Sunday 11 January 2015

Strollers Walk No. 189: Tuesday 20th January 2015, Historic Walk down Royal Mile

Walk No. 189:   Historic Walk - Royal Mile, Edinburgh
Date:                 Tuesday 20th January 2015
Start Time:        10:45 a.m.
On a very cold but bright sunny day with no wind and dry underfoot, sixty Strollers turned out well wrapped up for the January History Walk led by our Blue Badge Guides Karen and Helen. We met outside John Knox’s House in the Royal Mile where we started the walk by hearing a bit about the location of the mistresses of Deacon Brodie (at least 3 plus his wife) and how one led to his downfall. We then sneaked down the Close to the back of the house to hear all about Patrick Geddes. He was born in Ballater, went to school in Perthshire and then came to Edinburgh University to study Botany. He dropped out after a week but continued to study in London and Paris and in 1890 came back to Edinburgh when appointed assistant in Practical Botany for the University based at the Royal Botanics. He promoted the idea of ‘green space’ in towns for the health benefits and you can still see these open spaces and gardens down the closes of Edinburgh today. He also promoted ‘learning by doing’ and arranged for the school children to be involved in growing their own vegetables (sounds familiar). He arranged many exhibitions and travelled extensively promoting his ideas and being involved in planning towns from Jerusalem to Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He lived in India from 1917 to 1924 when for health reasons he moved to the South of France until his death in 1932.
We then crossed the street to Tweeddale Close where the house of Dame Margaret Kerr was. This subsequently became the Head Office of the British Linen Bank which led to robbery and murder. It then became a printers and home to the Poetry Society. Sheds for Sedan Chairs still exists in Tweeddale Close. It was then off down to Chessels Court, purpose built flats dating from 1748, and where at one time the Customs and Excise had rooms which Deacon Brodie robbed. It was this last robbery which ultimately led to his downfall after fleeing to Flanders. Here we heard about the tale of Andrew Gray, who fled Edinburgh after being sentenced to death for rioting, went to Morocco and returned many years later as a sea-captain. He saved the Lord Provost’s daughter from the plague, later married her and they lived in a house on the Royal Mile near where a statue of
a Moorish man can be seen above the door.
Next we went into Sugarhouse Close, originally a sugar refinery then a brewery but now student accommodation, and then Bakehouse Close to hear about the origins of Bovril. It was time for some warmth, so Karen had arranged access to Old Moray House, dating from 1618 and built for Mary Countess of Home, now part of the University. The interior ceilings and walls still remain as they were intended and were beautiful to look at and admire. The house was also used by Cromwell when in Edinburgh. The balcony overlooking the Royal Mile only had its railing added in 1842 so that no one would fall on Queen Victoria as she passed by in her carriage. It must have been a precarious vantage point before that.
Leaving there we went up to visit the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning number 2 in St John Street where Sandy gave us a talk on the history of the Lodge and its prominent members like Robert Burns. It is the oldest continually used Lodge in the world and one that was built specifically for that purpose in 1735, though the Lodge dates from around 1677. It was a lovely building with some of our attendees getting caught out by the 3D style paintings on the wall, and all were impressed by the Sneltzer Organ dating from 1757 and still powered by hand today. We then had a brief stop outside the Museum of Edinburgh to hear about the number of brothels that used to exist on the Royal Mile (lots), where the age expectancy of the people who worked there was only 30, and to look at the sea shells in the side of the buildings put there to ward off witches. We then crossed over to Dunbar Close to see another example of gardens that Geddes had arranged, and site of a bar that Rabbie Burns used to frequent.
Finally, at the foot of the Royal Mile we heard a story about conspiracy, murder and execution involving a wife, her maid and butler. With a cunning that would please current ‘soap’ writers, the ‘lady’ was beheaded by the ‘maiden’, Edinburgh’s version of the guillotine, while her maid was burnt on the Castle Hill at the same time to divert attention from the other execution. The butler was eventually caught and sentenced to death on the wrack, which was normally only used for interrogations. The judge was obviously a friend of the murdered husband.

Our thanks again to Karen, Helen and Sandy for all the information we enjoyed on the walk.

Thursday 8 January 2015

Strollers Walks - Dates for 2015

Here is the schedule of dates planned for Strollers Walks in 2015:

20/01/2015  Tuesday          Historic Walk in Royal Mile / Canongate, Edinburgh
19/02/2015  Thursday         Historic Walk - Moray Estate, New Town, Edinburgh
18/03/2015  Wednesday    Dechmont / Bangour, West Lothian
23/04/2015  Thursday         Union Canal and Water of Leith, Edinburgh
18/05/2015  Monday
24/06/2015  Wednesday
21/07/2015  Tuesday
20/08/2015  Thursday
21/09/2015  Monday
20/10/2015  Tuesday
18/11/2015  Wednesday
03/12/2015  Thursday   Christmas Lunch