ABSTRACT
The significance of the presence of a wall in relation to an urban environment has been extensively discussed, emphasizing its role as a dividing element as well as its representation as a join between different realities. At a city gate passage is negotiated, denied, granted, and at times conquered through violence. This essay studies one city gate in particular, the Netherbow in Edinburgh, during the early modern period, at which time it was a public space heavily loaded with political, social, and cultural undertones. From the earliest records of its existence to its demolition in the nineteenth century, and beyond that to current times, the Netherbow has represented a location where the city’s identity was negotiated among those approaching it from within and from outside, particularly once new expectations were created by the Union and the modern era.
