Not to Mention Greyfriars' Kirkyard, A Long Dead Dog and the Elephant House Café
05-July-2021
First steps in Edinburgh: Parking and Dining
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| Scotland |
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| Edinburgh |
Edinburgh is 250 miles from Swynnerton, a long but relatively easy journey once beyond Manchester where the M6 becomes less crowded.
We checked in to our hotel but there was no room in the inn for our car. The receptionist directed us to a cavernous NCP car
park nearby where overnight packing was a snip at £35.
Walking back to the hotel, the view of Edinburgh castle reminded us of how well the hotel was situated - and if you want to stay
in the centre of a crowded city, you have to suffer the parking costs.
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| The roof of the car park - and Edinburgh Castle |
Once settled in Scotland we set off for Italy, or at least the facsimile generated by the Italian staff at Piccolino, a restaurant
which, in the spirit of Covid, we had booked the previous week.
The three Piccolino restaurants in Scotland are related, but their websites differ markedly from those of the larger English Piccolino chain.
The food was excellent, the pasta freshly made, the flavours authentically
Italian. A curious ingredient called Evoo, appeared in many dishes but I detected
nothing unexpected in my flavourful Orecchiette Salsiccia &
Friarelli. I looked it up later: Evoo, I discovered, is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, hardly
unexpected, but I have never before seen it listed as an ‘ingredient’.
The smallish portions allowed us to try the desserts. The Tiramisu was as expected, the Canollo Siciliano, a Sicilian biscuit cone, filled with sweet ricotta cheese and chocolate chip, was a more interesting blend of flavours and textures. Grappa did not appear on the menu, but our hopeful request produced a slug of rustic liquor which did the job nicely.
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| Tiramasu, Piccolino, Edinurgh |
06-July-2021
Edinburgh Castle
In the morning, like any Edinburgh newbies we set off, timed ticket in hand (Covid kills spontaneity), to see the castle.
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| Edinburgh Castle and Castle Rock from the Grassmarket |
We walked down to the Grassmarket and ascended Castle Wynd, a passage involving three substantial flights of stairs.
The formidable Castle Rock has been occupied since the Iron Age. A royal castle was built in the reign of David
I (1124-53) and it remained the king's residence until 1633. Since then, it has principally
been a barracks. The once large garrison is now much smaller and its
duties purely ceremonial.
The entrance from the top of Castle Wynd is across flatter ground.
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| Approaching the gatehouse, Edinburgh Castle |
The castle has seen conflict, notably in the 14th century Wars of Independence and 1745 Jacobite rising. Recent research has identified
a remarkable 26 sieges in the last 1,100-years. Few were successful.
Working our way up and round we passed through the Portcullis Gate…
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| Portcullis gate, Edinburgh Castle |
…and paused to admire the rather misty view of Calton Hill. To the left is the new W Hotel, although not yet open it
has proved controversial and been dubbed ‘The Golden Turd’. How this was ever
designed, let alone approved is beyond me.
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| Calton Hill from Edinburgh Castle |
The homely Governor’s House emphasised how unlike a medieval castle this is.
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| The Governor's House, Edinburgh Castle |
In 1567 the catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate by the protestant nobility who installed a
regent for her infant son James VI (later James I and VI of England and Scotland).
Mary escaped to England leaving behind an intermittent civil war. By 1571 only Edinburgh
Castle remained for Mary.
The resulting stand-off - the ‘Lang Siege’ - lasted two years. Fearing the defenders would receive help from France the King's party appealed to Elizabeth I of England for assistance.
In April 1573 1,000 English troops arrived with 27 cannons. That is why few of
the castle’s buildings predate 1573.
Crown Square
Through Foog’s Gate…
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| Foog's Gate, Edinburgh Castle |
…we entered Crown Square. The three doors off the square were set up to control socially distanced queues,
but we were almost on our own, tourist pioneers in the (I hope) declining days of Covid.
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| Crown Square, Edinburgh Castle |
One door was to the Scottish National War Memorial. No photos allow, but it contains many very
similar neo-classical memorials to different regiments and campaigns.
