Page 65 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Scotland

THE RO Y AL MILE  63

John Knox House Morocco’s Land is
Dating from 1450, the oldest a reproduction of a
house in the city was the 17th-century tenement
home of the preacher John house. It takes its name
Knox during the 1560s. He from the statue of a Moor
is said to have died in an
which adorns the entrance.
RO YAL MI L E Holyroodhouse upstairs room. It con tains
Palace of
relics of his life.
Edinburgh
Castle

Museum of Edinburgh
Canongate Tolbooth
C A N O N G A T E

Museum of Childhood
Though created as a
S T R E E T
Moubray House was to be museum for adults by a city
S O U T H B R I D G E
the signing place of the Act councillor who was known
of Union in 1707, until a mob to dislike children, this lively
forced the authorities to retreat musem now attracts flocks
to another venue. of young visitors.
Canongate Tolbooth, dating Life Below the Old Town
from 1591. With its distinctive
clock tower, this was the focal Until the 18th century most residents of Edinburgh lived along
point for life in the Burgh of and beneath the Royal Mile and Cowgate. The old abandoned
Canongate. Until the mid-19th cellars and basements, which lacked any proper water supply,
century it contained law courts, daylight or ventilation, were once
a jail and the meeting place centres of domestic life and industry.
for the Burgh council. It has Under these conditions, cholera, typhus
been a museum since 1954. and smallpox were com mon. Mary
Focusing on the lives of King’s Close, under the City Chambers,
is one of the most famous of these
ordinary citizens from the late areas – its inhabitants were all killed
18th century to the present, it by the plague around 1645.
covers subjects such as public In 2003 many of these closes were
health, recreation, trade unions opened up for the first time and guided
and work. The riots, disease and visits are now possible through The Real
poverty of the 19th century, and Mary King’s Close: (0131) 225 0672,
subjects as diverse as wartime, www.realmarykingsclose.com.
football and punk rock, are
also covered, giving a valuable
insight into life in Edinburgh.
E The Museum of century it was little more than a
Edinburgh slum. In 1924 the local authority
142–146 Canongate. Tel (0131) 529 bought the property and
4143. Open 10am–5pm Mon, Thu– opened the museum in 1932.
Sat; noon–5pm Sun. = The collection includes exhibits
∑ edinburghmuseums.org.uk such as Neolithic axe heads,
Huntly House was built in the Roman coins, military artifacts
early 16th century and dam aged and glassware. A section is
in the English raid on Edinburgh also dedicated to Field Marshal
in 1544. First used as a family Earl Haig, Com mander-in-Chief
A prison cell in the Canongate Tol booth: The townhouse, it was later divided of the British Army during
People’s Story Museum into apartments but by the 19th World War I.

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