The West Port area was once home to the lodging house where William Burke and William Hare turned murder into a business in eighteen twenty-eight. Here, in the crowded slums of Tanner’s Close, the two Irish laborers realized that a lodger…
Resurrection Men and Medicine
This walk traces the dark history of 19th-century Edinburgh, where pioneering medical science was fueled by a gruesome trade in body snatching and cold-blooded murder.
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1. Exact site of Burke`s lodging house, 1828
2. The White Hart Inn
The White Hart Inn sits in the Grassmarket, distinguished by its low, beamed interior and a history that stretches back half a millennium. While the current structure dates to seventeen forty, the cellarage beneath the building originates…
3. Maggie Dicksons
Maggie Dickson's is a pub located in the Grassmarket, distinguished by its dark wood paneling, exposed brick, and a display featuring a skeleton in stocks. It takes its name from a local figure, Margaret Dickson, who became known as…
4. Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery Edinburgh
Greyfriars Kirkyard occupies a space where the ground level sits several feet higher than the surrounding streets. This elevation results from more than four centuries of intensive burials in an area of only a few acres. Established in…
5. Old College, The University of Edinburgh
Old College is defined by its massive neoclassical entrance front and a grand central dome that rises above the South Bridge. This structure, which serves as a centerpiece for the University of Edinburgh, is built of ashlar stone with a…
6. Surgeons' Hall Museum
The Surgeons' Hall Museum is identifiable by its grand, imposing facade on Nicolson Street, designed by the architect William Henry Playfair and completed in eighteen thirty-two. It houses the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons…