Mary King's Close: History and Tours in the Heart of Edinburgh

Mary King's Close is a narrow 17th-century street now hidden beneath the buildings of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. A tour here lets you literally step down into the past of the Scottish capital and see how its residents lived several centuries ago.

The history of the close

In Edinburgh, closes are the narrow alleys that run down from the Royal Mile. This one is named after Mary King, a well-to-do cloth merchant who lived here in the 1630s. At that time the close was an ordinary residential and trading street lined with tall tenements.

In 1753 work began on the Royal Exchange, today's Edinburgh City Chambers, over the upper part of the close. The upper floors of the houses were demolished and the lower ones became the foundations of the new building. That is how the street ended up underground and survived almost unchanged.

Legends and ghosts

Many stories are connected with the close. The best known is that of a little girl called Annie: in 1992 a Japanese psychic said she had sensed the presence of a child who had lost her doll. Since then visitors have brought toys to "Annie's room". Historians consider the popular legend that residents were walled up in the close during the plague of 1645 to be a myth.

How to visit

Mary King's Close can only be visited on a guided tour: guides in period costume lead groups through the underground rooms and tell stories about the lives of the townspeople. The entrance is on the Royal Mile opposite St Giles' Cathedral. It is best to book tickets in advance, especially in summer and during the August festivals.