The Meadows (Edinburgh)

The Meadows (Edinburgh) ... open grassland crossed by tree-lined paths, but is also home to children's playgrounds, a croquet club and tennis courts. In the summer, it is one of the host venues for the Edinburgh Festival, such as the annual Fringe Sunday. Being one of the few flat stretches of open land in the central area of the city, it is occasionally host to public protests and rallies, including the 225,000-strong Make Poverty History march on July 2, 2005. Circuses frequently visit the meadows too. In the 1870s it became an important venue in the early development of association football in Edinburgh. Amongst the numerous fledgling teams using the Meadows were Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Hibernian F.C., later to prove the city's preeminent sides, and the first Derby match between them was staged there on 25 December 1875. Although a modern plaque has been placed near the whalebone arch to commemorate the event, the main pitch was actually on the eastern fringe of the park, running from east to west, parallel with the Boroughloch Brewery.