Old Town - Royal MIleClick on a photo for a large version. |
The Witches' Well is on the wall of the Tartan Weaving Mill and Experience that faces the castle esplanade. It honours the Scottish people who were burned at the stake between the 15th and 18th centuries. During the 16th century, more women were murdered at this site than anywhere else in Scotland. Each victim was denied a proper trial. Scotland's King James VI believed witchcraft was a form of Satanism and that anyone who possessed those abilities was tainted by the devil. As a result, in the 17th and 18th centuries, more than 4,000 alleged witches (mostly female) were put to death. By the end of the 17th century, witches were routinely hanged instead of being burned. The last hanging took place in 1728.
In 1894, Sir Patrick Geddes, a philanthropist, commissioned his friend John Duncan to design this drinking fountain for the west side of Castlehill Reservoir next to Ramsay Garden. Duncan was a famed artist who was influenced by Celtic myth and legend, which is evident in the sculpture. The small plaque, which features a bronze relief of witches' heads entangled by a snake, uses dualism to highlight the balance between good and evil and to show that every story has two sides. The relief contains the image of a Foxglove plant, from the center of which is a coiled snake intertwined around the head of Aesculapius, the god of medicine, and his daughter Hygeia, the goddess of health. The Foxglove plant, though used medicinally, can also be poisonous depending on dosage, and the image of the serpent imbued with wisdom is also acknowledged as evil. A hole beneath the snake's head once spouted water, though it's dry now. The upper left corner contains Roman Numerals equivalent to 1479, and 1722 is depicted in the bottom right (the period of the most prevalent persecution of witches in Scotland.) The bottom left displays the year of the sculpture's completion and the sculptor's initials: 18 (JD) 94. Two bolts on the upper corners differ in design, and are Wiccan symbols of air and water. The trough is sculpted on three sides. The font displays flora with roots beneath the earth and branches above. The left panel depicts the Evil Eye with frowning eyes and a nose. The right side depicts a pair of hands holding a bowl, meant to represent healing hands.
386 Castlehill, EH1 2NE
Listed grade A. Early 17th century with later alterations and additions including John Carfrae, 1913.
Cannonball House takes its name from a cannonball which is embedded in the building's west frontage, facing the castle. (Well, "clearly" is an exageration - we couldn't see it for ourselves, and had to ask a friendly security man for directions!) There are conflicting explanations for how the cannonball came to be present in the wall. According to some sources, it was fired by General Preston's artillery from the castle's Half Moon Battery during an attack by Jacobite forces in the 1745 rising. But other historians refute this explanation, preferring instead the theory that the cannonball was deliberately put in place by engineers, to mark the "gravitational height" of the springs in Comiston. Starting in 1675, fresh water was piped from these springs, and later from springs on other high ground to the south of the city, to a reservoir situated across the road from the house. The cannonball indicates the elevation below which the water could be fed by gravity. The original reservoir survived until 1839, when it was replaced by a more modern structure, which remained in operation until 1991. It is now "tastefully conserved" as a retail unit and visitor attraction known as the Tartan Weaving Mill.
It has a rare and unique example of an 18th-century door latch. This metal contraption is what is referred to as an ironmongery, a pre-Georgian latch similar to a door knocker. This actually happens to be a rare surviving example of a tirling pin. A traveler would move the ring up and down, causing a rattling sound to announce their arrival. This type of mechanism is one that the Scottish poet, William Miller, would have encountered when he wrote his famous Nursery Rhyme, Wee Willie Winkie:
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toon,
Up stairs an' doon stairs in his nicht-gown,
Tirlin' at the window, crying at the lock,
are the weans in their bed, for it's now ten o'clock?
