In which I try to justify my previous
blog post about wandering around the
Old Town looking at things in a rather
bizarre and dreamy way. I also take
you on a time-travelling Edinburgh
tour. We will visit the Royal Mile, well,
one tiny section of it anyway!
This blog post continues from my previous blog post
about me wandering around the Old Town and letting
my imagination take me on my own Old Edinburgh
tour.
We’re going to do this ‘time-travelling tour of Edinburgh’
in two parts. In today’s blog, I’ll look at what people can
see in this area today. The next post will describe a
very different version of exactly the same walk. In that
post, I’ll reveal how this area used to look. Hopefully,
you’ll see why I walk about the Old Town imagining how
it used to be!
We’re going to explore the area of the Royal Mile from
the eastern side of George IV Bridge to St Giles. This
section takes about forty seconds to walk and, today, it
features some interesting gold-coloured bricks in the
ground, a plaque, a well, some strange looking cobbles,
a statue and what’s quite probably Edinburgh’s most
important historic church.
We start our mini Edinburgh tour by crossing over
George IV Bridge. Today the famous Royal Mile is
broken up with various bridges and streets. George IV
Bridge connected the south of the city with the New
Town. The creation of George IV Bridge, Bridge Street
and the Mound allowed easy access to the exciting new
New Town of Edinburgh.
As soon as your feet hit the pavement of the eastern
side of George IV Bridge, you can make out three
golden coloured bricks just next to the traffic light.
There’s a small plaque explaining that this was the site
of Edinburgh’s last execution. There was more than
one execution which took place here. More of that in
our next blog post! The last man to be hanged here
wasG eorge Bryce Nicknamed the ‘Ratho Murdered’.
Bryce was hanged here on 24 June, 1864.
A few feet further down the ‘Mile, we pass through the
anti-terrorism arches placed here recently in a bid to
protect the many crowds who often gather here.
Of more ‘historical’ interest to us is the old well which
sits here. This was one of several which sat around the
Old Town. you can see one at the bottom of the West
Bow (Victoria Street). There’s another which sits in
front of the Adam Smith statue on the other side of St
Giles. Another well sits in front of the John Knox House
and there’s one just next to Queensberry House in the
Canongate.
Going every day to get the water necessary for a
household would have been taxing enough…and then
you remember the height of some of the Old Town’s
buildings. For the water caddies, serving girls or
daughters of Edinburgh’s families, it would have been
quite a feat to get their heavy buckets of water up the
narrow little staircases and into the houses.
Edinburgh’s ‘lands’ could be fearsomely high. Jacobite
era ‘Fitbit’ smartwatches would have registered some
pretty impressive figures!
We then come to the cobbled area of Parliament
Square (West). This place is often the site of displays,
relatively impromptu shows and performances and
Edinburgh tour groups! I know because I bring so
many groups here.
Right in front of us is the statue of the fifth Duke of
Buccleuch. I never mention him on my tours. It’s
nothing personal Duke; it’s just that there are so many
other things to talk about here!
Make sure you don’t spend too much time looking up
at either the duke’s statue or the impressive crown
steeple of St Giles because you do want to keep an eye
on the ground. A rather pretty little decorative ‘heart’
shape can be seen in the paving stones here. This
commemorates the Tolbooth Prison, a place Sir Walter
Scott nicknamed ‘The Heart of Midlothian’
Finally, our forty second walk concludes next to the
imposing bulk of St Giles. Although not religious, I do
think of this building more as ‘The High Kirk of
Edinburgh’ rather than ‘St Giles Cathedral’. In 1951 the
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic
Monuments of Scotland – RCHAMS – put together a
fascinating ‘Inventory of Edinburgh’. It lists some of
Edinburgh’s historically significant buildings…in order
of importance. Can you guess what’s at number 1? Ok,
possibly ‘Edinburgh Castle’ wasn’t the trickiest answer
you’ve ever come up with, but after the Castle is out the
road, guessing the rest of the buildings, in order,
becomes a little more taxing.
St Giles comes in at number 2 on Edinburgh’s
historically important building ‘hit parade’ and for good
reason. St Giles has been a Catholic cathedral for
much of it’s history, it was John Knox’s Church of
Scotland stomping ground during the turblulent times
of the ‘Lang Siege’ of Edinburgh Castle in the early
1570s and on 23rd July, 1637, it saw Jenny Geddes
throw her stool (as in chair type thing…) at the Minister
who was doing the King’s bidding by reading the Book
of Common Prayer. Her comment of “Daur ye say
Mass in my lug?” (“Dare you say the Mass in my ear?”)
goes down in Edinburgh’s history as one of our
townspeople’s best ‘one-liners’…
So, a sixty second walk and we’ve seen traces of
Edinburgh’s social past, a link to one of her grisly
hangings, an oft-photographed statue, an impressive
square and one of Edinburgh’s most historic and
impressive buildings. That’s pretty impressive! But
that’s Edinburgh, packed with things to see and pour-
over.
So what happens in our next blog post?
Next time I’ll take you on the same route, and we’ll look
at a different and far more famous hanging, a long lost
street which was popular with one of Scotland’s most
famous characters and we’ll look in detail at the
Tolbooth building. There’s a lot more to see than the
‘Heart of Midlothian’!
The three coloured setts’ which mark the site of the
Libberton’s Wynd executoin spot.
The ‘Heart of Midlothian’ mosaic just outside St Giles.
You can find out more about this part of the Old Town on our
Old Edinburgh walking tour.
This guided tour runs most Thursdays - 10.30am-12.30pm and
2-4pm and then the same times on Saturdays. It’s the perfect
introduction to Edinburgh’s history.
YOUR AUTHOR
Robert Howie is the sole tour guide for Historic Edinburgh Tours.
He owns the company and researches and resources all our tours.
He has led guided tours for more than ten years.
Robert was born in Edinburgh, teaches in the local area and
received his university education in one of the most historic
buildings on the Royal Mile.
You can learn more about Historic Edinburgh Tours by clicking
here.
Text/Call us :
+44 (0)7590 026 077
Text/Call us :
+44 (0)7590 026 077
© Historic Edinburgh Tours Ltd 2020
Text/Call us :
+44 (0)7590 026 077
A sixty second mini
Edinburgh Tour
- The High Street to St Giles