Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
contains a series of displays about Knox (see box, opposite), the minister who led
the Reformation in Scotland and established Calvinist Presbyterianism as the
dominant religious force in the country. Regular performances and events, often
aimed at a younger audience, take place in the centre, particularly during the
Festival. To get to the lovely, quiet
garden
behind the centre, head down Trunk's
Close, a few doors uphill from John Knox House.
1
The People's Story Museum
Canongate Tolbooth, 163 Canongate • Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, also Sun noon-5pm in Aug • Free •
T
0131 529 4057,
W
edinburghmuseums.org.uk
Dominated by a turreted steeple and an odd external box clock, the late sixteenth-
century
Canongate Tolbooth
has served both as the headquarters of the burgh
administration and as a prison. It now houses
The People's Story
, which contains a series
of display cases, dense information boards and rather old-fashioned tableaux dedicated
to the everyday life and work of Edinburgh's population down the centuries. his isn't
one of Edinburgh's essential museums, but it does have a down-to-earth reality often
missing from places dedicated to high culture or famous historical characters.
Museum of Edinburgh
142-146 Canongate • Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, also Sun noon-5pm in Aug • Free •
T
0131 529 4143,
W
edinburghmuseums.org.uk
he
Museum of Edinburgh
houses the city's principal collection devoted to local history,
though the museum is as interesting for the labyrinthine network of wood-panelled
rooms within as for its rather quirky array of artefacts. hese do, however, include a
number of items of real historical significance, in particular the
National Convention
,
the petition for religious freedom drawn up on a deerskin parchment in 1638, and the
original plans for the layout of the New Town drawn by James Craig (see p.75), chosen
by the city council after a competition in 1767.
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crighton's Close, Canongate • Tues, Wed & Fri 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-4pm • Free •
T
0131 557 2876,
W
spl.org.uk
A small island of modern architectural eloquence amid a cacophony of large-scale
developments, the
Scottish Poetry Library
's attractive design harmoniously combines
brick, oak, glass, Caithness stone and blue ceramic tiles while incorporating a section
of an old city wall. Inside you'll encounter Scotland's most comprehensive collection
of native poetry, and visitors are free to read the topics, periodicals and leaflets found
on the shelves, or listen to recordings of poetry in the nation's three tongues, Lowland
Scots, Scots Gaelic and English.
Holyrood
At the foot of Canongate lies
Holyrood
, for centuries known as Edinburgh's royal
quarter, with its ruined thirteenth-century
abbey
and the
Palace of Holyroodhouse
, the
Queen's o
cial Edinburgh residence. In recent years, however, the area has been
transformed by the addition of Enric Miralles' dazzling but highly controversial new
Scottish Parliament
, which was deliberately landscaped to mimic the cliffs and ridges of
THE WORLD'S END BURGH
Canongate
, the final leg of the Royal Mile, was for over seven hundred years a burgh in its
own right that was entered through the now demolished gatehouse known as
Netherbow
Port
. Some of the town's poorer residents couldn't afford the toll to pass through and spent
their whole lives in Edinburgh - inspiration for the name of the
World's End
pub found by the
Port site. Look for the brass plates sunk into the road outside the pub that mark the outline of
the old gatehouse.
