Julian Barnett
Edinburgh, Part 1

Julian Barnett - Edinburgh, Part 1

- As you know, we’ve already looked at Hidden Jerusalem, Hidden Cairo, Hidden Oxford, Hidden Rome, a five-parter. Now we’re on to Hidden Edinburgh. And just to give you a little advanced warning, I’m now putting together Hidden London, it’s going to be a blockbuster series of Hidden London lectures for the autumn. London is an never ending city. One could give a hundred lectures on that and it would still keep going. So that’s to come. Hidden Edinburgh is today, it’s a two-parter. Today, the seventh, today, the 14th, next Sunday the 21st. And just to give you a little advance warning, on the 31st I’m doing a lecture slightly linked to some themes that I’m going to bring up today to do with Edinburgh. That a little later. Let me just also say that I’ve traveled, pretty much, the length and the breadth of the British Isles all the way from Muckle Flugga, the most Northern rock of the Shetland Isles, down to Truro, the town of the most Southwestern cathedral in Britain. And I have to say, of course it’s all in the eye of the beholder, that in my opinion, as far as cities go, because there are many, many hundreds of glorious county towns of England, Scotland, and Wales and Northern Ireland. As far as cities are concerned, I think, in my opinion, Edinburgh is the most elegant and the most handsome city in the United Kingdom. It is this arresting combination of old and new, the medieval town and the New Town, capital N, capital T. That will be next week, part two of Edinburgh. But it’s also the tremendous sweep of history that that city covers. So on that, we’re going to start on the photos for me to put what I’ve just said into action and see if you agree with me by the end of today. So thank you, Lauren, in advance for going through the photographs. Thank you.

And there we start off with Edinburgh, Scotland. You will see that I’ve put the saltire into the shape of Scotland. Saltire being the cross of St Andrew. St Andrew was martyred in, I believe, 60 AD. And he was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. And there are some traditions that Andrew ended up coming to Scotland at some stage. There were other traditions that the relics of Andrew ended up in Fife, in Scotland. Whatever it might be, Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. He’s also the patron saint of Ukraine, I should add. And a number of other countries. The saltire cross, in other words, the cross that is X-shaped, represents the cross that Andrew was crucified upon because he didn’t consider himself worthy to be crucified on a cross similar to that which Jesus had died on. And therefore, Andrew elected to be crucified arms and legs splayed on the saltire cross. And when you’re in Scotland, you see the saltire cross, it’s a very beautiful flag, all over Scotland. And indeed the Union Jack, the Union Flag of the United Kingdom that came out of the Union of 1707, more on that a little bit later, has the saltire in it. It has the cross of St. Andrew and the cross of St. George and various other formations of lines within it. So it’s very, very much the colors and the shape of Scotland. Let’s move on to the first picture and it shows you, really, where Edinburgh is. Let me just say something about that name Edinburgh. It’s a very ancient name. It spans the civilizations on either side of Roman control of Britain, that we actually touched upon in the series about Rome, series lectures numbers one to five of Rome.

So in pre Roman-Celtic Britain and in post Roman-Angle Britain, that whole area around Edinburgh was populated by a series of tribes called the Gododdins and also the Aidans, these were the two warring tribes. And in the end, the Gododdins won out, they took control of the territory of the Aidans and they retained the name Aidan as in Edinburgh. And then that word, B-U-R-G-H, burgh, settlement, was added to it. So the settlement of the Aidan tribes. That’s where we get the word Edinburgh from. There are other theories about where the word comes from, but that seems etymologically the most reliable. And you can see that there is Edinburgh in the, it’s really in the Southern part of Scotland. It’s just slightly North of what’s called the borders area of Scotland. And Scotland then moves evermore North up into the Highlands and so on. What I’m going to do in today’s lecture is, I’m also going to take you on two little days out from Edinburgh. We’re going to go to Haddington, and we’re going to go to Stirling. And next week, in Edinburgh part two, after I’ve looked at the New Town, I’m going to take you to two days out there, one of them being Berwick-upon-Tweed. So we’re going to go a little bit further North today. But for now, let’s just stay in Edinburgh. And if we go onto the next slide, you’ll see, again, where it is in relation to the rest of the UK. My apologies for a few slides this afternoon, stroke this evening or this morning, wherever you are, they’re slightly blurry. We’ve had a problem with converting some of these pictures.

Most of ‘em are fine, but my apologies in advance for the blurring of some of the slides. Let’s move on again please. And you can see, that Edinburgh in this satellite picture is on the Firth of Forth. So a firth is an old Gaelic word for a tributary of rivers, or a tributary of river or rivers. So this is the Firth of Forth, the River Forth. There are in fact three other rivers that combine to come out into this firth, into this area of water. And Edinburgh is very, very close to that. So it’s not right on the Firth, there are much closer areas, Queens Ferry is right close by and so on. But Edinburgh is pretty close to those watery areas. So lovely satellite picture there. And you can just see on the left of that satellite picture, you can see two bridges spanning that, and that is the famous bridge over the Forth. So Edinburgh is that large , as you can see quite near that. And to the next picture, please. This really encapsulates what I’m going to be showing you today, and next Sunday, Look at the top part of that rather simplified, distilled map of Edinburgh, and you can see a grid pattern of streets, the so-called New Town, capitalization for each of those words. Built in the very early 19th, well, the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Lots on that next week. And then look at much more the more chaotic, whimsical street patterns of a medieval city of Edinburgh. With the castle on top of the hill and so on. Two very, very different cities. In a nutshell, that is our two lectures. With these lots of green areas around. And I’m going to be telling you something about those today. Okay, let’s move on. Capital to capital, how do I always get to Edinburgh? Well, living in the area of Houston, the ideal way for me to get to Edinburgh is by the train. I also prefer train travel to airline travel, to flying, for so many reasons. In Edinburgh, Edinburgh Waverley train station is slap bang in the middle of the city, so it’s a very beautiful way to come into Edinburgh.