Lady Stairs Close is possibly the most well known of the Royal Mile's closes. it has a dark little alley that leads you down to one of the most outstanding buildings in the city, Lady Stairs House on Makers Close, listed grade A, 1622. This contains the Writers museum, featuring Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robery Louis Stevenson.
between High Street and Lawnmarket
Local tradition dictates that the touch of David Hume's toe will bring good luck. Due to the statute's placement to the High Court, suspected criminals are also said to rub the prodigious digit to help with their case. Since 1997, when the public statue was erected at the top of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, it's become an international point of interest for handsy passersby. Shortly after artist Alexander "Sandy" Stoddart's sculpture of the great Scottish Enlightenment thinker was installed in front of the High Court Building, philosophy students began making pilgrimages to his likeness and rubbing his toe for luck and wisdom. Over two decades later, hordes of tourists crowd around Hume's foot at all times of day, rendering the sacred toe a shiny golden sphere from all the contact. Touching this 18th-century Scottish philosopher's toe allegedly conjures good fortune. Despite the fact he didn't approve of superstition. One of the most influential figures to come out of the Scottish Enlightenment, Hume was invested in the natural sciences, the necessity of government, and empirical observation. In staunch opposition to superstition, which "rouses the vain fears of unhappy mortals," he wrote in his six-volume History of England, Hume would likely frown upon his statue's ritual significance. The statue has come under fire with the progressive Black Lives Matter movement. Hume has been attacked for his beliefs involving race relations.
Near here are what I assume are security gates. These have been liberally decorated with stitckers.
Outside St Giles
The Heart of Midlothian is a mosaic located outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. The heart marks the location of the entrance to Edinburgh's Old Tolbooth which was demolished in 1817. Locals will often spit upon the heart as a sign of good luck. While the tradition is now one of good luck, it was originally believed to be done as a sign of disdain for the executions which took place within the Old Tolbooth.
Listed grade A. 1385-1410 possibly incorporating earlier fabric and with significant later alterations and additions, including exterior re-facing in smooth ashlar by William Burn, 1829-33 and Thistle Chapel addition by Robert Lorimer, 1910. The Thistle Chapel is supposed to have angels with bagpipes, but it was closed when we were there, as there had been thefts, so it could only be open if staff were there.
The (shut) Thistle Chapel:
This was carved by Vincent and Roxanne Kindersley, of the Cardozo Kindersley workshop in Cambridge. Charles and Camilla attended a service to dedicate this memorial stone to the late Queen. This explained why we couldn't get into St Giles on one day!
1-6 Parliament Square, EH1 1RF - next to St Giles cathedral
Market cross - Listed grade A. Sydney Mitchell, 1885. Replica of former 15th and 17th century structures.
The current mercat cross is of Victorian origin, but was built close to the site occupied by the original. The Cross is first mentioned in a charter of 1365 which indicates that it stood on the south side of the High Street about 45 feet (14 m) from the east end of St. Giles'. In 1617, it was moved to a position a few yards (metres) down the High Street now marked by "an octagonal arrangement of cobble stones" (actually setts).The original shaft was replaced when the Cross underwent extensive renovations in 1970. A study of the stonework, commissioned by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) and carried out in 1971, concluded that: embedded in the current structure are two pieces of an old shaft stone, that the capital belongs to the first part of the 15th century and that the unicorn is an 1869 reproduction of its predecessor on the 1617 cross based upon a description in contemporary accounts.
Mercat means market. The practice of announcing successions to the monarchy and the calling of parliamentary general elections is continued to this day by heralds of the Lord Lyon King of Arms.
Statue of Adam Smith, with seagull. This is next to St Giles.
This statue is in the courtyard of the City Chambers, near St Giles.
These brass bricks run along Edinburgh's Royal Mile. They show the positions of former mide-15th-century structures. These buildings were called "Luckenbooths" or lockable booths.
Advocates Close links High Street to Cockburn Street. The High Street end is opposite St Giles. It is steep, with lots of steps.
1 Roxburgh Ct, EH1 1PG
These plaques located in a court preserve a small piece of Edinburgh's history.
One of the many closes perpendicular to Edinburgh's historied Royal Mile is Roxburgh Court. On this small square, you can find a plaque that lists the scientific names of four trees along with years. These plaques commemorate a bit of Old Town history. One of the most notable features of Edinburgh's Old Town is the density of tightly packed tenements separated by narrow alleys called "closes." As the city has grown and changed, some of these closes have been lost or changed. Roxburgh's Close was likely named for John Roxburgh, a chef who lived here in the 17th century. More than 300 years later, the buildings that separated it from another nearby alley were demolished, resulting in the creation of Roxburgh Court.
