawbones now forming an arch over the Meadows path called Jawbone Walk originally formed the display stand of the Zetland and Fair Isle Knitters Association. Due to lack of maintenance and deterioration, the jawbones were removed in 2014 for restoration. In the 1870s the Meadows became an important venue in the early development of football in Edinburgh. Amongst the numerous fledgling teams using the Meadows were Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Hibernian F.C., later to become the city's preeminent sides, and the first derby match between them was played there on 25 December 1875. Although a modern plaque has been placed near Whalebone Arch to commemorate the event, the main pitch was on the eastern fringe of the park, running from east to west, parallel with the Boroughloch Brewery. The Second World War brought more than 500 allotments to the east end of the Meadows as part of the effort to make the nation more self-sufficient in food.〔(WITTERINGS: The Meadows )〕 By 1950 many local residents wanted the area re-turfed, but it was 1966 before the last signs of vegetable cultivation were removed. In the late 1960s, plans to complete a "flyover" over the Meadows for a trunk road were defeated.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Meadows (park)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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