And the train journey takes between three and a half and four and a quarter hours. When you take into account how long it would take to take the tube out to Heathrow and then go through security and then get on the plane and sit on the plane and fly out to Edinburgh, the flight only takes about 50 minutes. But then is all the security coming out and so on, it’s actually quicker to just walk down to King’s Cross and take the train and it’s certainly more pleasant. So let’s have a look. We leave from King’s Cross. There she is, King’s Cross Station, in the shadow of St Pancras Station. You’ll remember St Pancras Station from last week because in Rome we looked at the Catacombs of San Pancrazio. And St. Pancras Church, Old Pancras Church, is just behind St. Pancras Station. This is King’s Cross station, which in any other city would be a tremendous landmark. But next to the giant of St. Pancras, it’s dwarfed. But King’s Cross is a pretty impressive station. It’s the East Coast Line, very important line in Britain that goes up on the East Coast from London up to Doncaster, up to York, carrying on up to Durham, Newcastle, and then over the borders, Berwick-upon-Tweeds, and straight to North Berwick and into Edinburgh. It’s in effect, right up that Eastern spine of the country, sometimes just a couple of hundred meters from the North Sea. Some very, very dramatic journey to take there. And King’s Cross station itself is a very interesting one. It’s bordered by Barnsbury to its North, Clerkenwell to its East, Holborn to the South, and Houston to its West. This is the tremendous terminus of the East Coast Line. Why is King’s Cross called King’s Cross?

Because originally there was a huge cross there, the commemorated, the Battle of Boudicea against the Romans who died in AD 61. And it is said that she’s buried somewhere in that vicinity. The whole area didn’t used to be called King’s Cross, it used to be called Battle Bridge. But I digress! All of this will be for London, the series on London in the autumn. Let’s stick to Edinburgh for now. So to the next picture, one takes the 403 miles up to Edinburgh, 648 kilometers, and comes into this tremendous structure. Edinburgh Waverley station. I love railway stations and as with all the cities, I’m trying to avoid the obvious because the obvious you can get in guidebooks and so on. I’m trying to show you my Edinburgh as I showed you my Rome, my Cairo, my Jerusalem, my Oxford. So I’m going to go slightly off the beaten track in some of the things I’m going to show you today. Look above the station, you can see that blue bridge. This is a tremendous structure. It’s called the Great North Bridge, or for short, the North Bridge. It’s built on three huge stone legs that hold the bridge up and the bridge throws itself above the station. Waverley station itself was built in the 1850s within a loch. So the loch was drained, the natural lake was drained, the valley was then dried. What a tremendous feat of engineering the Victorians did to carry this out. After draining the loch, they then dried out the natural valley and then built Edinburgh Waverley station within. It is by area the second biggest station in the United Kingdom, after Waterloo. Not the busiest from train traffic and people traffic, but certainly the second biggest in area. It’s a terrific structure. And that North Bridge, I’ll be returning to a little later on. Okay, let’s move on. So one comes into Edinburgh Waverley.

Look at the size of that! You can get a sense of its size from the buses, bottom right hand corner. Tremendous structure. And the reason why I particularly like this picture is because it shows so much. Look at the top left-hand corner and you can just see the beginning of the Firth of Forth, that body of water. Then you can see the North Bridge, that huge bridge spanning over the railway station. And that bridge carries traffic, you can see the traffic on the bridge. So now you can understand how that station is nestled within a valley that was dried. Along the top, you see Arthur’s Seat, this tremendous natural volcanic rock which overlooks Holyrood Palace, more on that later. And then you can see the beginning of the climb in the medieval city, layer upon layer upon layer of buildings. That is the essence of Edinburgh to my mind. This arresting, dramatic, almost nonstop layering of buildings. One on top of the other, on top of the other. Certainly in the medieval town. When we get to the New Town next week, it’s much more serene, much more planned, much more laid out and, in its time, was an incredible accomplishment of urban, modern city planning in that time. To the next picture. When I leave Edinburgh train station through this beautiful waiting room.

Do you know it’s remarkable, a number of my friends have recently been up to Edinburgh, and I said, “Don’t forget the waiting room, look up, look up!” And they said, “Look up at what?” By then they’d left Edinburgh, they’d taken the train. It’s remarkable how many people actually don’t look up and see the beauty of the train station itself. Because train stations tends to be a place where you are either rushing into or rushing out of. You’re really trying to, your mind is on other things and often with families and so on. It’s remarkable how few people don’t just stop and look around at the beautiful train terminusses of the cities that we’re in, and the United Kingdom is blessed with many glorious train terminusses. This is one of them. How about that for waiting room? Fantastic. Okay, let’s now take ourselves out of Edinburgh Waverley, we’ve now arrived within the city and let’s have a look at my route out, because there are many ways to leave Edinburgh Waverley, but I took a more unusual one this time. I went out to a side entrance of Edinburgh Waverley to this rather seedy side door within a cliff within the hill of the valley. Now there’s no signage to this when you’re in Edinburgh Waverley. It all says, exit through the shopping center, exit to the Mounds, exit to Princes Street. But there is another little exit just at the side through a little door, and that takes you to a pathway into this. To the next picture, please, Lauren. And this is called Jacob’s Ladder. To the next picture. A closeup. Jacob’s ladder is 140 step staircase. Now you can see Edinburgh Waverley, the train tracks in the background. Now, I travel very light when I’m urban exploring. I just had a tiny rucksack, that’s all I needed. I wouldn’t take a suitcase up here. This is a very ancient set of steps. The steps have recently actually been revamped, but you can still see it’s quite seedy, it’s forgotten, but it’s very interesting. There are a number of theories where this idea of Jacob’s Ladder, where the name comes from. It is referring to the dream that Jacob had the night before he met Esau, we’re talking about Genesis chapter 28, verses 10 to 19, I believe.

And Jacob had this dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder going to heaven. Coming from heaven, going up to heaven. Of course there are many, many commentaries of what the significance of that dream was. But we know that at least since 1784, these steps have been known as Jacob’s Ladder. There were three theories why. One theory is that, well, these steps were built just to link the Old Town and the New Town. And it was just steps down the hill and it was an easy way of linking. The North Bridge hadn’t yet been built, spanning the hill. No bridges were spanning the hills yet of the Old Town and the New Town. So you needed a set of steps, and that’s what they were called. Jacob’s Ladder, because they were sort of steps going to the heavens. The other possible explanation is that this was the route that prisoners took to the infamous Bridewell Jail. Now no longer, I will mention Bridewell a bit later. But this was the route and as a way of comforting the poor prisoners that suffered horrific, horrific experiences in the Bridewell prison, which was said to be the worst prison in Britain. It was said that eventually they would go to heaven. Eventually, after their souls, after they had been purged of their sins in Bridewell prison. So it was a name just to give them comfort for the heaven that they would eventually go to. The third explanation is that this was a funerary prosessional route up to Calton Hill, which is where one of the cemeteries was and is in Edinburgh. And families used to carry the bodies up these 140 steps. Thus it was called Jacob’s Ladder because it took them eventually to a cemetery. And of course cemetery is where the body was buried and the soul would then rise to heaven. The fact is we don’t know why it’s called Jacob’s Ladder, but it’s a very atmospheric, and I should add, a very, very useful route up to the top of town. Let’s continue the steps up. And you can see that I walked up, carried on up the steps, not another soul in sight, away from the hustle and bustle of Waverley.

