My older brother and I 12 days in your beautiful city in May of 2023. I found the close network that is above ground very intriguing and very useful. I really want to someday return. What a beautiful country you have. I loved the video. It provided a much better understanding of the history and purpose of the close network.
I lived in Edinburgh from the late 1970s until about 1990. I had a friend who worked for Edinburgh City Council’s Estates Department and it was she who told me about this close underneath the City Chambers. This was long before it became an official attraction. I went down there twice equipped with a reliable torch because only the rooms off the main close had no illumination. Now of course it’s a major tourist attraction.
Yes, me too. I went down with a small group and it was very atmospheric. In the 1980s you could also go to Roslyn Chapel and it would be deserted and you could have the place to yourself.
I was living and working in Edinburgh from 1975- 78 and was told about St Mary's close, and how you couid contact the council and arrange a visit. I always regret not getting around to doing so. It's all tourist- ified now.
Thank you, Robert! I visited Scotland in 2014 in search of my ancestors, who date back to King Malcolm Canmore & good Queen Margaret and I absolutely loved it -- I actually toured Mary King's Close twice because I found it so interesting. But the tour guides and printed info (as good as they were) were not able to convey certain things, so I greatly appreciated your insights as well. Thanks for taking me (us) back there! Kudos to you as well, that you were able to prove your worth as a TH-camr and proud Scotsman so thoroughly that they allowed you to film down there.
Definitely something to put on the must see list. Through Lucy's Lens focuses on English museums and historical sites that reproduce ordinary people's lived history. I recommend her channel to those who enjoyed this episode. These sites mean a lot more to me than palaces.
Thank you for the tour, lad, it was fascinating! Thank you to mary kings close organization as well, for creating such great visuals & letting the filming be done... ;-)
Incredible that all this was able to be preserved and the history of it is able to live on. What hard times that must have been and can’t imagine the suffering. Excellent video Robert, really enjoyed it. ❤❤
@annebell.....I was poked really firmly in the side of my waist by invisible fingers. I'll never ever forget the feeling of it, and there was definitely nobody behind me.
I used to work above the Close. It's entrance was in what was then The City Architect's Dept within the City Chambers. A room at the top of the Close was used to store old records, and apart from some junk the rooms were empty. It is now tarted up like a creepy Disney version of itself. However, it is worth a visit.
How fascinating! I have to say, it really revives my hope for humanity, seeing that pile of toys for Annie. Just goes to show people do care when they know they're needed.
Thanks Robert. I found this so very interesting. I can't begin to imagine what the streets were Lik to walk through when the townspeople where emptying their chamber pots out the windows... Much less the odor. . ... We were taught about the Black plague in elementary school.. it would have been a horrible time to be alive that's for sure. Please keep up the awesome work I love to hear you tell your tales. Wishing you and yours a very very Merry Christmas 🎄🎁❤
Went there 5 or 6 years ago with my friend, enjoyed it so much, I took my mom there earlier this year, and she also loved it. Enjoyed seeing this video as a reminder of what we learned!
'You never know what's buried underneath all this history'. Yes, I do! Time Team taught me.... MORE HISTORY!! No religion but lots of death, just up my close! Lovely video as usual...
Thank you so so much Robert for this amazing tour/history of underground streets in Edinburgh 😲👍 💯 It must've stank fae the high heavens back then, poor folks😢 I'd heard the story of Annie, poor wee mite 😢 That plague man 😱 (I've a fear of going underground) so thank you for sharing this 🤗 Have a wonderful day Robert and family ❤
Great video, I found it fascinating. The noise's from outside Mary King close, at the beginning of the tour, certainly helped to create the atmosphere.😊
Thanks for the lovely Edinburgh content 💚 Mary King's Close is a fantastic tour experience, well preserved historical old street whether you believe in ghosts or not
This is where I’ve always wanted to go in Edinburgh 🎉Excellent tour! With all the close quarters and lack of efficient sewers, isn’t this where the expression “Raining cats and dogs” came from due to flooding? And the grim children’s game Ring around the rosey🐦⬛👻 Thanks for your hard work! 🇺🇸SC
Wow! This was a great presentation! I had no idea (being from the US and never having had the pleasure of visiting Scotland, except in dreams, of course) that any of this existed! Thank you for sharing! I dearly love the "creepy histories" and this one was quite fascinating! Thanks again!
