It’s over 150 years since Lord Cockburn lived in a townhouse on Charlotte Square in Edinburgh. Since then we’ve had two world wars and dizzying social and technological changes but the view from his former front door looks pretty much the same now as it did then.

That is in part due to the association that was set up in his memory.

A prominent lawyer and judge, Cockburn was also an early heritage conservationist. In 1849 he wrote “A Letter to the Lord Provost on the Best Ways of Spoiling the Beauty of Edinburgh” in which he outlined his fears for the future. “Edinburgh is not exempt from the doom that makes everything spoilable,” he said at the time, urging the citizens of the city to take an interest in their civic surroundings and to hold local officials to account.

The Cockburn Association was formed 21 years after his death to carry forward his concerns and passion for Edinburgh. The success of the Cockburn Association over 150 years lies in what you cannot see.

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Thanks to its campaigning, there is no dual carriageway through the Meadows or skyscraper over Haymarket, no shopping mall beneath Princes Street or high-rise hotel looming over George Street. Civic amenities such as Inverleith Park, Corstorphine Hill and the Water of Leith Walkway were the result the Cockburn’s efforts. The demolition of the First New Town was averted and historic buildings like Moubray House........

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