Now look at that picture there. There you can see Edinburgh Waverley, the tracks coming in. Those tracks have come all the way from Houston, those 600 kilometers, 403 miles from Houston. And you can just see the awnings of Edinburgh Waverley station there. And up again to the next picture, please, Lauren. And there you can see there I am at the top. It was quite a a nippy February day. There’s the Old Town behind me. There’s the tracks behind me. Okay, and let’s continue. So I then had to get my bike, and the reason why I took this picture is because Edinburgh is such an intimate town. Yes, it’s a capital, yet it’s also a very intimate capital and that’s partly why I love it. It’s a homely, intimate, friendly capital. Scotland is an incredibly friendly country. The Scots are very, very friendly. The one thing that so hits you when you go from England to Scotland, is that they are different countries. There’s a different set of values. Scotland is a much more of a socialist, community-based, how can I put it? People-based country where people speak to each other more than they might in London and the busier parts of England. So it’s all very homely. This is in the center of the medieval part of Edinburgh. If this was London, you’d have rows and rows and rows of bikes and credit cards and you’d pick up your bike and there’d be hundreds of bikes to pick up. Here it is, Cycle Scotland, I’d booked my bike. Let’s go to the next picture. My bike had been chained to that. I was told, well, the bike will be chained to the lamppost and what you do is, they gave me the number of the combination. I undo the bike lock, then I call a buzzer and some of them then come and meet me and they’ll connect the front wheel to the back wheel. It was all so intimate and all so delightful and charming. This is in the center of Edinburgh.

And it couldn’t have been a lovelier way to start an exploration of the city. So there I am, I’ve got my bike. And now we’re going to the next section please. Thank you Lauren. The Old Town itself, and it really hits you. To the next picture. The old town is like this. It’s amazing! It really is. It is a jumble of sloping streets. We’re talking about a town that is, in effect, on a street pattern going back to the early medieval period. This is Victoria Street, but just look at that picture. You’ve got, as I mentioned before, layer upon layer, behind and behind and behind. It’s an amazing setup! And the whole of Edinburgh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But that UNESCO World Heritage Site is divided into two. The Old Town has UNESCO World Heritage status and the New Town has its own UNESCO Heritage status. So here you have the bottom of Victoria Street. Not many people there, as you can see, we’re talking about January, February time. It’s pretty nippy and it’s a lovely quiet time of year. Personally, I would avoid Edinburgh like the plague anytime around the Edinburgh Festival. I want the city to myself. I want to see and feel it. Many people love the festival, has a completely different feel. But if I’m going for urban exploration, the time to see Edinburgh is out of festival time.

It’s to go mid-winter. Very lucky with the weather as you can see. Beautiful blue skies. And just look at that. You’ve got your ground level there. You’ve got one layer of houses, then you have another layer of houses behind, and behind that, a church spire. So we are looking at gradations of levels of this medieval city. All of these buildings, the lower buildings are medieval. That’s one, two, three, four, five, six-level buildings. Six-story building behind, is dated to about 1650. We’re looking at a old city of 17th century skyscrapers. There are people, diaries, who came to Edinburgh in the 13th, 14th, 15th century who talk about, they don’t use the word skyscrapers, but they talk about a city where they just couldn’t believe it! They couldn’t believe, number one, the height of these buildings, layer upon layer, and they couldn’t believe the sheer amount of high buildings. It’s the sort of thing that hits you when one goes to Manhattan. What has hit me time and again in Manhattan isn’t just the height of the buildings, but it’s the sheer quantity of high buildings and the sheer intensity of how close those high buildings are. Although Edinburgh’s on a different scale from the point of view of height, the principle is the same. Just look at that picture and it really gets the essence of that Old Town. Absolutely wonderful. To the next one please. And you can see the other end of Victoria Street. There it is, looking downwards to it. Again, buildings upon buildings there. To the next one please, Lauren. And looking up a very, very deserted Victoria Street. It’s an absolute beauty of a street. Again, those buildings on the left, they might look not particularly old. They are rendered on the outside. But we’re looking at buildings that are from the 1580s to the 1650s.

So these are old buildings indeed and that huge building round the back, again, older than it looks, 1600s. And then you can just see that church spire at the back, early medieval, 1326 I believe that church is. So it really is a very layered and nuanced city that takes time to get to know and to get to read. Okay, carrying on. Edinburgh city is a city of grand vistas. Let’s have a look at some of these that really get you, it’s an a arresting city. Now, if I had left Edinburgh Waverley not from Jacob’s Ladder, but if I had left from the way that most people leave, it takes you out into Princes Street. And there is Princes Street Gardens. You can see there the trees don’t have many leaves, it’s wintertime. There is the tremendous castle at the top, on the top of the volcanic rock. What you’re looking at there is the National Gallery of Scotland and just to its right, just in the right hand side of that picture, you can see the Royal Academy of Scotland. More on that a little later. In my opinion, the National Gallery of Scotland is a more handsome building than the National Gallery of England, based in Trafalgar Square. And the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland is a more handsome building than the National Portrait Gallery in London, which is nestled just behind Trafalgar Square. More on those two institutions in my series on London in the autumn. You can see the hill sweeps up and you can see the beginning of the Old Town to the left. So it really is a city of grand vistas. This valley was, again, an old loch that was drained when Waverley was drained and turned into gardens. To the next one for more vistas. We have the vista of the castle. This is looking from the New Town.