Thanks once again, Robert, this was fascinating. Until this video, I never thought of surviving the plague as a punishment. Now back to work, oh who am I kidding, I will just find another distraction. No, I didn't get that report written, but ask me about Mary Kings Close.
Visited the close yesterday, amazing place! Didn't get to see the air raid shelter room. Was a great place. Luckily flew back before the storm set in, back home in South Dorset now.
We were in Edinburgh in 2017 and went to The Real Mary King's Close. The place is very interesting and atmospheric. I don't know about now, but in 2017 you went in in tour groups lead by a very hokey tour guide, which we could have done without.
We were so happy to visit Edinburgh this summer. We didn't get to see the Close, we had caught the modern plague in Glasgow and were still quite tired out (although not contagious!) by the time we made it to Edinburgh. We did see the Tattoo, and had a dinner in Queen Ann's Hall beforehand. We spent a full day in the National, and could happily spend another week there! So many things we just didn't have time to see... but we ate great food and saw so many wonderful things and met fantastically nice people ❤ Hopefully we'll get back again soon! Could you possibly find out about Sargeant Thomas Lowry of Canongate? 1470 - 1558. My 17th Great grandfather! I know about the End of the World and Canongate, but how would one become a Sargeant of it? Was it like Police or Deputies or was it an actual military position?
I’ve been and done Mary kings close 4 times at different times of the year. It’s a fascinating place to visit, it should be on everyone list when visiting Edinburgh. Also the vaults and the graveyard tours shouldn’t be missed either
Fabulous experience, haunting thought. To think they were just shit away and build on top of Up and up. Talk buried and forgotten about. The faint smells still linger. Nor loch as we now know it as the beautiful garden's on princess street x
Once again, an extremely fascinating look back! Edinburgh seems to have a lot of mystery! ❤ Maybe, this was the inspiration behind Rowling's Digon Alley (spelling)!! Was wondering, any good history in Wigtown? Understand it to be the beginning of Christianity! 😮 Can you expand? 😊❤❤ Merry Christmas to you and your family 🎄🎅
Not the beginning of christianity as such - that was in Israel, approx 2000 yrs ago, but Wigtown was one of the first areas of Scotland that early christian missionaries came to from England and beyond. A lot came over from Ireland too, to the West coast of Scotland and inward from there. Including the famous St. Columba.
There is the old main streets underneath Seattle Wa. dating back to the early 1800's, turned into a museum now. I've never been there but my Granddaughter and her girlfriend went last summer and said it was really cool.
I love the plauge doctors costume iv got one of the beaked masks imagine walking about Edinburgh back then seeing them beaked guys walking about .....they think the plauge even started in Edinburgh around these times as it was the most populated place in Europe
Hello Mr. Story Teller. Inquiring minds wish to know if there was a descendent of the Hoof GP in the Byre ??? Were there 17th century hoof trimmers ??? (that was supposed to be a funny !!)
My older brother and I 12 days in your beautiful city in May of 2023. I found the close network that is above ground very intriguing and very useful. I really want to someday return. What a beautiful country you have. I loved the video. It provided a much better understanding of the history and purpose of the close network.
I lived in Edinburgh from the late 1970s until about 1990. I had a friend who worked for Edinburgh City Council’s Estates Department and it was she who told me about this close underneath the City Chambers. This was long before it became an official attraction. I went down there twice equipped with a reliable torch because only the rooms off the main close had no illumination. Now of course it’s a major tourist attraction.
Yes, me too. I went down with a small group and it was very atmospheric. In the 1980s you could also go to Roslyn Chapel and it would be deserted and you could have the place to yourself.
I was living and working in Edinburgh from 1975- 78 and was told about St Mary's close, and how you couid contact the council and arrange a visit. I always regret not getting around to doing so. It's all tourist- ified now.
@@pingupenguin2474 I’m afraid that so much of Edinburgh especially the old town has become a theme park.
Thank you, Robert! I visited Scotland in 2014 in search of my ancestors, who date back to King Malcolm Canmore & good Queen Margaret and I absolutely loved it -- I actually toured Mary King's Close twice because I found it so interesting. But the tour guides and printed info (as good as they were) were not able to convey certain things, so I greatly appreciated your insights as well. Thanks for taking me (us) back there! Kudos to you as well, that you were able to prove your worth as a TH-camr and proud Scotsman so thoroughly that they allowed you to film down there.