Behind the middle door are the Scottish Crown Jewels. Locked away in a chest after the Act of
Union in 1707 they were rediscovered in 1818. The crown (made 1540) is fairly
plain (as crowns go) and since 1818 has been worn only by George IV (in 1822) and
the current queen. The sceptre and sword were gifts to James IV from the Pope.
Scottish monarchs were crowned on the Stone of Scone until it was stolen by Edward I in 1296 and placed in Westminster Abbey, thereafter all English and subsequently British monarchs
were crowned on it. In 1996 it was returned to Edinburgh and
now sits among the crown jewels. It is, in reality, an undistinguished slab of
stone and if, as some claim, it is not the ‘original’ how could anyone know.
The third door opens onto the Great Hall. Probably completed in the early 16th century. It has a display of arms, …
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| Great Hall, Edinburgh Castle |
… one of only two surviving
hammer-beam roofs in Scotland….
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| The hammer-beam roof, Great Hall, Edinburgh Castle |
…and a painting of Sergeant Charles Ewart of the Royal North British Dragoons capturing the eagle of Napoleon’s 45th Regiment at Waterloo.
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| Sgt Charles Ewart in action |
The nearby Half Moon battery was part of the reconstruction after 1573. It seems one cannon is trained on the Golden Turd. Sadly, I did not know how to fire it.
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| I would pull the trigger, if it had one |
St Margaret’s chapel is one of the castle’s few genuinely old survivors. It was built around 1130 and named for the saintly Margaret of Wessex, an English princess and the Queen Consort of Malcolm III.
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| Inside St Margaret's Chapel |
All that remained to be
seen in the castle was a huge cannon of Belgian origin known as Mons Meg…
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| Mons Meg |
…and the re-created
quarters of the prisoners of war, mainly French sailors from the Seven Years War
and Americans from the War of Independence. The youngest prisoner was a 5-year-old-drummer
boy captured at Trafalgar. They were kept in the vaults below Crown Square. Pirates
were also accommodated, but unlike the prisoners of war they usually ended up
on the gallows. The reconstructions are probably faithful, but they are undoubtedly
far more fragrant than the originals.
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| Reconstructed prisoner of war quarters, Edinburgh Castle |
Ensign Charles Ewart, the hero of Waterloo (he was given a commission before her retired) died aged 77 in 1846 in Salford. His grave was paved over and
lost but rediscovered in the 1930s when he was reburied by the castle esplanade.
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| The grave of Charles Ewart |
The Grassmarket: A Brief Introduction
We returned to The Grassmarket for a bite of lunch. The Grassmarket will feature in the next post, here I will merely say that it
has a chequered past, but is now a quarter of bars and restaurants.
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| The Grassmarket, Edinburgh |
The sky was heavy, with occasional bouts of drizzle so we took shelter in Maggie Dickson’s. They brought us falafel, haloumi fries and Gunn and Innis IPA with commendable alacrity – well, they had no other customers to look after.
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| The Grassmarket from inside Maggie Dickson's |
Afterwards, as we headed towards the National Museum, I looked at the dark, threatening sky and the dark stone buildings flecked with
drizzle and wondered for a moment if I had ever seen a more depressing city.
Then I turned to look at the street on my left. West Bow, lined with 19th
century buildings, rises and turns, inviting you to walk up it. It could only
be in Edinburgh and even in the rain it was an inviting prospect.
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| West Bow, Edinburgh |
Greyfriars Kirkyard
But we resisted and crossed the road to Greyfriars Kirkyard.
A group of Dutch Franciscan Friars (Greyfriars) were granted land just outside the
burgh in the mid-15th century. After the Scottish Reformation,
the Friary’s redundant grounds became a cemetery and Greyfriars Kirk was
constructed at the top end of the cemetery between 1602 and 1620.
At the bottom of the sloping graveyard, we stepped over gravel washed down by floods two days earlier.
Wikipedia’s list of notables buried here is long, but few names ring many bells. An exception, at least for a retired maths teacher, is
Colin MacLaurin (1698 – 1746) whose eponymous theorem remains embedded in A
level Mathematics.
