Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
8 The Storytelling Cafe
This cafe at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (43 High St.;
&
0131/556-1229) was estab-
lished by the same folk behind Spoon Café Bistro (p. 82). It's a modern and casual cafe
with a talented chef in charge of the small, open kitchen. Food is all freshly prepared using
some excellent ingredients.
Return to High Street, turning right to:
9
John Knox House
Jutting out into the wide sidewalk on the left side of High Street is this photo-
genic and apparently genuine 16th-century house. Although any real link to
Knox the firebrand Protestant reformer has been debated over the years, that
perceived connection did ensure that this attractive building was preserved
(p. 92). Next door (to the left) is Moubray House, which has some of the same
late medieval details of Gladstone's Land. The rear portion (not open to the
public) might actually date to 1530, making it perhaps the oldest-surviving
dwelling in the city. Across the street, Tweeddale Court leads to Tweeddale
House, a 16th-century survivor with the Doric porch added in the 18th century
just before the printers Oliver & Boyd (whose name remains on the facade)
occupied the building.
The patio here is the site of the infamous robbery and murder of one William
Begbie in 1806. Apparently most of the stolen money was quickly recovered—
but the assassin escaped justice. Next door is the World's End Close, the final
alley on this stretch of the Royal Mile, and indeed the last one before the city's
old protective wall, which safeguarded “the world” within it.
9
Continue down the Royal Mile to:
10
Canongate Tolbooth
Now, having crossed an intersection with Jeffrey Street on the left and St.
Mary's Street to the right, you are on the portion of the Royal Mile known as
the Canongate. Here, outside the town's old protective walls, the original set-
tlement of Canongate was only formally incorporated into the city of Edin-
burgh in 1856. Most of the buildings along the Canongate have been rebuilt
over the years. The tower of the Tolbooth (built circa 1590) remains, however.
The attractive clock that extends out over the street was added to the building
in the 1880s, now housing a not-terribly-impressive museum called the Peo-
ple's Story (p. 93).
Next door is:
11
Canongate Church
The original parish church for the Canongate burgh was Holyrood Abbey (see
below), but eventually a new kirk became necessary, and this one, with its bell-
shaped roofline, was christened in 1691. The churchyard, with good views of the
Royal High School on Calton Hill, has numerous monuments. Pioneering eco-
nomic philosopher Adam Smith is buried here and possibly the murdered confi-
dant to Mary, Queen of Scots, David Rizzio. Aficionados of the poet Robert Burns
will know that he wrote the tribute on the headstone of fellow poet Robert Fer-
gusson and that Mrs. Agnes McLehose (to whom Burns addressed umpteen
letters as “Clarinda”) was laid to rest in this cemetery, as well.
