The Old Closes of Edinburgh's Royal Mile [22:26]

YouTube ^ | July 12, 2025 | Ed Explores Scotland

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Eddy Burns -- Walks in Scotland, with a little Scottish history, some rambling, and a few Scottish pies. 

The Old Closes of Edinburgh's Royal Mile | 22:26 
Ed Explores Scotland | 15.5K subscribers | 5,897 views | July 12, 2025

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: edexploresscotland; edinburgh; godsgravesglyphs; history; scotland; scotlandyet; travel

[SunkenCiv]

Old closes run off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh like ribs on the spine of a huge skeletal beast, all the way from the castle downhill to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

There's plenty of them. They are essentially narrow passageways, barely wider than your shoulders, lined with tall tenements, often leading from one street to another, or from a street to a court, but always with access to the lining tenements.

Most take their name from a person who once lived in a tenement in the close. Others take their name from a business or industry that once existed in the close, like Bakehouse Close, named from a bakery, or Tanners Close (not on the Royal Mile, I know), named from tanners who used to work there. Others have names that speak for themselves, like Stinking Close, harking back to those smelly days when human waste was simply chucked out of house windows with cries of 'Gardeyloo!'

Over the centuries the name of the close can change as people and industries come and go. Mary King's Close, for example - now a visitor attraction called The Real Mary King's Close - has had a number of different names over the years, like Towris Close and Brown's Close, all from previous occupants.

While many of these old closes still exist practically intact, so too have many more or less vanished. In some cases all you have is a close name on a wall of a modern building, or above the entrance to a shop that is clearly not a close. In other cases it's just the close mouth that exists, and a wander through the entrance swiftly brings you to modern developments.

But there is one close that has been partially preserved more or less intact. A close whose history goes back to the 16th century. A close that was built over in the 18th century and sealed. A perfectly-preserved time capsule.

For one cannot talk of closes on Edinburgh's Royal Mile without mentioning Mary King's Close, now a visitor attraction called The Real Mary King's Close. For in this subterranean street and warren of rooms and ancient passageways, one will gain an insight into the lives of the hundreds of men, women and children who once lived, worked and died right here.

In addition to Mary King's Close, we also look in a little depth at Whitehorse Close, Bakehouse Close and Lady Stairs Close.

[Good thing he put in all this text, I'm pretty sure YouTube's transcript will not work out for this fine gentleman.]

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[Red Badger]

People were smaller back then..............

[SunkenCiv]

Not in Rome they weren’t. /rimshot

[mass55th]

I did Mary King’s Close in 2006 when I was in Edinburgh.

[Robert A Cook PE]

While in Edinburgh, we walked up and down the Mile, but did not go through those Closes that were Open.

A few closes were actually closed, but our time was limited since the regional tour bus got locked in the Queen’s traffic jam. (Not to be confused with her society tea and crumpets that afternoon. )

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds like fun!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Supremely iconic!
Those very fancily dressed and coiffed and hatted and gloved women coming from the Queen’s Tea were walking back from that elegant party towards the historic center, we in the tour busses were seated in the bus looking upon all we surveyed trying to get to the same place - which was mainly stuck traffic.

The coiffed ones were getting to their way faster.

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T’was in Edinburgh that we found that “neighborhood pubs” near our B&B townhouse were really “really local pubs” - Not tourist oriented. Oh, very true, we were served and drinked. But distinctly felt “out-of-place” from the locals they preferred attending.
That feeling didn’t occur in the other British towns across London, Portsmouth, Wales and such

[Albion Wilde]

Here's a view of many of the buldings and closes along the Royal Mile:

Military Pipes & Drums march down Edinburgh's Royal Mile

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Blueway]

When we were in Edinburgh in the ‘90s, we stayed at the Jurys Inn on Jeffrey street.
Discovered that Chalmers Close ran right next to the hotel, so we could walk back and forth to High St. easily.
There was a little tea room on the close, Forsyth’s, that we stopped in several times.
Lovely old place, tiny and cozy.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s nice that all of this didn’t get bulldozed for concrete and glass monstrosities.