Brass Founders' Pillar, Nicolson Square, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 29 April 1977. Monument. 5 related planning applications.

Brass Founders' Pillar, Nicolson Square, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
quiet-wattle-smoke
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
29 April 1977
Type
Monument
Address
Brass Founders' Pillar, Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9BX
OS grid reference
NT 260 731
Coordinates
55.94603, -3.18539
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Brass Founders' Pillar, located in Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, was designed by Sir James Gowans in 1886 for the Edinburgh International Exhibition. It features a granite base and a bronze square shaft that consists of five tiers of coats-of-arms. The square capital is also adorned with coats-of-arms and includes a figure. The pillar was re-erected in 1976.

Local climate

Brass Founders' Pillar, Nicolson Square, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 5 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

See all similar buildings →

this building   1 similar   nearby listed buildings

Nearby listed buildings

  1. 27A Nicolson Square, Edinburgh Grade B 57 m
  2. 35, 37 Marshall Street, Edinburgh Grade B 69 m
  3. 16, 18, 20 Marshall Street, Edinburgh Grade B 75 m
  4. 31, 33 Marshall Street, Edinburgh Grade B 76 m
  5. 1, 2 Hill Square, Edinburgh Grade B 78 m
  6. Nicolson Square Methodist Chapel, Nicolson Square, Edinburgh Grade A 78 m
  7. 6 Hill Place, Edinburgh Grade B 79 m
  8. Surgeons' Hall, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh Grade A 84 m
  9. Chapel House, Chapel Street, Edinburgh Grade B 112 m
  10. 1 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh Grade B 115 m