JK Rowling and Greyfriars Kirkyard
Harry Potter was born (in a literary sense) on a train between Manchester and London, but he was brought up in JK Rowling’s adopted
home city of Edinburgh. The author borrowed several names from Greyfriars
Kirkyard; Lord Voldemort’s real name was Tom Riddle and directions to the grave
of Thomas Riddell (sic) are widely available. The original was a man of decent
obscurity and probably not the personification of evil.
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| The Grave of Thomas Riddell - not really Voldemort - on the Flodden Wall |
Riddell’s memorial is attached to the Flodden Wall, which cuts the graveyard in half. It was built after James IV’s disastrous incursion into England in 1513. He died, with much of the Scottish nobility, at the Battle of Flodden in Northumberland and the wall was an added protection against an expected retaliatory invasion (which never happened).
Professor Minerva McGonagall shares her name from one of the few graveyard residents I have heard of. William McGonagall won renown as
Scotland’s worst ever poet…
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| William McGonagall, Greyfriar's Kirkyard |
written 1880, The Tay Bridge Disaster begins
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry
Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time
Enough!
Greyfriars Bobby
The best-known resident of the graveyard is not human, Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier. After his owner died in 1858 the dog kept a vigil at his graveside until his own death 14 years later. This demonstrates the
heart-warming loyalty of man’s best friend - or is perhaps an example of dogs’ pathetic neediness, a self-respecting cat would have raised its tail and stalked away.
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| The grave of Greyfriars Bobby |
The story was, of course, good publicity, but was it true? Some account for Bobby’s longevity by claiming the original Bobby died and was replaced by an identical Skye Terrier. In Greyfriars Bobby, the Most
Faithful Dog in the World Jan Bonderson points out that
the story is far from unique and there are 60 documented cases of graveyard
dogs in 19th century Europe. He suggests they were fed by visitors (and those promoting the
story) and so made the graveyards their home. I am a sceptic, not a cynic, and Bonderson’s account makes sense to me.
The graveyard map states there is a statue of 'Bobby' nearby, but we could not find it.
Greyfriars Kirk
The exterior of the kirk, a Church of Scotland Parish church, is not particularly remarkable - my lame excuse for lacking a
photograph.
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| But here is Greyfriars after the 1845 fire (Public Domain) |
The Scottish National Covenant was signed here in 1638. It aimed to promote the Presbyterian Church, and establish the primacy of its leaders in Scottish religious affairs.The political consequences were long and complicated, involving Scotland in what, south of the border, is parochially know as the English Civil War. After periods of persecution the Covenanters achieved their aims only after the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 brought William and Mary to the English and Scottish thrones.
The Presbyterian Church remains the established Church of Scotland., though the 2019 Scottish Household Survey, reported the
proportion of adults not belonging to any religion to be 56%.
The interior is plain, the seating set out to accommodate Covid social-distancing.
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| Inside Greyfriars kirk |
A fire in 1845 damaged the structure and gutted the interior. The minister, Robert Lee, used the opportunity to loosen up dour
Presbyterianism and the restored church boasted the first stained glass in a
Scottish church since the reformation.
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| Stained glass, Greyfriars Church |
He also installed a harmonium and so re-introduced music into services. Greyfriars' organ has been upgraded many times since, the current rather
splendid beast was built by Peter Collins of Melton
Mowbray in 1989. Not being musical, I judge church organs on their looks, and this is a good ‘un.
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| The organ, Greyfriars Kirk |
The Scottish National Museum
The National Museum is a short step from Greyfriars in Chambers Street - a capital city sort of street.
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| Chambers Street, Edinburgh |
Like any well funded national museum there
is much to see, and much to walk past because no one can see everything.
The exhibits are well chosen to trace the history and
development of Scotland and even look into the future.
Below are three exhibits that took my fancy.
The Lewis Chessmen
A group of 78 12th century chessmen were found on Lewis in 1831. Carved from walrus ivory and probably made in Trondheim there is
not a complete set among them, but the quality of the craftsmanship and the contemplative
nature of chess fit uneasily with our view of their wild and violent times. Most of
the chessmen are in the British Museum, only 11 are in Scotland, which feels wrong to me.
