Ray & Judi headed out at 6 this morning for a train trip north, so I decided to do a sweep of my city—Edinburgh the beautiful and amazing. So around 9am, I headed out and this is what I did:
--Walked from the apartment down South Bridge to St. Giles Cathedral and took pictures of the Burns Stained Glass and The Robert Louis Stevenson plaque. I just about had the place to myself. So quiet and peaceful this early in the morning.
--Walked almost all the way to the Castle but stopped at the Tartan Weaving Mill and Exhibition to check on a few gifts for people.
--Popped back into Riddles Court to take pictures of the 16th century staircase.
--Found and explored Fisher’s Close which was home to the Duke of Buccleuch’s family & a Scott family lived here. Much of the property was destroyed around 1835 to allow for construction of Victoria Street.
--checked out James Court. During Edinburgh’s 18th century enlightenment, many important literary figures enjoyed living here such as David Hume and John Boswell.
--walked into Lady Stair’s Close and found the writer’s museum, which I think was once the home of Robert Burns. The steps just outside the close have a “trip step” halfway up to thwart intruders.
--walked by David Hume’s statue and rubbed his big toe for good luck—(then used Purell.)
--Took a picture of the very interesting Old Fishmarket Close sign. Once a steep, narrow stinking ravine from the commercial heyday of this poultry and fish market. It was also home to the City Hangman or 'Doomster', the last being a John High who died in 1817. George Heriot, benefactor and founder of the Hospital and School which bear his name, lived here in 1586. I don’t know how anyone could’ve lived here if it smelled bad. Daniel Defoe is also rumored to have worked here as a secret agent to the English Government at the Treaty of Union in 1707. The head of the close was for many years a station for a primitive fire engine dragged out by rope in the event of emergency.
--Old Assembly Close was interesting.
--Anchor Close was my next stop. Dating back to 1521, this site was named for The Anchor Tavern in Fuller's Close but is more notable for the 'Anchor Tavern Howff of the Crochallan Fencibles'. The members of this club-- Robert Burns included - anticipated a need for territorial resistance to invasion from the Continent.
--Burnet’s Close also had the earlier sign of Mary’s Chapel. This was the site of The Lodge (probably Freemasons) before the demoliton of Niddry’s Wynd and Mary Chapel in 1787—there had been an earlier fire. Now this Lodge meets at 19 Hill Street in New Town and claim they have the oldest minutes of any Lodge anywhere in the world—they date to July 1599!!!
--Bell’s Wynd sits beside a food shop. A tale describes the experiences of George Gourley who was later to discover the premise for his ghostly encounters - a double murder committed as a crime of passion against an unfaithful wife and her lover. There are said to be ghosts on the first floor.
--Fleshmarket Close was the name of an Ian Rankin crime novel. It was named after the meat market which was situated here which led to a slaughterhouse at the side of the Nor' Loch.
--Went down Cockburn Street to #49, Cavanaugh Antiques and found some cool buttons and other goodies. The sugar tongs he had were too expensive--£48.
--Back up the Warriston Steps—oh my, there were so many of them and very steep—and came out at Mary King’s Close. Warriston Steps are used in the Warriston Rat Race, where kids on bicycles race down them. There are over 100 steps.
--entered the Canongate area of the Royal Mile where rich and poor used to live side by side.
--saw Paisley Close and the boy’s head above it. On the Sunday morning of November 24th, 1861, the adjacent 250-year-old tenement in Bailie Fyfe's Close collapsed, killing thirty five people. The image sculpted at the entrance to the close is that of Joseph McIver, a young survivor of the tradgedy, who was pulled to safety after rescuers heard his call of "Heave awa‚ chaps, ah'm no‚ deid yet."
--crossed the street to Hyndford’s Close. The Earl of Selkirk resided here, as did the inventor Daniel Rutherford who developed the gas lamp. He was grandfather to Sir Walter Scott who visited as a child. Other prominent figures associated with the close include The Duchess of Gordon, a staunch Jacobite and friend of Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott was made a Freemason here.
--popped into the Museum of Childhood to see the Dick Bruna artwork that I have tried so to find a copy of for years. This was a book that Katie had as a little girl.
--I had never heard of Tweeddale Court but it was interesting. At the Back of this decorative close was the Tweeddale mansion occupied by Dame Margaret Kerr, daughter of the 1st Earl of Lothian. Later the mansion became the Head Office of the British Linen Bank. Large sums of cash were transferred to and from by the Banks Porters. In 1806 one such porter, William Begbie, was robbed and murdered.
The murderer ambushed Begbie and had used a piece of paper on the knife so no blood would be spattered, escaping through the close and disappearing amongst the crowds on the high street. He was never caught and the money, £4,392, was never recovered. Another interesting feature is the original wrought iron gates and a shelter for sedan chairs, which were used to carry the richer citizens above the filthy streets.
--saw World’s End Close—the pub was closed.
--could not find Trunk’s Close or Allan Ramsay’s old wigmaker shop and library but will try again later.
--shopped at Ragamuffin but didn’t buy anything
--popped into the Police Museum, but didn’t stay for long. Too gruesome. Some of the displays had to do with Burke & Hare who were two general laborers who, in 1827, lived at a young mens' hotel run by Hare's wife. At the same time, medical science was becoming popular and the medical departments at the local universities were full of students. Since executions were no longer commonly practiced, the university paid for cadavers for their autopsy lessons.
