Thirty Three Strollers met up in the Museum at Chambers Street to start a walk based round Edinburgh becoming a Royal Burgh.
It started with the marriage of King Malcolm and Margaret and then their
son David becoming king. He had spent many years in England and brought back
the idea of burghs from their and how a burgh should be laid out. He also
created several mints round Scotland to mint Scottish coins. The first mint was
created at Carlisle which was then part of Scotland. Burghs were formed by
having a castle at one end raised up in the motte and bailey design with a
street running from it, houses and strips of land along either side of the
street and a market place. Gladstone’s Land in the High Street is a good
example of the width of the plots and land extending behind it.
We also heard about the founding of the early guilds for the bakers,
blacksmiths etc. After that we went to Bristo Square to look at a Lord Provost’s
lamppost which signified his status then down into Greyfriars Kirk.
From here we moved down to the High Street where we looked at the site
of the Butter Tron where butter and cheese was weighed before being sold in the
Lawnmarket, at the junction of the High Street and Johnston Terrace. We also
heard ghost stories about one of the houses which used to stand here. We then
went into Riddles Court to look at how later planning tried to create open
spaces for people rather than just buildings pressing against each other.
We finished up at the Mercat Cross with the story of the first fire
brigade and the great fire which destroyed a lot of the buildings in 1824 and
which lasted for 5 days.
There was a lot more but too much to mention.
Our thanks to our guides Karen and Helen for the walk and for arranging
a mild and dry day for it, though it did get a tad wet after we finished
