Beneath the Royal Mile and the City Chambers lies a number of closes, narrow streets packed with tenement buildings, originally seven stories high. In 1753 the council decided to build the Royal Exchange (the City Chambers), knocking down the top houses and using the lower buildings as the foundations.
Mary King's Close was once the shopping street in Edinburgh with many goods available. Mary King herself ran a market stall selling fine lace amongst other things. There was also a saw maker's business that did very well, running for 150 years. There was even an urban cow shed, where cows were stored (in terrible conditions) before being taken to Fleshmarket Close to be slaughtered. You can stand in it today. It still smells of cow shit
The close was permanently swimming in human waste. Twice a day people would empty their buckets full of shit, piss, vomit and food waste, directly onto their doorsteps with no more warning for those below than a quick "Garde loo!" (from the French 'garde al'eau'). You had to be quick to yell ''Haud yer han!'' and avoid it. All the muck would then trickle slowly down the close into the Nor' Loch.
The upper and middle classes lived on the higher floors, away from the smell and the filth. The poorer folk had to pretty much live in it. They generally couldn't afford shoes either, so would walk about in it barefoot.
Some of the ceilings in the closes are made from plague victims.
They were very into recycling then, and would burn the bodies of the victims to ash, and mix it with horse hair and god knows what else, and use it to make ceilings with.
The famous story goes that when the Old Town became infested with black rats from ships down at Leith Docks, and the Black Plague spread throughout the city, the council attempted to contain it by blocking up all the entrances to Mary King's close, trapping some of the plague victims inside for good.
It's not true. Plague victims were actually very well cared for. Their homes were marked by a white flag outside the door or window, so everyone would know to keep away. Uninfected families would leave donations of food and other goods at their doors (though they had to be careful as it was illegal to come within 12 feet of a plague victim - penalty of death!), so that the infected families wouldn't have to come outside for anything, and pass the infection on. The council also provided supplies for this same reason.
The plague doctor would be sent in.
Families who were able to be moved were taken up to the Burgh Muir.
For those who survived, their homes were disinfected and cleaned by special teams of people.
It was actually another hundred years before the Royal Exchange was built on top.
In the years since, the close had been reopened because of overcrowding in the Old Town, and many sightings of ghosts were reported, mostly disembodied men and headless animals.
Most of Mary King's Close is still intact. It runs from the High Street, and before Cockburn Street was built it ran all the way to Market Street.
The close was opened to the public in 2003.
Now you can take guided tours through the dark, dank streets, find out about life from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Maybe you'll even meet Annie...
