Stone-eating bugs... a new threat for Edinburgh?

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Archiseek / UK / Scotland / News / 2004 / July 7

It never rains but it pours - for decades Edinburgh's historic buildings and monuments have been under attack by that most 20th century of problems: acid rain. For more than a century, polluted downpours - and let's face it, torrential rain is something Scotland has plenty of experience of - have been slowly eating away at the city's sandstone edifices, eroding details and rendering them smooth. Crumbling buildings are a major worry for Edinburgh. There have been several high-profile incidents in which large chunks of stone have fallen off buildings into the streets below. In 2000, Christine Foster, an Australian waitress working in Ryan's Bar in the West End, was killed when she was hit by a piece of falling masonry.

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