You’ve got the Roman Catholic Cathedral there to the right, the church of the Roman Catholic Cathedral there. You’ve got the castle on top of the hill, and as you can see, you’ve got the hills beyond that eventually take you to Stirling. Okay, carrying on please. The view from Calton Hill. We’re going to look at Calton Hill in detail shortly. Again, this picture’s slightly blurred because of this technical issue, but you get the idea there. The castle on top of the hill, The Scotsman Hotel there, the Scott Memorial there, which is this black, spired memorial. And you then also have, as you can see there, the Dugald Stewart Monument there on top of the hill. Edinburgh was called the Athens of the North because it was the flowering of the enlightenment. And you had lots of these neoclassical, Greek revival buildings being built between 1720 and 1818, and more on that next week. But you’re beginning to get the idea of the classical revival in Edinburgh. Okay, let’s carry on. And now, we’re looking again Arthur’s Seat, look at the layering again, look at the vistas here. The hills are never far from Edinburgh. Wherever you are in Edinburgh, at the end of a street, you see a hill, you see a mound. It’s the most arresting city. Can you also see at the very front of that photo, and you can see “yes” attached to the chimneys. This was during the referendum campaign, the Scottish referendum campaign, not the referendum campaign for Brexit or non-Brexit. This was the Scottish referendum campaign.

And of course, the people in that building were voting yes to independence. I’m going to touch upon independence a little later when we get to the Scottish Parliament. Okay, let’s continue. And you can just now see this vista again. Another view of Arthur’s Seat, wonderful. So here we are in the middle of the Scottish capital, the Highlands are beginning to beckon, they’re not really the Highlands. The Highlands don’t really start until you’re in Stirling, but you get my meaning. You really get a feel of these glorious hills around Edinburgh, and you can just see what I meant by the North Bridge. There it is, bottom left. This tremendous structure over Edinburgh Waverley coming into the city, spanning the valley. And you can see the cross of St Andrew, the saltire cross that I mentioned before on top of that flagpole proudly flying. It flies all over Edinburgh. Wonderful. Okay, carrying on. Grand Vistas. This is Calton Hill, and what you’re looking at there is the national monument. This was built, it was incomplete, it was meant to be a complete scale model of one to two ratio of the Acropolis, of the Parthenon in Athens, at the top of the Acropolis. This was the national monument built to commemorate all the Scottish soldiers that fell during the Napoleonic war. So it was built in 1816. It’s on top of Calton Hill. Calton Hill was the site of a prehistoric hill fort. There have been forts on there since prehistoric times. There was a Celtic fort, there was also an Anglo-Saxon fort and so on. And now there are many monuments up there. It is, it’s an absolutely beautiful hill that gives spectacular views over Edinburgh and way beyond Edinburgh. Let’s continue. So there’s the national monument and that is the Royal Observatory on top of the hill that looks out over.

Now, the National Scottish Observatory is no longer in Edinburgh, it’s in South Africa. You might recall that when I gave a tour of Hidden Oxford, the University of Oxford, as well, has its observatory in Oxford built, still standing there. Beautiful structure. But it’s no longer in Oxford. The actual University of Oxford Observatory is in South Africa. Better skies, better views. The same with Scotland. Scotland’s National Observatory is in South Africa. But that was the original observatory built in the neoclassical style. The whole thing was full of mirrors and telescopic devices. No longer there, but it’s a wonderful building on top of Calton Hill. To the next picture. And you can see there is a cairn. What is a cairn? A cairn is a man-made mound. It can be made out of rough stones or made out of sticks to commemorate something. We’ll come close to that shortly, but there you can see the national monument again. And you can also see the Nelson Monument, which is built in the shape of an upturned telescope. It was built to commemorate the death of Lord Nelson in October 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar. We have talked about Nelson before in my tour last summer of obscure graves around London. If you didn’t see it, I’m sure Lockdown can send that to you.

They will have recorded it. One of the graves I showed you was the grave of Lord Nelson. Nelson famously in the battle of Copenhagen when he was given orders by his superior to not engage the enemy. Nelson, who had lost his eye in the battle of St Vincent some time before, held his telescope to his blind eye and said to his captain, I see no orders, I see no orders. And he carried on fighting. Of course, he won the battle. This Nelson Monument was made in Memorial to Nelson, who would often ignore the orders of his superiors by holding his telescope to his blind eye. Because remember, orders were given via flags from the flagship in the navy. He would just ignore them. Impossible man but a national hero, and died this fantastic hero’s death at the hands of a Spanish sniper, and was buried eventually in London. The Nelson Monument in Edinburgh is the most dramatic monument in Nelson in the British Isles. There is, as I’m sure you know, Nelson stands atop of the 186 feet, 74 meter monuments are in Trafalgar Square. But this one which you can climb to the very top of which will give you the highest point in Edinburgh. This is a wonderful monument to him. Okay, let’s continue. Let’s look close up at this cairn, because there you can see, I’ll let you read for itself, it’s fantastic. So as you can see from that, erected by democracy for Scotland, 10th of April, 1998. And that is a burning issue to this day. Scottish independence. It might be on the soft burner for now with the woes of the Scottish National Party seeming to gather pace at the moment. Nevertheless, it’s a live issue within the United Kingdom. And to the next one. This cairn was brought from the top of Ben Nevis, 23rd of July, 1995. “Bi a group o vigil activists tae celebrate day twal hunder o the vigil fur a Scottish Parliament.” Isn’t that just fantastic?

You have to read it phonetically and you get the Scottish accent. Love it. And to the next picture. And there is this beautiful memorial. It’s one of many memorials, on top of Calton Hill to Dugald Stewart. He was a philosopher, he lived from 1753 I think to 1818. And Edinburgh is absolutely littered by these monuments, many of whom were designed by William Playfair. More on him next week, a great personality within Edinburgh. Okay, continuing. So look at that view, how about that for vista? You can get a sense of scale. I waited till a couple of people were there. Bottom right, you can really see the view. You’ve got the castle on the right, you’ve got Arthur’s Seat to the left and you’ve got the whole span of Edinburgh there. Okay, to the next please. So now we look at what was built as the Edinburgh Parliament. Edinburgh’s had many parliaments over the centuries. This was built as the Edinburgh Parliament in 1818, but it was never used. And then it became Edinburgh Grammar School, and now, sadly, it is derelict. It’s a handsome building just at the bottom of Calton Hill, in the neoclassical style of course. And there it sits, looking out towards Holyroodhouse. To the next one please, Lauren. And this vista, looking at the Royal Academy from the New Town, looking towards the Old Town. Those two very dainty towers of the New College, the theological college of the University of Edinburgh.

