8.10 → 11.10: Edinburgh

Back in Edinburgh I continued to explore the city. Thursday was a bit more relaxed as I recuperated from the tour.

Friday was a big old day. I was well and truly on the case of Alexander Scott! Feeling a bit like the guy who hosts Who Am I? I set off to the National Archives of Scotland. Mum had mentioned that there were certain records held at these archives that could hold important clues as to the identity of Alexander Scott. These can only be accessed in person, by prior arrangement. So, armed with some background information and a list of records mum had ordered in, I set off to the records office to be in the door at 9.00. In order to access the records, one has to first obtain a reader’s ticket, requiring a passport, two passport photos and a bank statement. I was ushered into the head archivist’s office to be greeted by a friendly middle-aged woman. She knew all about me and within 15 minutes I had my laminated ticket and a bunch of documentation, ready to enter the reading room to start going through the records. It really was fascinating. Most of the records dated from the late 1700’s/early 1800’s from an estate called Lochaber. These included rental certificates, financial records, inventories of the renters and other miscellaneous documents. There were seven wads of documents in total, all on decrepit old paper, tied together with twine. I really did feel honoured to be able to handle such old documents spanning a very turbulent era of Scottish history. The most thrilling though was the last wad of documents, containing some dating as far back as the 1500’s!! These were written on leather and I felt a bit naughty being able to unfold these stiff texts and peek inside! While I was more-or-less able to read the handwriting of the 17-1800’s documents, that in the ancient documents was completely illegible to me – it may as well have been in hieroglyphs. What a privilege though. Unfortunately I didn’t see any mention of Scott, however I selected lots of documents to have copies made which had reference to Glenturrett – the farm where it is thought Scott worked. So, there may be useful information to come out of this… we’ll see.

Door to Historical Search Room 

Central area of records office

That weekend, I continued to walk around Edniburgh, visiting places my mum recommended.

On the Saturday I went right down to the other end of the Royal Mile, where Hollyrood Castle and the Scottish houses of parliament sit. I had a brief look around the houses of parliament and one of the things that struck me was the use of Gaelic language – all the text was bilingual. As Scotland is gradually becoming more and more independent of England, issues such as language are increasingly coming to the political fore. There is a big push for Scottish Gaelic, still spoken by some 60,000 people, to receive the same level of recognition as Welsh, as an official language of the UK. Seems reasonable enough to me.

The front of Parliament

Inside

From another angle

In the afternoon I went for a wander around the Salisbury Crags, where the famous Arthur’s Seat is located. Arthur’s Seat is at the pinnacle of the highest point in the area and I had initially thought I would wander up there. Upon seeing the huge swarm of tourists, I decided to find some geocaches which took me to less visited peaks in the area. I still got fabulous views without the need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a mob of tourists, an experience best avoided if possible in my opinion.

View back over the city - Castle to the left and Hollyrood to the right

Arthur's seat with swarm of tourists atop

Crags 

Parliament left and Hollyrood right

I wandered back to town via the university and Greyfriars Kirkyard, home to Greyfriar’s Bobby. Very cute.

The grave 

A relative??

Nearby statue

That evening I went to a performance by a bloke known as Freeland Barbour, a well-known accordion player and poet. He was launching a new book called Music and the Land, a collection of sheet music, photography and poetry from around Scotland. Looked like an excellent book. The first half of the evening was a selection of music and poetry from the book and the second half was a cèilidh, full of lively music and dancing. The poetry was great. Some of it was read as half-half Gaelic-English and with the reader’s strong Scottish accent, it was hard to discern between the two.

The cèilidh

On Sunday I went to an exhibition about Georgian photography which outlined the developments, both technologically and artistically, that occurred during that period. I wandered back through the city, past the home of Sir Walter Scott – another potential relative – to a café restaurant called Hendersons. Being prominently labelled as 100% vegan, it’s not the sort of place I’d usually frequent, however this was apparently my mum’s favourite place for lunch and since it’s still there, I had to go. Indeed, the potato and leek soup was really tasty!

I also dropped by the Edinburgh Castle for a closer look 

As far as one can go for free - entrance costs £16.50 (!)

View out from entrance

Scott's home

In the afternoon I wandered over to Carlton Hill for a look. This hill is sometimes referred to the Athens of Scotland as it has several Athenian looking structures atop it. The views were great. I had an early night that evening as I had to be away quite early in the morning.

Carlton Hill