The tree species listed on the plaques include Acer Saccharinum, a silver maple from North America (1725); Betula dalecarlica, a Swedish birch tree (1767); Betula utilis, a Himalayan birch tree from Nepal (1842), and Sorbus commixta, a Japanese rowan tree (1906). Specimens of these four trees used to be located on this court at those points in history. One of the existing trees has a different metal frame around its base, also divided in four parts. Another frame in the court might have been around a now-gone tree.
This wellhead is between the Tron and St giles, next to Old Assembly Close. There are other wellheads, such at the one at the bottom of West Bow.
122 High St, EH1 1SG
Scottish Design Exchange market. In old church.
Building is listed grade A. John Mylne and John Scott, 1637-47 with later alterations by John Baxter, 1785; R and R Dickson, 1828; Robert Rowand Anderson, 1888-9.
Chalmers Close
Listed grade A. John Lessels, 1872, incorporating parts of Trinity College Church by John Halkerston, 1460-1531, (demolished 1848 and relocated to present site, 1872).
A reconstructed church! The Trinity Apse was founded in 1462 by the Queen Mary of Gueldres, after the death of her husband King James II. An apse is the portion of a church, usually with an arched or domed roof and containing an altar. This gothic chapel was originally located in what was then known as Waverley Valley, the area between Calton Hill and the Old Town. However, with the advent of the locomotive in the 1800s, the collegiate church was smack dab in the middle of the city's plans for a new railway station—Waverley Station, named for the historical novel of the same name by Walter Scott, one of Edinburgh's most prestigious authors. A battle ensued involving the North British Railway Company and city officials—for 24 years they wrangled over an appropriate location for the holy institution. At first, it was thought that Calton Hill would make an ideal locale, nestled between some of the city's most luminary structures: the Nelson Monument, the City Observatory, and the National Monument. Eventually, an agreement was reached to put the church between Jeffrey Street and Chalmer's Close in the Old Town. While the argument of its new location went on, the chapel itself was being dismantled, with each piece numbered so that it could then be easily reassembled. However, a few opportunistic individuals made off with a few unattended pieces. Thus the church had to be redesigned to make up for the lost segments.
42 High St, EH1 2TG
Free entry
With five galleries to explore, at The Museum of Childhood there are fascinating and rare objects from childhoods past, including toys, games, clothes, books and dolls dating from the 1800s to the present day.
Listed grade A. Circa 1630.
51 and 53 High Street, is one of the oldest buildings on the Royal Mile, and one of the oldest occupied residential buildings in Edinburgh, Scotland. The façade dates from the early 17th century, built on foundations laid c. 1477.
Grade A. Late 15th and 16th century, extended later 16th and 17th centuries.
There is an inscription above the window "LVFE GOD ABVFE AL[L] AND YI NYCHTBOVR AS YI SELF".
Near John Knox House, High Street, EH1 1SR
In 1681, water was brought in by a 'leaden pipe' from the burns south of the town to a reservoir on Castle Hill. The reservoir supplied six wells in the High Street, including the one at Netherbrow Port. The rich, who lived on the upper floors of tall tenements, employed 'water caddies' to carry water upstairs. However, by the late-18th century, the water coming to the city was not enough to provide for the rapidly growing population and supply to the wells was restricted to only three hours a day. In the early 19th century, water companies were established and new pipes introduced. Nonetheless, water supply remained inadequate both in quantity and quality. During droughts, impure surface water was pumped into the wells. The 1867 Improvement Act introduced by William Chambers, and the Improvement Scheme that followed, had considerable success in tackling these issues.
Eastern end of High Street, next to Canongate. This used to be the edge of Old Town.
Before architect James Craig designed the first iteration of Edinburgh's expansive New Town area in the mid 18th-century, the Scottish capital was significantly smaller than it is today with a high-density population of mostly poor residents. World's End Close had marked the city limit as it was once located inside a gatehouse called the Netherbow Port, which served as a passageway between the Royal Mile and the Canongate region of Edinburgh's Old Town. Illustrated as an imposing fortification adorned with the heads of executed prisoners, the Netherbow Port required travelers to pay a fee to both enter and leave the gates. Therefore, those who were unable to afford the toll were confined to Edinburgh for their entire lives. The Netherbow Port was demolished in 1764, but a neighboring pub called The World's End, located on a corner where the Royal Mile intersects with St. Mary's Street, honors the history of World's End Close.
