The West Bow was a steep z-shaped street which formed the main route between the Royal Mile and the Grassmarket. The narrow road was shadowed by buildings with projecting galleries and overhanging upper storeys. By the early nineteenth-century the properties in the West Bow had fallen on hard times, and in 1829 it was remarked that ‘few will regret their removal, to make room for modern improvements’. Only a few years later much of the West Bow was demolished to make way for the newly created Victoria Street.
The Canmore entry for West Bow is here.