Definitely something to put on the must see list. Through Lucy's Lens focuses on English museums and historical sites that reproduce ordinary people's lived history. I recommend her channel to those who enjoyed this episode. These sites mean a lot more to me than palaces.
I like palaces, too, but I want to see the palaces' bones. The architecture, the foundations, the ancient kitchens...
I love her channel!!!
Thank you for the tour, lad, it was fascinating! Thank you to mary kings close organization as well, for creating such great visuals & letting the filming be done... ;-)
Well worth doing the.full tour 😃
What an excellent episode! Thanks, Robert!
Incredible that all this was able to be preserved and the history of it is able to live on. What hard times that must have been and can’t imagine the suffering. Excellent video Robert, really enjoyed it. ❤❤
Excellent episode. Brought back memories. Done the tour and yes, left a little dolly for Annie. It was fantastic to see again. Many thanks 🙏💛💯💯💯💛🙏
@annebell.....I was poked really firmly in the side of my waist by invisible fingers. I'll never ever forget the feeling of it, and there was definitely nobody behind me.
This is great history. Thank you Robert, enjoyed it very much!
I used to work above the Close. It's entrance was in what was then The City Architect's Dept within the City Chambers. A room at the top of the Close was used to store old records, and apart from some junk the rooms were empty. It is now tarted up like a creepy Disney version of itself. However, it is worth a visit.
Very Cool Scotland Unplugged, 👍😎🏴/🇺🇸 !
How fascinating!
I have to say, it really revives my hope for humanity, seeing that pile of toys for Annie. Just goes to show people do care when they know they're needed.
It always good to see a new Scotland Unplugged video has been uploaded.
Thanks Robert. I found this so very interesting. I can't begin to imagine what the streets were Lik to walk through when the townspeople where emptying their chamber pots out the windows... Much less the odor. . ... We were taught about the Black plague in elementary school.. it would have been a horrible time to be alive that's for sure.
Please keep up the awesome work I love to hear you tell your tales.
Wishing you and yours a very very Merry Christmas 🎄🎁❤
As always, this was an amazing video. Love your content. ❤
Absolutely fantastic to see inside, such an amazing place and so well presented by yourself. Thank you ❤
Thanks Robert! Makes me appreciate our 21st Century lifestyle even more. You did a wonderful job describing wjo and what is down there.
Wonderful tour! Thanks so much!
Family time? Nice. Slainte agus bliadna m'hath ur!
Fascinating! Thanks Robert!
Thank you for showing this--I was always interested in Mary King's Close, but I'd never never go underground!
Fascinating! I'm Edinburgh born and bred and am ashamed to say i've never visited the close...I really must!
Amazing, spooky and fascinating - thank you Robert! 💝
That was amazing, thank you Robert.
Went there 5 or 6 years ago with my friend, enjoyed it so much, I took my mom there earlier this year, and she also loved it. Enjoyed seeing this video as a reminder of what we learned!
Oh Robert, I want to visit so badly !!! Thank you.
Thanks Robert❣️ just sitting down to watch - been to Edinburgh and know of these streets but never went down- can’t wait to see it🏴✌🏼
'You never know what's buried underneath all this history'.
Yes, I do! Time Team taught me....
MORE HISTORY!!
No religion but lots of death, just up my close!
Lovely video as usual...
Looking forward to this one ! Heard about this but never saw any of it .
Thank you so so much Robert for this amazing tour/history of underground streets in Edinburgh 😲👍 💯 It must've stank fae the high heavens back then, poor folks😢 I'd heard the story of Annie, poor wee mite 😢 That plague man 😱
(I've a fear of going underground) so thank you for sharing this 🤗 Have a wonderful day Robert and family ❤
Love your content, Robert. Many thanks for sharing.
This has to be one of the best videos you ever did. Mightily interesting even though I knew a lot about the black death part.
I'm sooooooo glad you posted another video! I've watched ALL your other videos and was anxious for you to post a new video! Thank you!!
Fantastic tour! Don't know if I will ever make it to Scotland. This would definitely be on my list sights to see. Thank you for taking us along! 🎩💖✨
Awesome video...great look into the past...❤
Great video, I found it fascinating.