When an elderly man at the hotel died, Burke & Hare brought the body to the university and received a tidy sum. This soon led to a strategy, whereby people were lured to their home, made to drink till they became drunk, and then murdered. The bodies were brought to the backdoor of the university and the men received their dues.
They managed to get paid for 17 victims before being caught. Hare witnessed against Burke and managed to save his skin. Burke on the other hand was hanged and per the fate of irony, his body was used by students of autopsy.
A little box made of his skin can be observed at the police museum. Yes, you read that correctly!
--Chessel’s Court was really pretty. You enter through an arcade to find beautiful flats. In its day a superlative example of mansion flats, it was built in 1748 by Wright and Merchant Archibald Chessel. In 1963 these Old Town buildings underwent restoration and renovation, giving an open view of the court from the main street.
--visited St. John’s cross in the pavement and St. John’s Pend from 1768 and its St. John’s Lodge and Priory of Scotland of the Most Venerable Order of St. John—former site of Knights of St. John houses. So cool! This is where the Knight's of the Order of St. John used to meet in the Middle Ages.
--Went into a few charity shops—love to see if I can find treasures here.
--Then to my favorite bookshop in the world—the Old Children’s Bookshop. I love looking for vintage children’s books here.
--shopped in Historic Connections
--bought some chocolate and walnut AND chocolate and orange fudge at the Fudge House.
--found Moray House. The main house was built during the 1620s by Mary, Dowager Countess of Home, the eldest daughter of Edward, 9th Lord Dudley, and second wife and widow of Alexander, 1st Earl Home. Her arms and monogram still adorn several parts of the house, including the pediments over the large upper storey windows in the gable ends of the west wing. Mary survived her husband by quarter of a century and died in Aldersgate, London in May 1645. At or a little before her death, her Scottish property was divided between her two surviving children, her daughters Margaret and Anne. The Canongate house passed to Margaret, wife of James, 4th Earl of Moray. The house remained in the family for many generations and became known as Moray House.
Cromwell lodged here on his two visits to Edinburgh. On one occasion, Cromwell swept into the town almost unopposed in September, following the great victory at Dunbar, and it became his base for over nine months. It was here, too, that Cromwell lay ill for much of the opening months of 1651, having taken fever when caught in bad weather in early February. Cromwell left Edinburgh in late June and was soon pursuing the Scottish army into England. He never returned to Scotland.
The house remained in the hands of the Moray family and their descendants for a further two hundred years and in the early eighteenth century some of the negotiations leading to the Act of Union were conducted here. In 1845 Moray House passed to the North British Railway Company, who quickly sold it to the Free Church of Scotland. Following alteration and extension, it became a school and training college. It remains an educational institution (to train teachers) and is not open to the public. The original spiral staircase also survives, incorporated within a stair tower projecting from the west wall of the west wing.
--saw Huntly House where the National Covenant from 1517 is kept. This building was considered so lavish when it was built that inscribed stone plaques were installed on the outside walls to answer the criticisms of its splendor. Copies of the original plaques are still here. It is sometimes referred to as the "Speaking House." Today this is where the Museum of Edinburgh is.
--saw the Tolbooth and the Tolbooth Tavern. A toll was charged of travelers to the city. This building was also used as Council Chambers, Police Court, and Prison. A suspected warlock was exorcised by a lay successor to Holyrood Abbots. The suspect was so terrified that he died soon after.
Some Covenanters were imprisoned here. Some prisoners were sent to the Caribbean plantations for 7 years of hard labor. They could returned after their sentence was completed, but just to be sure they couldn’t escape their past, they were marked before they left. Women had their faces branded with an iron and men had an ear chopped off. The rear of the Tolbooth Tavern is from 1750, newer than the front, but it is the rear that is said to be haunted. People really feel a presence there.
--Bakehouse Close is one of the best restored closes. The deep archway, dating from 1570, describes the joining of three houses into one. The present name comes from the bakehouse on the west side. This comprised the quarters of the bakers and hammermen (metalsmiths) in addition to the Acheson family - household staff to James VI and Charles I.
--popped into The Elephant House just to pop in. This is where J. K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel.
--visited the National Museum of Scotland.
----had a lunch of Haddock and Chips at the City Restaurant on South Bridge. It was delicious. A little boy at another table kept looking over at me and finally his mother allowed him to come over to ask me a question. In a very meek voice, he asked, “Are you the nice lady who wrote Harry Potter?” What made him think of J. K. when he saw me? I don't know. My hair is dark. I was sitting inthe sunlight and that makes my hair look lighter, but it's not blonde like Rowling's. He was SO cute.
I had a great time exploring the city and felt very comfortable doing so on my own. I love this city. I have to mention a very strange fact. On three occasions today, I was stopped by visitors to the city to ask me for directions. All three of them assumed that I was a native Scot!!!! Maybe what the Glenluce Abbey guide said is true. Or maybe I just looked so comfortable walking around that they assumed I lived here. Either way, it was an honor.
Dinner for me was smoked salmon and fudge!!! I deserved it after non-stopping walking for 8 hours straight, only stopping for a 30 minute lunch.
Pictures from top: Priory of St. John; ABC by Dick Bruna.