This photo is taken from St Mary's Street, mostly because of the blue man climbing the wall!
163 Canongate, Roral Mile, EH8 8BN
Listed grade A. Canongate Tolbooth, built in 1591. Renovated by R H Morham, 1879 and 1884. Now used by The People's Story Museum.
This museum provides visitors with a realistic and fascinating look at what life was like for Edinburgh citizens in days gone by. Explore displays that range from crime and punishment to a night out at the cinema; the suffragettes to Leith docks; advertisements for work at breweries to figures of 1980s punk. Free entry.
142 Canongate, Royal Mile, EH8 8DD
Listed grade A - late 16th-century Huntly House
This museum gives the story of Edinburgh. Take a look at the collar which once belonged to Greyfriar's Bobby, see James Craig's original plans of the New Town, get lost in a spectacular collection of silver and read the historically significant National Covenant, signed at Greyfriars Kirk in 1638. Free entry.
This house was sometimes referred to as the Speaking House, because of the Latin inscriptions on its front wall. Most date from the sixteenth century but the first celebrates the restoration of the house.
Antiqua tamen juvenesco T B W 1932 - 'I am old but renew my youth'. The initials 'T B W' refer to the Lord Provost, Sir Thomas B Wilson, at the time when the building was restored and opened to the public in 1932.
Ut tu linguae tuae sic ego mear auriu dominus sum - 'As you are the master of your tongue, so I am master of my ear'.
Constanti pectori res mortalium umbra - 'Mortal affairs are a shadow on a steadfast heart', a poetic way of reminding us of our mortality.
The final panel bears the date of the building's original construction - 1570 - with another Latin motto: Hodie mihi cras tibi cur igitur curas 'Today to me, tomorrow to you, why worry?' Or, what goes around comes around.
Monuments Garden
Hidden amid this region, located near the rear of the Museum of Edinburgh, lies a tranquil courtyard comprised of various pieces of stonework. They are compiled from various buildings that no longer exist or were saved from being tossed into the rubbish heap. To access the garden, one has to climb up to the second floor and head to the back, veering right. Look for the glass double doors.
3 Reid's Court, 95 Canongate, EH8 8BR
Listed Grade A. James Smith, 1688-90 with later alterations.
Architecturally, the Kirk has a Dutch-style end gable and a curious, small doric-columned portico over the entrance. The end gable is topped with a golden cross inside a pair of antlers, the now obsolete coat of arms of the Canongate, first placed on the apex of the roof in 1824 and replaced by those from a stag shot at Balmoral by King George VI in 1949.
Outside, there is a statue of the young Robert Burns, when he visited Edinburgh.
Canongate, High Street EH8 8BW
Open 7.30 - 17.30pm - free
The garden has been laid out in the style and character of a 17th century garden. To enter you travel along a narrow, cobbled close. It opens out into a surprisingly tranquil and elegant parterre of clipped shrubs under a cosy green canopy of trees. Beyond the entrance are further parterres, each with different atmospheres and all are sheltered thanks to high church walls on the west side and clipped hedging on the others.
115 Canongate
Few yards from Cannongate down Munro Close. A 1690. John Geddes (my ancestor) and his wife Margaret Duncan lived in Panmure House from 1805 until Margaret's death in 1821. Adam Smith lived here as well.
Holyrood, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP
The seat of Scottish democracy, the Scottish Parliament is open to the public for guided tours, watching debates and meetings, and events and exhibitions. You can visit with a self-guided tour website. You are welcome to visit the building any time it's open, from Monday to Saturday. Free entry.
The building was designed by Enric Miralles.
Inside, there is an explanation of the symbols used in the building.
The entrance hall of the building, and the Debating Chamber
We were told that before the present building was built, the new Scottish parliament met in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, at the other end of the Royal Mile.
Arthur's Seat is a hill to the east of the Royal Mile. It is surprisingly hard to see with Edinburgh. Here is a glimpse of it (Salisbury Crags) while we were on our way to the Scottish parliament.
The Dynamic Earth museum is also close to the Scottish parliament. It is a science centre and planetarium. Costs money to enter.
© Jo Edkins 2025