History walk & underground tour

I took a 90 minute group history tour of old town. This one was focused on the vaults the run under the city. The guide had many great stories and I learned new lessons about Edinburgh.

The vaults under south bridge had tragedy and misery from the start. The poorest people living in the vaults had a life expectancy of only 3 months after moving in. For safety, the city closed the vaults and eliminated all records of their existence in the late 1700’s. See first & second photo.

In 1980, a college student discovered a hidden entrance to the vaults on the back wall of his student flat. See photos 3 &4. Later, it was discovered that the king (don’t remember his name as there were many) used this same flat as a secret hiding room in the city. This included stories about the king hunting for witches and homosexual activity.

Another story was about a war between 2 of the Kings council advisers (different king). The battle was between 200 men in a street only 4 feet wide.

Another story is about how a 14 story tenement bldg collapsed, and a 14 year old boy was rescued from underneath after 3 days.Read more