The Cockburn Association

The Cockburn Association is a 140 year old Scottish Charity (SC011544) which works to promote the conservation and enhancement of Edinburgh's landscape and historic and architectural heritage, and encourage high quality contemporary design for buildings that blend with and enhance their surroundings.

The Cockburn Association was founded in 1875. It is named after the late Lord Henry Cockburn (1779-1854) who campaigned to protect and enhance the beauty of Edinburgh.

The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh Civic Trust) is one of the world's oldest architectural conservation and urban planning monitoring organizations.

History

The Scottish judge Henry Cockburn (pronounced Co'burn) (1779–1854) was a prominent campaigner to protect and enhance the beauty of Edinburgh, notably resisting construction of new buildings on the south side of Princes Street. The Association was founded in 1875 to continue the legacy of his work.

The first major campaign by the Association was to resist the removal of trees at Bruntsfield Links and the Association has campaigned for the retention and improvement of Edinburgh's open and green spaces ever since. The Association successfully resisted plans to build an inner city motorway system in Edinburgh in the 1970s.

In 1964, with the introduction of the Civic Amenities (Scotland) Act, the Cockburn Association adopted the sub title of The Edinburgh Civic Trust as recognition of the growing support for good planning and conservation across all of Scotland.