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| The Lewis Chessmen, National Museum of Scotland |
The Claymore
Wild, violent men of later generations favoured the Claymore. Although two-handed swords were by no means unique to Scotland, the
claymore is a design peculiar to the Highlands. This example is early 16th
century, the hilt made in Scotland, the blade imported from Germany.
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| 16th century Claymore, National Museum of Scotland |
The Galloway Hoard
Buried around 900 CE and discovered by a metal detectorist in 2014 this is the Viking equivalent of the Saxon Staffordshire Hoard discovered a few years earlier. The Galloway Hoard contain far less
gold, but many more intact articles. Some of them were in a fabric covered pot
whose origins were somewhere round the Caspian Sea.
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| A cross with a silver 'rope' from the Galloway Hoard |
Fun with Google Maps, The Greyfriars' Bobby Statue and The Elephant House Café
Leaving the museum, we searched again for the Greyfriars Bobby statue. After an abortive stroll up and down George IV Bridge Road,
Lynne produced her phone and appealed to Google maps. It wanted to send us back
where we had been.
Believing, a least for a moment, in the all-knowing power of technology we stepped forward uncertainly before suddenly realising we had
walked past it twice. The small statue had been hiding behind an ever-changing
knot of people gathered at a corner. The work of William Brodie, it was
originally a drinking fountain (humans above, dogs below) and has stood here
since 1873. Bobby's highly polished nose proves how irresistible it has been to
many thousands of hands.
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| Greyfriars Bobby, corner of Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge Road |
Further technological shenanigans attended our visit to the Elephant House Café, scarcely more than 50m away. We walked down Candlemaker Row, turned into
Merchant Street and found a blank wall where the map said the café should be.
After exchanging quizzical (and mildly irritated) glances a metaphorical scratch
of the head provided the solution. The map was 2D, but Edinburgh is a 3D city.
The Elephant House was several metres above us, on the George IV Bridge which
crosses Merchant Street at that very point. Perhaps we should have checked the address
as well as the map.
Rain was beginning to spatter as we arrived, but we were in quickly - Covid restrictions required customers to hover in the doorway
until shown to a table. The small horde of rain-avoiders close on our heels
were less fortunate and many were turned away.
So why visit this cafe, was it just for the chocolate sprinkle elephant atop our cappuccinos? Every true Harry Potter fan (our
grandson, if not us) knows that much of the first two books was written in the back room of the Elephant
Café. Covid restrictions meant we could not wander at
will, so the back room with its view of Edinburgh Castle remained unseen - but
as least we are out of the rain.
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| The Elephant House Café. Is this the diet that created Harry Potter? |
JK Rowling is not the cafe's only literary connection. Alexander McCall Smith also visits occasionally as does Ian Rankin. I can
imagine Precious Ramotswe dropping in for a beverage should she ever come to
visit her creator, but I doubt Inspector Rebus would tolerate such gentility.
There is a limit to how long a cappuccino and slice of carrot cake allows you to occupy a café table - eventually we had to make our
way out into the rain.
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| Leaving the Elephant House in the rain |
An Edinburgh Soaking
During the 15-minute walk from the café through Greyfriars Kirkyard and the Grassmarket to our hotel the rain became steadily heavier.
My ‘showerproof’ jacket (in a fit of optimism it was the only rainwear I had
brought) proved totally inadequate. Lynne was wet, I was soaked to the skin long
before we arrived. The illogical remedy is to remove wet clothing, step in the
shower and get properly wet.
Reluctant to venture out again on such a night, we settled for the hotel bar. The limited menu provided something reasonably palatable, the house white was cheap if regrettable, but they had a long list of malts, so we checked out a couple. We also watched the first Euros semi-final. It will be interesting watching England’s semi tomorrow in a Scottish bar, but surely, we had just seen the two best teams in the competition
Part 1 Edinburgh (1): The Castle and National Museum
Part 2 Edinburgh (2): The Royal Yacht and the Royal Mile
Part 3 Moray (1) Forres
Part 4 Moray (2) Elgin and Craigellachie
Part 5 Fort George and Brodie Castle
Part 6 Lanark, New and Old