There it is. And then the spire of one of the churches on the Royal Mile, right between the two twin towers, the twin towers of the New College. Again, you can get that idea of those layers of Edinburgh. And you’ve got the Union Flag of the United Kingdom to the right of the Royal Academy and the saltire to the left. I waited a long time to take that picture so I could get these flags flying. It was a very still day and there was hardly any wind at all. So that picture took dedication. Okay, to the next one. And you can see a closeup of that beautiful building of the Royal Academy of Scotland. Behind it, you can’t quite see it, is the National Gallery of Scotland. But what a beautiful building. Okay, to the next one. And that shows the nighttime picture, I went back and took that again, it really gets that idea of Edinburgh being a series of degrees up a hill. It really works well. Okay, let’s continue, and let’s now look at Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Because Sherlock Holmes, mythical character, well not even mythical, fictional character as he is, was composed from a compilation of many characters. He was invented, as I’m sure you know, by Arthur Conan Doyle. And if we go to the next slide, you can see that Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor by training. He wasn’t that successful a doctor, he was also a pretty abysmal poet. He did try his hands at poetry and Sherlock Holmes, whom he did not particularly like, and that’s why he tried to kill Sherlock Holmes off when it went for that final story in the first book called “The Final Solution”. But of course Sherlock Holmes was so popular that Arthur Conan Doyle had to bring him back much to his absolute appalling attitude towards Holmes.

He had to bring Holmes back, he needed the money. He wasn’t a very successful doctor, so he had to bring back Sherlock Holmes. That’s the return of Sherlock Holmes. But Arthur Conen Doyle trained as a doctor in the University of Edinburgh. And it was said that the surgeon, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was the chief surgeon at the teaching hospital of the University of Edinburgh, 300-year-old training hospital for doctors in Edinburgh, one of the oldest medical universities in the country. It was said he got his inspiration from Dr. Joseph Bell. Dr. Joseph Bell had these amazing powers of observation and Joseph Bell was able to tell when somebody came into a room, what they worked at, what they suffered from, what their ailments were, what their strengths and their weaknesses were. Sherlock Holmes is a compilation of many. But this building, Harriet’s School, which is also said to be the inspiration for Harry Potter and Hogwarts, no surprise, just look at it. This Harriet’s School was used at that time for some of the classes for the medical students. And Arthur Conan Doyle went there for many of his medical lectures. Let’s have a look at the closeup, next picture, of Harriet’s School. And you can see it’s a fantastic structure, built in the 19th century, actually a bit earlier, 1750s, mid 18th century, in the Scottish Baronial style similar to Balmoral Castle, similar sort of style, you see it pop up all over Scotland. Let’s go to the next picture.

And you can see another wonderful Sherlock Holmes-related building. This is the old law school built in 1707 by Robert Adam. A beautiful neoclassical structure within the Old Town of Edinburgh. It has the figure of youth on the top of its dome. If we look at the next picture, you can see the other end of the structure, and the dome faces that building that has youth upon its top. It’s a very beautiful building. And within that building, the law school, Conan also had medical lectures within that building and got much of his inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. It’s an absolute must to go around the law school of Robert Adam. It’s a very, very beautiful building and a very worthwhile thing to explore. Edinburgh being Edinburgh, as I’ve said to you, people aren’t security conscious there as they would be in London. You can just meander into any of these buildings, you won’t be stopped, people are very friendly. You just say, I’d like to wander around the law school, away you go and you just wander in. These are very beautiful, very gracious, very august buildings, as you can see. Let’s continue. Hidden local corners of Edinburgh. My goodness, there’s so many. Let’s have a look at some of them. So the first I chose was this fantastic barbershop. There you can see it, I’m going to put my glasses on. Here we go, Woods Barbershop. Edinburgh is a very local city. So there you have a tenement building with people living above and this time warp of a barber shop. I normally do get my hair cut there when I go to Edinburgh. I go up to Edinburgh once a year on average and go to Woods. It’s a time warp of a place, as I say, and barber shops in Edinburgh are very traditional with that red and white design. I’m sure you know why. Barbers used to double up as dentists. They used to rip out the teeth of people. 'cause most people couldn’t afford dentists. So you go for a haircut and then you get your teeth pulled out as well.

And that red and white design of barbers represents the blood of the extraction and the white of the teeth. Pretty horrific stuff. Let’s go to the next picture. And you can see a place where I would breakfast every day. A fantastic fry up round the back of some of those alleyways in the back of the Old Town. This was a wonderful one. You got your whole fry up breakfast for two pounds, 55 pence. Isn’t that fantastic? It will be open from 4:30 in the morning onwards, lots of workers going in there before they went off to work. Mainly builders, electricians, plumbers, and so on. Wonderful people to speak to about where they’re heading to and what they’re doing that day in Edinburgh. Not a tourist in sight, just local Edinburghers. And I’d have wonderful conversations with them about what they were doing. And a very good fry up I should add to boot. Okay, continuing. Edinburgh is full of these hidden places. This is the Church of St. Paul’s. Now, St. Paul’s is a cathedral. There’s a number of cathedrals in Edinburgh. This is Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in Edinburgh. Let’s go in closer. And you will see a cross on a wall. Let’s go closer. And you will see a plaque, and I’m going to read it to you. “This cross, originally a crucifix, was at one time imposed upon the wall of the house, which stood immediately opposite the site of the gallows in the grassmarket used for public executions. It was the last object to be seen by the sufferers before death. Among others who were executed at that spot were many who suffered for conscience sake, not improbably some members of this congregation. It is not untrue, therefore, to describe it as a martyrs cross and not unfitting that it should find a place here. When the house was demolished, the cross was given to Robert Farquhar Shaw Stewart, whose family presented it to Old St. Paul’s.” Let’s have a look up at that cross, it does send shudders down the back. It’s steel, iron, steel and there’s the plaque again. The cross was originally a crucifix, so it would’ve had the figure of Jesus hanging on it.

Let’s have one last pitch of that, a closeup. It’s very, very old as you can see. It’s medieval, early medieval period from around 1250, I’m reliably told. And that would’ve been the last thing that countless people would’ve seen before they were executed. Sends shudders down your spine, but it’s a part of the history of old Edinburgh. That’s an example in a city as historic and as layered as Edinburgh, you come across these things everywhere! These little bits of whispers and echoes upon the past. Let’s continue please, Lauren. And now we look at another, wonderful little corner, The Scotsman Steps. Now these were built by the Scotsman newspaper as a way of going from the lower part of the town to the upper part of the town. Because the whole of the old town of Edinburgh was built, in effect, upon a hill, the volcanic hill. Let’s go into The Scotsman Steps, let’s have a look at the entrance. And now, let’s quickly work our way through these pictures. Every sheet, every step is layered with a different type of marble. Carry on through the pictures, Lauren. So you get wonderful views out, and you now look at these wonderful steps. Different types of marble through them. The marble was brought, so they came from every single main marble quarry still in existence in the world. The steps were built in the 1850s or 1870s actually. But they were re-marbled just at the turn of this millennium. Keep going through those steps please, Lauren. There you can see them, beautifully done. Marbles from every one of the main marble quarries. There’s The Scotsman Hotel and newspaper that paid for these steps to be built to serve the people of Edinburgh.

