12th November 1991

Edinburgh Waverley Station granted Grade A listing

Originally known as Edinburgh General, Edinburgh Waverley was given the name by which it is now known in 1866. As well as being the largest station in the capital, it is a hub of the Scottish railway network, with services to every other city in Scotland. Upon its completion it had been the largest station in Britain, and it retained that distinction until London Waterloo opened in 1921.

Grade A listing

It received grade A listing status in 1991, with the covering notes explaining that it “is remarkably well-planned and effective, even by modern standards. It is one of [the] UK’s greatest surviving Victorian city stations and is distinct in having the largest island platform configuration in the country”. Furthermore, “it is an important component of Edinburgh’s historic urban setting, and represents the significant changes to the city’s core following the modernisation brought forward by the railways during the golden age of their expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

As a working building, a station like Edinburgh Waverley will always be subject to alteration from time to time. Granting it listed status means such changes will always have to take into account its historic significance, such that it may be preserved for future generations.