Greyfriars Covenanters' Prison

The Covenanters' Prison sits in the southeast corner of Greyfriars Kirkyard, separated from the rest of the graveyard by iron gates. The site dates to sixteen seventy-nine, following the defeat of militant Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Because the city jails were full, government forces held more than one thousand prisoners here in a makeshift, open-air enclosure for over four months.