Page 62 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Scotland
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60 SC O TLAND REGION B Y REGION THE RO Y AL MILE 61
1 The Royal Mile The Signet Library has St Giles Cathedral contains the beautiful The City Chambers were
one of the city’s most Thistle Chapel, with a bagpiping angel designed by John Adam
lavish interiors. Visits can on its arched entrance. in the 1750s.
The Royal Mile is a stretch of four ancient streets Palace of be made following a
(from Castlehill to Canongate) which formed ROYAL MILE Holyroodhouse written application. The Heart of Midlothian is
the main thoroughfare of medieval Edinburgh, an arrangement of granite
linking the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Edinburgh cobblestones on the former
Castle
Confined by the city wall, the “Old Town” grew site of the city jail.
upwards, with some tenements climbing to 20 Locator Map
floors. It is still possible, among the 66 alleys and
closes off the main street, to imagine Edinburgh’s Gladstone’s Land is a
medieval past. preserved 17thcentury
merchant’s house.
H I G H S T R E E T
Scotch Whisky Heritage The Camera Obscura
Centre introduces visitors to contains an observatory from
Scotland’s national drink. which to view the city.
B A N K S T R E E T
I G
V
E O
L A W N M A R K E T R I R
B
G
D
G
of Scotland,
E E National Museum
Greyfriars Bobby
Edinburgh Castle C A S T L E H I L L
Charles II statue is a tribute to
the 17th-century monarch who
defeated the Covenanters at the
Writer’s Museum Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679.
This 17thcentury
house is now a
museum of the Parliament House was built in 1639.
The Hub is the lives and works of The Scottish Parliament convened here
headquarters of the writers Burns, Scott from 1640 until its dissolution in 1707,
Edinburgh Festival. and Stevenson. Rib-vaulting in the Thistle Chapel, St Giles Cathedral after the Union of Parliaments.
P Camera Obscura In 1852, Maria Short added on small plots of land. The E Writers’ Museum in 1707. It is worth seeing for the Reformation, with its emphasis
Tel (0131) 226 3709. Open daily. Apr– the upper floor, the viewing sixfloor Gladstone’s Land Lady Stair’s Close. Tel (0131) 529 4901. spectacle of its many gowned on individual worship freed from
Oct: 9:30am–7pm (to 9pm Jul, Aug & terrace and the Camera was named after Thomas Open 10am–5pm Wed–Sun (from and wigged advocates as well the auth or ity of bishops. A tablet
Sat); Nov–Mar: 10am–6pm. & 8 Obscura – a large pinhole Gledstanes, the merchant who noon Sun). = ∑ edinburgh as the stained-glass win dow in marks the place where Jenny
∑ camera-obscura.co.uk camera that pictures life in built it in 1617. The house still museums.org.uk the Great Hall, commem o rating Geddes, a local market stall-
The lower floors of this build the city centre as it happens. has the original arcade booths This fine Old Town mansion was the inauguration of the Court of holder, scored a victory for the
ing date from the early 17th A marvel at the time, it on the street façade as well as built in 1622. In the 1720s it was Session by King James V in 1532. Coven ant ers in 1637 by hurling
century and were once the remains one of Edinburgh’s a painted ceiling. acquired by Elizabeth, Dowager her stool at a preacher as he read
home of the Laird of Cockpen. most popular attractions. Although the house is Countess of Stair, and has since R St Giles Cathedral from an English prayer book.
extravagantly furnished, it been called Lady Stair’s House. Royal Mile. Tel (0131) 225 9442. Open St Giles’s Gothic exterior has
P Gladstone’s Land also contains items, such as Its official title reflects its role as May–Sep: 9am–7pm Mon–Fri, 9am– a 15th-century tower, the only
477B Lawnmarket. Tel (0131) 226 wooden overshoes that had a museum of memorabilia from 5pm Sat, 1–5pm Sun. Oct–Apr: 9am– part to escape heavy renova tion
5856. Open Apr–Oct: 10am–5pm daily to be worn in the dirty streets, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott 5pm Mon–Sat, 1–5pm Sun. 7 partial. in the 1800s. Inside, the Thistle
(to 6:30pm Jul & Aug). & 7 ground which serve as a reminder of and Robert Louis Stevenson. 8 tower (prebook). - = Chapel, with its rib-
floor. 8 prebook. = « the less salubrious features ∑ stgilescathedral.org.uk vaulted ceiling and
∑ nts.org.uk that were part of the old city. P Parliament House Properly known as the carved heraldic can o-
This restored 17th century A chest in the beautiful Parliament Sq, High St. Tel (0131) 225 High Kirk (church) of pies, honours the
merchant’s house provides Painted Chamber is said to 2595. Open 9am–4:30pm Mon–Fri. Edinburgh, St Giles is knights of the Most
a window on life in a typical have been given by a Dutch 7 limited. ∑ scotcourts.gov.uk popularly known as Ancient and Most
Old Town house before over sea captain to a Scottish This majestic, Italianate build ing a cathedral. Though it Noble Order of the
crowding drove the rich merchant who saved him from was constructed in the 1630s was twice the seat of Thistle. The royal pew
inhabitants north west to the a shipwreck. A similar house, for the Scottish Parlia ment. It a bishop in the 17th in the Preston Aisle
Georgian New Town. “Lands”, named Morocco’s Land (see has been home to the Court of century, it was from is used by Queen
as they were then known, were p63), can be found further to Session and the High Court since here that John Knox Bagpiping angel at the Elizabeth II when
The bedroom of Gladstone’s Land tall, narrow buildings erected the east, on Canongate. the Union of Parliaments (see p49) directed the Scottish entrance of the cathedral staying in Edinburgh.
For hotels and restaurants see pp172–3 and pp181–3
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