The most famous of Edinburgh's lost lochs is the Nor' Loch.The most famous of Edinburgh's lost lochs is the Nor' Loch.
The most famous of Edinburgh's lost lochs is the Nor' Loch.

9 lost lochs around Edinburgh that vanished from the map

Edinburgh was once Scotland in miniature: dominated by rugged hills, volcanic crags and deep bodies of water.

Tens of millions of years of intense volcanic activity followed by several thousand years of glacial erosion in the Lothians carved out a dramatic and picturesque landscape.

These prehistoric peaks and troughs are the very features which lend the city its unique allure. But for every hill in Scotland’s capital - and there are several - there was a loch.

Some of the city’s famous lost lochs include the Nor’ Loch, Canonmills Loch and the Burgh Loch. Others, such as Duddingston Loch and Lochend Loch, survive, but have been greatly reduced in size.

Had all these ancient lochs survived, perhaps it would have been Venice - not Athens - that Edinburgh found her closest civic companion.

For those keen to learn more about Edinburgh’s lost lochs, check out ‘The Nor’ Loch: Scotland’s Lost Loch’ by Malcolm Fife.

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