Royal Mile
The Royal Mile is the main street in Edinburgh's Old Town. It runs from Edinburgh Castle to the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse, a distance of just over a mile. The New Scottish Parliament building is at the foot of the Royal Mile, opposite the Palace.
Edinburgh Castle is one of the UK's leading tourist attractions. Demolished by Robert the Bruce in 1313 as part of his "scorched earth" policy, it was rebuilt in 1371, though most of the present structure dates from the 16th century and later. It includes St Margaret's Chapel - Edinburgh's oldest building, dating from the 1100s, and it houses the Stone of Destiny. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held every Summer in the esplanade outside the Castle.
St Giles' Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is in Parliament Square on the Royal Mile; its four main pillars are dated to 1190. Just outside the kirk, inset into the pavement is a cobblestone mosaic in the shape of a heart - the "Heart of Midlothian", that marked the entrance to Edinburgh's 15th century tolbooth. Originally an office for collecting tolls, the tolbooth became a prison, with a scaffold outside. Prisoners would spit on the door of the tolbooth and this tradition is still preserved as the custom of spitting on the Heart of Midlothian. Amongst those publicly hanged there is Thomas Aikenhead (c. 1678 - 1697), a student who was the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy. His indictment read:
... the prisoner had repeatedly maintained... that theology was a rhapsody of ill-invented nonsense, patched up partly of the moral doctrines of philosophers, and partly of poetical fictions and extravagant chimeras...That the Holy Scriptures were stuffed with such madness, nonsense, and contradictions, that he admired the stupidity of the world in being so long deluded by them...from the indictment of Thomas Aikenhead
The World's End public house was the site of the last reported sighting of two young women, murdered in 1977. In 2007, a convicted killer and sex offender was brought to trial on DNA evidence, but the trial collapsed amidst controversy[1]
Deacon Brodie's Tavern on the Royal Mile perpetuates the memory of Deacon William Brodie (hanged in 1788). Brodie led a double life; he was a qualified wood-worker and a pillar of the community who is known to have met Robert Burns and the painter Sir Henry Raeburn, but also a heavy gambler with five illegitimate children. He began to take wax impressions of the keys to the houses in which he was working, later returning at night to rob them. His double life is said to have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's story of "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." Brodie's Close off the Royal Mile is named after his father.
The Royal Mile contains entrances to many small alleys and closes, with picturesque names and often interesting histories. Mary King Close[1] was one such Close. In 1753, development of a new building, the Royal Exchange (designed by John Adam) on the Royal Mile involved building over Mary King Close. The Royal Exchange is now the City Chambers – the administrative centre of the City, and what was once the street level of Mary King Close remained intact, though now completely overbuilt. The Close was forgotten, until in 1928 a council workman discovered an entrance to it. The Close is now open to visitors and is a major tourist attraction, encouraged by convenient tales of haunting.
John Knox House on the Royal Mile is a town house, built before 1490, that displays exhibits about John Knox, a Protestant leader born between 1505 and 1515, who died at Edinburgh on 24 November, 1572. John Knox is a controversial figure in Scotland's history, who was appointed minister of the Church of St. Giles' when the Reformed Protestant religion was ratified by law in Scotland in 1560. His History of the Reformation made him a leading figure in the Scottish reformation. He was outspoken in his attacks on the Catholic clergy of Scotland, accusing them of being "gluttons, wantons and licentious revelers."
The Tron Kirk, at the intersection of South Bridge and the Royal Mile, is a visitor centre for the Old Town. A "tron" was a public weighbridge, and the Kirk, built in 1637,was named after a salt tron than once stood on that site.
- Adjacent to Holyrood Palace, the Queens Gallery displays exhibitions of art from the Royal Collection.
- Edinburgh CastleOne of the UK's leading tourist attractions, the Castle's features include St Margaret's Chapel - Edinburgh's oldest building, dating from the 1100s; Crown Square - the main courtyard, developed in the 15th century; The Great Hall with a hammerbeam roof built by James IV; The Half Moon Battery, from the late 16th century; and The Scottish National War Memorial added after the First World War. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held every Summer in the esplanade outside the Castle.
- The City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries Includes information on The Museum of Childhood and The Writers' Museum.
- Gladstone’s Land, in the Lawnmarket, Royal Mile. Owned by the National Trust for Scotland, this is the 17th century tenement home of an affluent merchant.
John Knox House consists of two town houses (or "lands") with the earlier part constructed about 1470 as part of the redevelopment of the city's walls. The exterior of the front house is much the same as that created in 1560.
- John Knox House
- Lady Stair’s House/Writer’s Museum on the Royal Mile, displays manuscripts, relics and memorabilia of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and R.L. Stevenson.
- The Museum of Edinburgh, formerly known as Huntly House, occupies 16th and 17th century buildings. Exhibits include:the feeding bowl and collar belonging to Greyfriars Bobby; the National Covenant, the petition for religious freedom signed by Scotland’s Presbyterians in 1638; and the original plans for Edinburgh’s New Town drawn by architect James Craig.
- The Museum of Childhood on the Royal Mile, displays toys, costumes, books, dolls and games.
- National Portrait Gallery Queen St.
- The People's Story is housed in the late 16th century Canongate Tolbooth opposite the Museum of Edinburgh, on The Royal Mile. ' The People's Story ' uses oral history, reminiscence, and written sources to tell the story of the lives, work and leisure of the ordinary people of Edinburgh, from the late 18th century to the present.
- Mary King Close