The first hot air balloon flight took place at Versailles, France in 1783. A balloonist crossed the English Channel the following year. James Tytler decided to make the first hot air balloon flight in Britain. In 1784 the Scots chemist built his balloon inside the walls of Register House which was roofless as it was in the process of being built.

He chose Comely Garden which lay to the north east of Holyrood Palace to launch his balloon. The forty foot high cloth balloon coated with varnish measured 30 feet in diameter. A sixty foot lever fixed to the top of a fifty foot mast was used to raise the balloon as the bag expanded.

The hot air was provided by a small cast iron stove. A basket originally designed to hold earthenware was attached to the balloon by ropes. Sitting in the basket James took off from Comely Garden on Friday, 27th August.

Britain's first aeronaut reached the height of 350 feet, travelling over half a mile before coming back down to earth near the village of Restalrig.

James Tytler was born in the Forfarshire parish of Fearn in 1745. As a child he read every book he could lay his hands on. After studying medicine at Edinburgh University he sailed to Greenland on a whaler as a ship's surgeon.

At various times during his life he also made his living as a chemist, printer, poet and journalist. Unable to pay his debts, to avoid prosecution he sought sanctuary in the Abbey of Holyrood. During his stay in the sanctuary he was contracted to edit the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The section dealing with hot air balloons gave him the idea to build his own.

To avoid being jailed for producing anti-government literature Britain's first aeronaut emigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, USA where he died in 1804.