Sir James Young Simpson Statue, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 December 1970. Monument.

Sir James Young Simpson Statue, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
final-threshold-bittern
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
14 December 1970
Type
Monument
OS grid reference
NT 248 736
Coordinates
55.9504, -3.20506
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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

Description

The Sir James Young Simpson Statue, located in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, was created by William Brodie in 1876. This bronze figure is larger than life-size and depicts Simpson seated in a neo-classical chair, dressed in professorial robes, with a book resting on his knee, as if he is about to address students. The statue stands on a neo-classical stone pedestal that features an inscription.

Local climate

Sir James Young Simpson Statue, West Princes Street Gardens, 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
  • No related consent applications matched
  • 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. Police Call Box, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh Grade B 20 m
  2. 129 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 46 m
  3. 134 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 46 m
  4. Churchyard, St John's Episcopal Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade A 46 m
  5. 132 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 48 m
  6. Princes Cinema, 131 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 49 m
  7. 133 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 49 m
  8. 1, 3 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh Grade B 57 m
  9. 130 Princes Street, Edinburgh Grade B 64 m
  10. 5, 7, 9 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh Grade A 73 m