And those steps, when you get to the top, give you wonderful views. Look at that over one of the many cemeteries in Edinburgh, which we’re going to come onto very soon. Okay, hundred and four Scotsman Steps. And now the Royal Mile, the true essence of the old city of Edinburgh. I just want to say something about the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is indeed a mile long, and it is in effect a series of, how can I put it? It’s a series of streets. So it’s a series of five main streets, Abbey Strand, Canongate, High Street, Lawnmarket and Castlehill. So Abbey Strand is right at the bottom near The Abbey and near the Parliament and near the Holyrood Palace. And Castlehill is at the top near the castle. So the Royal Mile is in effect, really, it is five main streets, more or less straight, but snaking its way up. And those five streets are, in effect, the whole history of a thousand years of the medieval city of Edinburgh. I could take you and spend three hours telling you about the Royal Mile, because there is so much there. If and when you get to Edinburgh, just spend a whole day going in and out of the Royal Mile. The 141 closes, these ancient little alleyways, that go in and out of the Royal Mile, they deserve exploration, they deserve attention. It’s really a very, very stunning area of Edinburgh. Let’s have a look at it. So the Royal Mile snakes its way up. I love this picture. So there it is, going from Holyrood Palace, just out of view. The Scottish Parliament, bottom left, it goes all the way up on a constant gradient, up to the castle. What you’re looking at there is a volcanic rock up to the top of the castle. That’s the Royal Mile. And there’s Edinburgh Waverley on the right hand side. Let’s now have a look at some of the main things on the mile. So let’s go quite quickly through these. There it is, nice and quiet on a winters night, always on an upward gradient.

Look at the height of the building, just halt it there, Lauren. Look at the height of those buildings. I talked about skyscrapers, in the medieval period, these are very high buildings. It’s a most astonishing site to behold. These walls of buildings that go all the way up from the palace up to the castle, up these five streets, one after the other. Abbey Strand, Canongate, High Street, Lawnmarket, Castlehill, comprising the Royal Mile. Continuing please, Lauren. And that Royal Mile starts at the bottom, Holyrood Palace, this majestic palace. The palace is a thousand years old. What you’re looking at there is the Stuart and Georgian reincarnation of a very ancient palace. Look at the left hand side of the picture, you can see the actual original Abbey there that contains, traditionally, the Holyrood, the Holy Cross. It was meant to contain a little portion of the original cross according to Christian tradition. It was bought by St Margaret, the mother of David I of Scotland. And Margeret is buried up in St Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, and St David is said to be buried down in The Abbey there. The Holyrood Palace is the official residence of The Sovereign. And when The Queen was alive, the late Queen, she would come to Edinburgh for what was called Royal Week, the first week in August, where she would take residence in Holyrood Palace and then move on to Balmoral where she would then stay for around about six weeks.

So Royal Week starts in Scotland when The Sovereign of the United Kingdom is in residence in Edinburgh for one week a year. Let’s continue please. And we go out from Holyrood Palace. Look at that beautiful structure with The Abbey to its right, the Georgian-Jacobean structure, all along those glorious lawns. Let’s now have another look carrying onto the next picture, and the next one. And we leave the palace to the next one, and the next one. And we see the Scottish Parliament. Well, what can I tell you? It’s not my cup of tea. So you make of it as you want. I personally think. I don’t object to contemporary architecture, I don’t object to experimentation, but I just feel that the Scottish Parliament lacks any gravitas to me. It always looks permanently unfinished. But there you go. It was opened on the 12th of May, 1999. It’s 129-seat parliament. It is, remember the United Kingdom is a union formed in 1707. This is the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland parliaments or the Northern Ireland assembly, the Welsh Senate, the Scottish Parliament were established in the 1990s as part of the Devolution Act. Just to give you a sense of this. The population of the United Kingdom in 2020 census was, I believe, 67 million. Of that 67 million, England is 55.9 million, 60 million. The population of England is, in effect, 86% of the population of the United Kingdom. The other 14% are Scotland, 5.4 million. Wales, 3.1 million. Northern Ireland’s, I believe, 1.8 million. So in other words, the populations of Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are just slightly bigger, combined, than the population of London. So there is this ongoing tension between that relationship, between how many powers the Scottish Parliament should have, how many powers the London Parliament should have, the National Parliament.

There is that famed Midlothian question. The House of Commons down in Westminster is, in effect, the only parliament within the United Kingdom where the MPs of that parliament are unable to vote on matters that affect the Scottish and the Welsh and the Northern Irish assemblies. Yet, the Scottish and the Welsh and the Northern Irish members of the Westminster Parliaments can vote on English matters. There’s an innate almost unfairness in that relationship and that leads to the tension that is really exploding on a long-term basis on the relationship between the four nations of the United Kingdom. More on that on the 31st of May, when I look into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, in the series that’s going to run that week on heroes and icons. More on constitution of the United Kingdom then. Okay, let’s continue up the Royal Mile. And there is the, within the Scottish Parliament itself, I think it’s much nicer inside than out. I rather like the inside. It’s bright and it’s airy and it’s breezy, and it has a lovely atmosphere to it. But the exterior, hmm, not my cup of tea, as I say. Let’s continue and we go up the Royal Mile. There’s the castle, to the next one, please. Edinburgh Castle, and to the next. And the crown jewels, the honors of Scotland, the Stewart Crown, older than the crown that Charles was crowned in a week ago, last Saturday. He was crowned with the Imperial State Crown. This is the Stewart Crown of Scotland. This is 200 years older than the crowns of England. These are the Honors of Scotland, capital H for honors. To the next one, please.

