Pillars, Middle Meadow Walk, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 December 1970. Gatepiers.

Pillars, Middle Meadow Walk, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
noble-plaster-vale
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
Gatepiers
OS grid reference
NT 257 731
Coordinates
55.94528, -3.19107
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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

Description

The gatepiers at Middle Meadow Walk in Edinburgh were designed by George Smith in 1848. They are a pair of tall, octagonal commemorative structures that mark the northern entrance to the walk. Each gatepier features a plain octagonal plinth topped with slender shouldered panels and a corniced smooth capital. The capitals are adorned with paired rampant unicorns, each holding gilded lances. The eastern unicorn is decorated with Edinburgh's coat of arms and the motto "nemo me impune lacessit," while the western unicorn displays a rampant lion and the motto "nisi dominus frustra." The gatepiers are constructed from smooth ashlar stone.

Local climate

Pillars, Middle Meadow Walk, 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

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