In the tradition of lazy Sundays, I didn’t even leave the apartment today. Just spent the day straightening up, going through souvenirs and deciding which items to ship home, and thinking about the rest of the things I want to do in Edinburgh. I feel much more organized now.
Also read over some of the things we have already done and found out some new facts:
When the Nor’ Loch was drained in 1763 to make Prince St. Garns, hundreds of corpses were discovered. Shouldn’t be a surprise considering that the city had nine execution sites, many of those for witches.
As you walk through the gardens you look up to see the Old Town’s spired and turreted buildings. You can also see Ramsay Gardens on the hill. It was developed by Sir Patrick Geddes who saved the Old Town from its squalid living conditions and destruction. He redeveloped the area with a mix of Scottish baronial and English cottage style, combining corbels (cantilevered round extensions), conical roofs, crow steps, and half-timber gable construction.
On the Royal Mile itself, you will find wynds (alleyways) and closes (enclosures or very narrow walkways between buildings). Many of these closes are as steep as ladders and some still have buildings 7 to 8 stories high on each side. In its earlier days, these tenement buildings would have been 13 stories high.
The wealthier people moved to New Town by the 19th century, but, before this, 70,000 people lived in these tenements, sometimes 200 on each floor. The Flodden wall had been built to keep the English out, so the only way to build was up. The poor lived on the lower levels where the air was the worst. The destitute lived even lower in the vaults and cellars, sometimes 5 levels down. It must have been miserable. When the plague hit, it is told that the tenements near Mary King’s Close were boarded up with the tenants still inside. Ghost stories abound of the ghosts of these people.
When we visited Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, I forgot to mention that the houses on Candlemaker Row back onto the graveyard, the 17th century tall tombstones right up against their walls. The Covenanter’s Prison is in this graveyard where in 1679, over 1000 supporters of the National Covenant—which was signed in the kirk in 1638 and promised to defend Presbyterianism from intervention by the English crown-- were imprisoned by the Lord Advocate, George “Bloody” MacKenzie. They were held for over 4 months without shelter and with only 4 ounces of bread a day. MacKenzie’s ghost isn’t the only one in this graveyard which has visitors running screaming from its depths at times. One tour company leads tours through the prison and warns its guests to stay between the 2 “protective” trees so as not to upset the ghosts and have one of them follow them home. There are stories of people being scratched, cut, and bruised on these tours.
I heard the story of a homeless man who broke into MacKenzie’s mausoleum, just looking for a place to sleep, and ever since then, the ghost has been active.
Well, hopefully getting my life straightened out has given me ideas to keep me busy for the rest of my time in Edinburgh.
Also read over some of the things we have already done and found out some new facts:
When the Nor’ Loch was drained in 1763 to make Prince St. Garns, hundreds of corpses were discovered. Shouldn’t be a surprise considering that the city had nine execution sites, many of those for witches.
As you walk through the gardens you look up to see the Old Town’s spired and turreted buildings. You can also see Ramsay Gardens on the hill. It was developed by Sir Patrick Geddes who saved the Old Town from its squalid living conditions and destruction. He redeveloped the area with a mix of Scottish baronial and English cottage style, combining corbels (cantilevered round extensions), conical roofs, crow steps, and half-timber gable construction.
On the Royal Mile itself, you will find wynds (alleyways) and closes (enclosures or very narrow walkways between buildings). Many of these closes are as steep as ladders and some still have buildings 7 to 8 stories high on each side. In its earlier days, these tenement buildings would have been 13 stories high.
The wealthier people moved to New Town by the 19th century, but, before this, 70,000 people lived in these tenements, sometimes 200 on each floor. The Flodden wall had been built to keep the English out, so the only way to build was up. The poor lived on the lower levels where the air was the worst. The destitute lived even lower in the vaults and cellars, sometimes 5 levels down. It must have been miserable. When the plague hit, it is told that the tenements near Mary King’s Close were boarded up with the tenants still inside. Ghost stories abound of the ghosts of these people.
When we visited Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, I forgot to mention that the houses on Candlemaker Row back onto the graveyard, the 17th century tall tombstones right up against their walls. The Covenanter’s Prison is in this graveyard where in 1679, over 1000 supporters of the National Covenant—which was signed in the kirk in 1638 and promised to defend Presbyterianism from intervention by the English crown-- were imprisoned by the Lord Advocate, George “Bloody” MacKenzie. They were held for over 4 months without shelter and with only 4 ounces of bread a day. MacKenzie’s ghost isn’t the only one in this graveyard which has visitors running screaming from its depths at times. One tour company leads tours through the prison and warns its guests to stay between the 2 “protective” trees so as not to upset the ghosts and have one of them follow them home. There are stories of people being scratched, cut, and bruised on these tours.
I heard the story of a homeless man who broke into MacKenzie’s mausoleum, just looking for a place to sleep, and ever since then, the ghost has been active.
Well, hopefully getting my life straightened out has given me ideas to keep me busy for the rest of my time in Edinburgh.
***pictures from top: my flowers from Ray in full bloom; the actual keys to our apartment--skeleton keys!; 1/2 dozen carton of Happy Eggs--commercials on TV show they are happy because the farmer gives them rides around the fields on his tractor, etc.--love that commercial; "tiny" gallon of milk--actually just a pint but shaped just like the gallons!