The crown and the sceptre and the sword, and the Stone of Scone. There it is, that ancient primeval stone that all Scottish kings and English kings have been crowned on for many, many centuries. It now is back in Scotland. What was brought back for the coronation on Saturday, the 6th of May. Let’s have a look at the Stone of Scone within the coronation chair. There is the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. The coronation chair of Edward the confessor, this ancient chair. And the next picture, the Stone of Scone within the chair. Let’s continue please. So, took place within Westminster Abbey itself, the coronation, as I’m sure many of you saw. Let’s continue now. So intimate Edinburgh. Quickly going through some of these beautiful scenes. Sandy Bells a wonderful little pub that plays Edinburgh folk music every single night of the year, 365 nights of the year. It’s fantastic! Let’s go in and have a look at Sandy Bells. Into this wonderful little corner in the Old Town. All they sell is whiskey, naught else. And let’s continue again. You can just roll up there and they just play. It’s just the most fantastic place. You just squeeze in and you just enjoy it. They start every night at eight, and go through till about one. Sandy Bells, it’s a legend. Continuing, please, Lauren. Look at the man there in his vest. This man was from Leith. His family had played in Sandy Bells since his great, great, great, great grandfather. No charge, you just roll in there and there they play, sitting on these benches. There’s many such places like this in Edinburgh. Continuing again. Greyfriars Churchyard. Let’s go into the churchyard and we see the beautiful kirk in Greyfriars. Look at those trees there, winter trees, no leaves. And let’s continue again. And you can see the wonderful churchyard there. And again, please. And Greyfriars Bobby, do excuse the blurred picture. Let’s have a look at a closeup picture of Greyfriars Bobby.

There he is, the famous story of this dog after his master died in the 19th century. And the dog that never left his master’s grave, I think for seven years. And the people of Edinburgh were so moved by this loyalty that they just brought food to the dog’s side and there the dog lay for all those years until the dog himself died. And then he was buried next to his master. Let’s continue. Beautiful little bronze sculpture of Greyfriars Bobby. It is a very, very poignant little thing. And look at that, Greyfriars Bobby, may his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all, says the text. And what people do is, when they come along, it’s a bit twee, but it’s very lovely as well. They put little sticks in memory of the dog near the grave. It’s beautiful. Okay, continuing. Edinburgh’s full of intimate corners. Once a year on the anniversary of the dog’s death, the local Edinburgher children put flowers on the dog’s grave. Are the anybody who puts the flowers on the old master’s grave? It’s always on the dog’s grave. I suddenly realize that. And a man pipes the children when they place those flowers. Isn’t that beautiful? Okay, continuing. And the High Kirk of Edinburgh, St Giles’ Cathedral. Let’s have a look at St Giles’. It’s an absolute beauty. There it is, as you can see there. St Giles’ Cathedral in its splendor with a very, very rare crown steeple, as it’s called. There’s not many crown steeples in Britain.

One in, as you can see there, the High Kirk of Edinburgh in St. Giles’, one in Newcastle, and one in Linlithgow. Let’s continue please. Glorious 1460. It’s all sort of hollow, it’s a fantastic structure. They’re called High Kirks, and let’s have a closer look at St. Giles’ Cathedral. There it is, sitting atop the Royal Mile. And again, please. Beautiful. Very small cathedral, but very exquisite. Again, I’m sorry for the blurring of the pictures, but you get the idea, this powerful, simple, medieval stone primeval structure. And there it is, that beautiful blue painted roof. The original color repainted, but that was the original color of the medieval roof. Let’s continue. And the galleries of Edinburgh, there’s so many of them. Let’s have a look at a couple of them. So there it is, the National Galleries of Scotland, they’re all free. That’s the National Gallery itself. First rate gallery. The next picture, again, is a little blurred, but let’s just go in, as you can see there. That’s the National Gallery again, and to the next picture, please. And the next picture. Into the gallery, these beautiful red walls. Everyone’s picture postcard image of what a classical gallery should look like. And to the next picture. The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. Very handsome building, again, made out of sandstone brought all the way from the Orkney Isles. And to the next picture. Inside. And the next one. It’s a very lovely gallery. Okay, and now let’s just move on to the cemeteries of Edinburgh. There’s so many of them. I’m just going to go through these pictures quite quickly. Thank you, Lauren. You can see that they’re deeply atmospheric, many of them overgrown. On we go through these pictures. Family mausoleums buried within structures. And cemeteries pop up all over the place with houses behind them. Little cemeteries, big cemeteries. They are all over the place in a city as ancient as Edinburgh. Family vaults, family tombs. Stop there, Lauren.

These were put there, very rare survivors, to stop grave robbers. Because freshly buried bodies were immensely valuable and people could dig up bodies almost still warm in the ground, sell them to the surgeons for hundreds of pounds. So these huge steel cages were put over graves for the first few weeks after burial. Because obviously after a few weeks after burial, those bodies weren’t attractive to be taken out and to be sold to the surgeons to experiment on, to learn about anatomy. And then the cages will be taken and put above other fresh graves. These are very rare examples of anti-grave robber cages above graves. Okay, let’s just carry on to our final section. Day trips out. Two cities I want to show you, Haddington and Stirling. Running a little bit late, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Haddington is one of those towns that is just, was once so deeply important, but has simply dropped out of public attention. It’s a beauty of a town. So I leave Edinburgh via Craigmiller Castle, a beautiful medieval castle on the edge of Edinburgh. Out we go from Edinburgh to the next picture, and to the next one. We take the train out and we continue out and we go to Haddington, the birthplace of John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation. Let’s have a look at these pictures of Haddington. It’s as if time stood still. It’s such a beautiful town. I was the only tourist there, there was no tourist information. A sleepy little medieval town with Georgian frontages. Just keep on going through the pictures, please. There you can see. It’s this beautiful little thing.

