Pictures of my girls

Laura with Lincoln; Katie relaxing.

Pictures from Thursday of Closes & St. Giles

***Fishmarket Close sign; St. Giles interior; stairs in Milne's Court allowing for crinoline dresses; Advocates Close--a typical close with the tall tenement buildings.

Thursday, September 10--Royal Mile Closes

It was interesting waking up this morning and not knowing where I was for a few seconds. Love the apartment now that Ray has rid it of mold and dust.

We took the 26 bus down to Morrisons and Ray had the Ultimate Scottish Breakfast—tons of food—and I had Scrambled Eggs on Toast. We shopped for some milk and a nightlight for the hallway downstairs then came back to the apartment to ready for our day.

Today we did my self-created tour of the Royal Mile closes. We had already done the lower left side of the street where we found the Knights Templar meeting place and the star in the road, so we began at South Bridge and headed towards the castle. First we ran across Stevenlaws and Old Assembly closes which were very interesting. We found a tiny domed building in one of them and always the high and ancient tenement buildings.

Next we walked around St. Giles Cathedral once again to see if we could find the bagpipe angel near the entrance door but had no luck. This cathedral was the meeting place for the Scottish rebels who planned to attack the English.

Next came Old Fishmarket Close. I loved the sign for it. In olden times, this close was known for its strong and bad smells. The hangman also lived here. Then came Brodie’s close where Deacon Brodie lived, then Fisher Close, where a prominent Scott family lived, then Riddell’s Court which had the remnants of its 16th century stair tower. There is also a 16th century house which has a wooden staircase on the outside, typical of this period. It was here that a Bailie John McMorran, who taught at Edinburgh High School, lived. However his claim to fame was being shot dead by the boys of the school in 1595 who were protesting after he refused them a holiday!

We crossed the road then, over to Milne’s Court. This was the first open square in Edinburgh and dates from 1690. It was very pretty and had the curved stairs with the bumped out part at the bottom that allowed for the women’s crinoline dresses! The philosopher, Hume, lived in James’ Court which was near Lady Stair’s Close, which we visited when we went to the Writer’s Museum. We passed by Deacon Brodie’s bar, which gave Robert Louis Stevenson his ideas for Jekyll and Hyde.

Then we looked down Advocates Close where you could see Scott’s Monument and we looked for Moubray House, supposedly the oldest in Edinburgh from 1471. All I could find was a house with the date 1590 over the doorway. John Knox and Robert Milne lived down Writer’s Close.

We did Mary King’s Close when we did that tour a few years ago. This 17th century close is one of the many underground streets that were built over during the modernization of the old town. The lower floors acted as the foundation for The Royal Exchange, built in 1753 (now The City Chambers) and over 250 years later the floors below remain largely unchanged. During the war years the underground vaults were used as an air-raid shelter.In 1645 life of the close was shattered forever. The plague struck this little community and there is a myth that the local council decided to contain the plague by incarcerating the victims, bricking up the close for several years and leaving them to die inside to die. It is likely that this is why the close was nicknamed “street of sorrows.”

It certainly has a reputation of being haunted. One ghost of a little girl named Annie has become something of a local celebrity. Sad because she had lost her favorite doll, there is now a room full of gifts left by visitors for her.

Anchor Close was the location of Robert Burn’s favorite bar and also where the Encyclopedia Brittanica was first published. Across the street, Bell’s Wynd is said to be haunted by ghosts on the first floor. Now it is a fish and clam shop. Supposedly, in the 18th century, an unfaithful wife and her lover were murdered here by her husband. Afterwards he just locked up the house and fled Edinburgh. Over 20 years later, a locksmith who lived upstairs and wondered why the place was unoccupied, broke in and was perturbed to see an apparition of a woman pass him in the hallway. He was even more perturbed to find the mortal remains of a woman--a shrunken skeleton--in the bedroom.

Old Stamp Office Close was where the school was located that Flora MacDonald attended. Fleshmarket Close was where meats were sold. Never found the location of the first library even though we had an address—153-55 High Street. At Paisley Close, a tenement building totally collapsed in 1861, killing 35 people. People dug for hours to rescue the people inside. Just as they were giving up, they heard a small boy’s voice from inside the rubble. The image sculpted at the entrance to the close is that of Joseph McIver, the young survivor of the tragedy, who was pulled to safety after rescuers heard his call of "Heave awa‚ chaps, ah'm no‚ deid yet.”

I went down Chalmer’s Close to find the Brass Rubbing Centre, but they were closed for lunch. Never found the Moroccoland turban and necklace in stone either.

Down Gladstone’s Court, I think I found the site of a former Magdalene Asylum where, in 1805, young unmarried pregnant girls were put to work and out of sight. We walked through the Canongate Church cemetery, trying to find the gravestone of one Ebenezer Scroogie. Supposedly this gravestone was what gave Charles Dickens the idea to write “A Christmas Carol,” for he misread the stone describing the man’s profession as mealman. He thought it said “mean man.” We never found the grave, though we looked at every stone. We did see Clarinda’s grave—the mistress of Burns.

The White Horse Inn stands so neatly after its restoration on a close of the same name. It is dated from 1623 and was the site from where stagecoaches to London left. Another type of coach is also seen near here at times. The Death Coach. It is said to ride from Holyrood to the castle, appearing just before great disasters. We finished our tour and walked back around Holyrood to go into our apartment the back way. This route has a great view of Salisbury Craigs and Arthur’s Seat.

We came back to the apartment and Ray went for a run, then we had plans to go out to Ocean Terminal to see the latest Harry Potter film once more. We waited FOREVER for the 34 bus. It was supposed to come every 15 minutes, but we had to wait 35 minutes before one showed up. Bu this time, the movie had already started, but we took it anyway and had dinner at Potter’s Bar with a view of the Royal Brittania. We took the 36 Holyrood bus home and got a very interesting tour of parts of the city we had never seen. Back at the apartment now and about to have a deliciously sinful dessert of tiramisu that Ray purchased from Marks & Spencer.

***pictures: Paisley Close; Holyrood Palace; Holyrood Abbey; view from our backyard--St. Anthony's Chapel ruins on hill on Salisbury Craigs; our very own "close"--the archway leading to our apartment.