Buried History
Christmas 1644 was not a happy one in Edinburgh. In fact almost any other Christmas was happier, and this was possibly the most miserable ever. Scotland’s capital city stands on the coast, and has a port town attached to it, Leith. And it was in Leith that historians think the first case of plague arrived in autumn 1644, carried by ship rats. During the next eighteen months it spread through Scotland.
This story was used as an explanation for an extraordinary tourist attraction in the city: Mary King’s Close. A ‘close’ is a very narrow street where only pedestrians can pass. Edinburgh was full of closes. But some were forgotten, like Mary King’s Close, which only opened again to the public in 2003.
Closed up and forgotten, buried under the city for 350 years, this close was a mystery, and the story soon spread that it was closed during the plague. That dying victims were taken there, walled in and left to die. But this is not true: the old, probably unhealthy close was simply covered over and abandoned during improvements to the city centre.
Visitors can now buy a ticket to go under the city and visit the many rooms, homes and shops which were once part of the busy city centre. Mary King herself was an important
fabric merchant: the Edinburgh closes took their names from their most important inhabitants. Some say you can still hear her, and many other previous inhabitants – there are many ghost stories and reports of strange voices and noises.
In fact the Close is now the organiser of a new festival for Edinburgh – the Mary King’s Ghost Fest which lasts for ten days through the month of May and is one of the most popular festivals in Britain. But the close is open all year round, with special tour guides dressed as inhabitants from the past to tell you all about life three hundred years ago. Just don’t go alone…
Buried HistoryChristmas 1644 was not a happy one in Edinburgh. In fact almost any other Christmas was happier, and this was possibly the most miserable ever. Scotland’s capital city stands on the coast, and has a port town attached to it, Leith. And it was in Leith that historians think the first case of plague arrived in autumn 1644, carried by ship rats. During the next eighteen months it spread through Scotland.This story was used as an explanation for an extraordinary tourist attraction in the city: Mary King’s Close. A ‘close’ is a very narrow street where only pedestrians can pass. Edinburgh was full of closes. But some were forgotten, like Mary King’s Close, which only opened again to the public in 2003.Closed up and forgotten, buried under the city for 350 years, this close was a mystery, and the story soon spread that it was closed during the plague. That dying victims were taken there, walled in and left to die. But this is not true: the old, probably unhealthy close was simply covered over and abandoned during improvements to the city centre.Visitors can now buy a ticket to go under the city and visit the many rooms, homes and shops which were once part of the busy city centre. Mary King herself was an importantfabric merchant: the Edinburgh closes took their names from their most important inhabitants. Some say you can still hear her, and many other previous inhabitants – there are many ghost stories and reports of strange voices and noises.In fact the Close is now the organiser of a new festival for Edinburgh – the Mary King’s Ghost Fest which lasts for ten days through the month of May and is one of the most popular festivals in Britain. But the close is open all year round, with special tour guides dressed as inhabitants from the past to tell you all about life three hundred years ago. Just don’t go alone…
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