I took the X6 bus, of which there’s only three a day there, three a day that back, to this time warp of a town, 23 miles East of Edinburgh. But it contains this, this monster of a parish church, the largest parish church in Scotland. It’s a stunning structure. Look at that. To the next one, please. You can see, you can get the idea of the peace and the quiet of the town. Carry on, please. Sandstone cathedral, glorious structure, rainbow as I left, and to the second of the day trips out to Stirling. That’s the beginning of the Highlands. Let me read you a little quotation about Stirling. As you can see there, it was described as, “A huge broach that clasps the Highlands and Lowlands together.” They’re the words of William Wallace, that is the Wallace Memorial. William Wallace dies in 1305 in Smithfield in London. He was hung, drawn and quartered, pulled apart, his four quarters sent to the four parts of the British Isles under orders of Edward I, a horrific death. But Stirling was seen as the beginning of the Highlands, the capital of the Highlands from the point of view of its glorious castle. That’s the Wallace Memorial with, again, with a crown steeple at its top. Let’s have a look at a couple of pictures of, there it is, how about that? That was this February. It really does look like that everybody. Stirling really does look like that, it’s glorious. And these quiet streets in Stirling. To the next one, please. Again, out of season, not another tourist in sight. Quite, quite magical. And to the last couple of pictures, the cemetery in Stirling containing pyramids, and strange glass containers of statues. And out to Stirling Station, back into Edinburgh itself. Where coming into Edinburgh Castle at dusk, Edinburgh at sunset. And next week is the New Town. And I just want to show you two pictures to introduce you next week before I take questions. One is of this amazing man, William Craig, who built the New Town with his plans next to him for the town. More on him next time. And the final picture gives you a real sense of the New Town because there you have the verdant greenery of the botanical gardens and the higgledy piggledy of the Old Town. Lots on that next week. Now I’m going to go back full screen to me to take pictures. Thank you all very much.

Q&A and Comments:

So looking through and happy Mother’s Day back to everybody. Thank you Merna.

Q: Ah, Shelly, you have stolen my thunder. Would you compare Edinburgh with Bath medieval architecture in all parts?

A: Let me save that, Shelly, for next week. Because… Yes and no. I would not compare Edinburgh with Bath because Bath is purely the New Town with the Roman Bath and the new Georgian town. I am going to touch upon exactly what you have raised next week because I’m going to talk about Georgian and Regency Edinburgh. But I’m going to start off by talking about Georgian and Regency Bath, Brighton and London. So Shelly, back to you next week. I think I’ll answer your question then.

Shelly, yes, the spacious grid streets are in the new parts and lots on that next week, Shelly, don’t you worry. Yes, indeed, way out rather than exit Merna in the station. Really glad that you enjoyed the photos, I hope they do capture the essence.

Q: Vivian, how come there are so many windows in the old city Victoria Street?

A: Simply because Edinburgh is naturally a dark city. Daylight hours are very short. When I go up to Edinburgh, I normally go to Edinburgh in January, February time. It doesn’t get fully light until round about nine o'clock in the morning, fully light. And by 3:30 it is dusk. So therefore, windows are even more important in cities like Edinburgh. So the buildings are made with large windows.

Delighted, Carly, that you now want to take your seniors group to Edinburgh. Fantastic, that’s what I want to hear.

Q: Why was the National Monument left unfinished?

A: Money ran out, the old story.

Karen, I live a hundred miles Southwest of Edinburgh in a beautiful little town called, yes, I know the town. It’s on the Solway Coast, I have been there indeed. Delighted you enjoyed it Karen, and I hope you enjoy next week too. You live in a wonderful place, Karen, I’m rather envious.

Carol-Anne, my mother was born in Sutherland, South Africa where the observatory is today. There you go, thank you Carol-Anne? I am vindicated. Yes, good, I’m delighted, Vivian. So it’s going to be the music school, so does that imply it’s almost not derelict, so it is being converted, is that the case Vivian?

Yes, Bernard, it could do with with a good cleaning. That said, I do rather like the faded elegance of a lot of buildings in Edinburgh. I don’t want them to be all spruced up and looking like Disneyland. I do rather like, I think that’s part of the intimacy of Edinburgh, that it is a beautifully lived-in city. But I do agree that London in the 70s when I look back at pictures there, yeah, give me London today more than London in the 70s. So Glasgow, I would love to do a lecture on Glasgow, Judith, Glasgow is a magnificent city too.

Q: What offenses were people have being sent to the gallows for?

A: Pick pocketing. I think there were, if memory served me correctly, there were were 128 hanging offenses in Scotland in the early 19th century.

Oh there are many buses and coach doors around Edinburgh for people who can’t walk, absolutely Carly. And there we see one of our other people on lockdown has given you some advice there. And very interested to read about Leith. Yes, indeed.

My goodness, Judith, so Nathaniel was from Edinburgh, his grandfather was from Leith, his uncle was a boxing promoter, my words! I bet he met all types, my goodness. Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing that, Judith.

Q: Are you sporting a particular plaid?

A: Ha glad you commented on that, no I’m not. It’s made by New & Lingwood, which is a wonderful shop in London, look them up, they got a great website, New & Lingwood. They were based in Eton and in Central London, and I thought I had to wear it. How could I not wear this on a night where I’m talking about Edinburgh. Who designed the outside of the parliament, was convinced they were Hebrew letters. I have no idea. Yes, you can indeed, I’ve taken the tour around the Scottish Parliament as well, it was a very good tour actually. The Scottish influence in Old Montreal could be seen in some of the buildings. Yes, more on that next week when I talk about the Scottish Enlightenment.

Lorna, this opens up my eyes to the merits of Edinburgh, though, when living in that Lowlands as a youngster, I was too put off by the winter temperatures. I can well understand. Do go back, Lorna, do go back. What is the history and the meaning of the Stone of Scone, maybe I’ll do a lecture on the Stone of Scone alone. Well, there were some traditions that claim it was the stone that Jacob leant his head on when he had the dream in Luz, Bethel, the Biblical Bethel. But there have been tests done on on it and the stone does not come from the Holy Land. The stone comes from the Lowlands of Scotland. But it was where all Scottish kings were crowned on until David I. Then the English in their persecution of the Scots, confiscated that most holiest and revered of stones and they took it to Westminster. So it was taken out of spite as a final humiliation to the Scots by the English, that we will take your most holy and coveted piece. And that’s where it stayed in London, until 1997. I think it was 97, maybe 95, when the English returned it to Scotland on condition that it’ll be returned for all subsequent coronations.

Yes, Rita, I agree with you. I have loved Scotland since childhood too and my mother indeed was from Glasgow. So Scotland is in my blood and I’m proud of it.

Q: When did the Jews settle in Scotland?

A: I do not know the date when they settled in Scotland. I don’t know that.

Mary, thank you very much for your kind comments there.

And as you quite rightly say Rochelle, contact the Edinburgh Scottish tourist agencies, there’s lots that they give.

Yes, I call them Edinburghers, Rod.

Thank you all for your thanks. And I think I’ll have to call off here. We’ll meet again next week on Edinburgh part two, the gorgeous and elegant and sophisticated New Town. Thank you all. Bye-bye.