Visit to historic sites of Edinburgh

November 27th 1999

Members of the Lanark and District Archaeological Society went on an excursion to Edinburgh on Saturday November 27th. In the morning ten members and friends went on a guided tour of the Royal Mile, which was organized by Ed Archer. The tour started with a brief history of St Giles and the old Scots Parliament (illustrated) followed by a look at both buildings.

The tour then encompassed the section of the High Street between St Giles and the Castle Esplanade. Several of the old closes were visited including McMorran's Close where the murder of a school teacher took place at the end of the sixteenth century - one of the perpetrators happened to be Bailie McMorran's son was not so fortunate.

On the way down the High Street the group passed Deacon Brodie's tavern - a Jekyll and Hyde character who was not as fortunate as the Bailie's son; he got to try out the very scaffold that Edinburgh council had commissioned him to make!

The group visited the rebuilt church of the Holy Trinity which dates back to the mid fifteenth century but removed to its present site about 1880. Having been demolished twenty years earlier many of the original stones had disappeared while Edinburgh council argued about the cost. This happened to be still the case as members found several of the prime tourist places were temporarily shut due to staff shortages. After the church the so called house of John Knox was visited which as Ed Archer explained had been erected for a prominent Catholic jeweller called John Mossman who was executed for his faith by Kirkcaldy of the Grange.

The Canongate area was also visited and stops were made to look at the famous Huntly House and the Canongate tollbooth. It was in this locality that Montrose was executed on the instructions of the Duke of Argyll. The next stop was the White Hart Inn - the most famous coaching inn in the whole of Edinburgh. Mention was made too of the Canongate Kirk and its connection with the great poet - Ferguson who had an influence on Burns and Adam Smith, the famous economist.

In the afternoon the group increased in size to twenty as many members wanted to see Mary King's Close. The group had an excellent tour which was provided by Mercat Tours. The party visit was chiefly underground as Mary King's close and several other closes adjoining it were covered over when the present Council Buildings were constructed on top of it.

The guide explained that it was not the bubonic plague that drove people out of the closes but the general insanitary conditions that prevailed with people chucking their toilet waste out of the window to be collected by the "scaffies" or scavengers in the early hours of the morning.

Mention was made of the ghost stories though the guide himself was not a believer in them himself. In Mary King's close there is one room where presents are left for a baby. Apparently this was seen by a Japanese television crew and later some guide dogs refused to go into the room. In another room the guide showed the party a newspaper report and picture of what purported to be the picture of a ghost. Several groups of young people are supposed to have had experiences in this room.