The noise's from outside Mary King close, at the beginning of the tour, certainly helped to create the atmosphere.😊
Thanks for the lovely Edinburgh content 💚 Mary King's Close is a fantastic tour experience, well preserved historical old street whether you believe in ghosts or not
The facilities in the middle of the room 😂 this would be an exciting tour. So many things under the city with much history. Fascinating
Thank you so much for this vid post man- lekker Sunday afternoon watching here in S A🇿🇦
So cool!!! I love the stories about the people that once lived there. Excellent video!
Thank you great video really interesting ...love social history....adding it to my bucket list of places to see once I move back home next year.
This is where I’ve always wanted to go in Edinburgh 🎉Excellent tour! With all the close quarters and lack of efficient sewers, isn’t this where the expression “Raining cats and dogs” came from due to flooding? And the grim children’s game Ring around the rosey🐦⬛👻
Thanks for your hard work! 🇺🇸SC
wellworth a visit
Wow! This was a great presentation! I had no idea (being from the US and never having had the pleasure of visiting Scotland, except in dreams, of course) that any of this existed! Thank you for sharing! I dearly love the "creepy histories" and this one was quite fascinating! Thanks again!
Thanks once again, Robert, this was fascinating. Until this video, I never thought of surviving the plague as a punishment. Now back to work, oh who am I kidding, I will just find another distraction. No, I didn't get that report written, but ask me about Mary Kings Close.
It's a feeling I know well 😆
Thank you Robert, that was wonderful as well as educational! K.
Great video. Amazing how people lived centuries ago.
This was great! I love what they've done with the place!
I just went with my partner to see Mary Kings Close yesterday.. great wee tour.
I enjoyed seeing the close it’s well worth going. Another excellent unplugged adventure told .
Thanks, Auntie Loreen :-)
Excellent venue 🤠
Thanks
Thanks for showing this interesting history. I thoroughly enjoyed it
Thanks, that was great. I had heard about it, but had never seen anything but a very dark, very short video about it.
Incredible experience, thanks from 🇨🇦
Any word on whether the offerings eased the distress of Annie's spirit? I hope she was pleased w/ all those great toys that she has been given...❤
Glad you're back in the saddle, Robert! I'm planning a far-in-the-future trip to Scotland with my dad, with Edinburgh and Wigtown high on the list!
Both highly recommended 🙂
Excellent, Thankyou ✌️
That was something quite awesome .... thanks
A great video Robbie didn’t know that you could go and see the secret street.
You can take an hour long tour, with much more info than I could manage in a video 🙂
Amazing place definitely worth a visit.
This was an excellent tour. Actually, I would do it again!
Visited the close yesterday, amazing place! Didn't get to see the air raid shelter room. Was a great place. Luckily flew back before the storm set in, back home in South Dorset now.
Thank you, sir. 🍁
I really enjoy your channel.
I visited Mary King's Close in 2016 and thought it was really interesting. The plague doctors' costumes were wild!
Might be my favorite video so far!
We were in Edinburgh in 2017 and went to The Real Mary King's Close. The place is very interesting and atmospheric. I don't know about now, but in 2017 you went in in tour groups lead by a very hokey tour guide, which we could have done without.
I'd love to see this!
Wow, how it’s changed for the better. It was fairly dark when I took the tour. Plus I don’t think they had all of the models. Thank you Robert.
We were so happy to visit Edinburgh this summer. We didn't get to see the Close, we had caught the modern plague in Glasgow and were still quite tired out (although not contagious!) by the time we made it to Edinburgh. We did see the Tattoo, and had a dinner in Queen Ann's Hall beforehand. We spent a full day in the National, and could happily spend another week there! So many things we just didn't have time to see... but we ate great food and saw so many wonderful things and met fantastically nice people ❤
Hopefully we'll get back again soon!
Could you possibly find out about Sargeant Thomas Lowry of Canongate? 1470 - 1558. My 17th Great grandfather! I know about the End of the World and Canongate, but how would one become a Sargeant of it? Was it like Police or Deputies or was it an actual military position?
Fascinating. There are things like this under the area around DC
Proof there’s lots of stuff buried
?As in Washington DC? There are medieval underground streets in Washington DC?
I did the tour, definitely recommend it!
Me too. No beating the in-person experience. 🙂
Thank you, that was so interesting
Wow! Very cool!
Thank you for the history.
will add this to our Edinburgh "to do" list!
Visited it many years ago. They added more and opened more up. Need to revisit
I've never gone in although I have thought of it I'm much more intrigued now so thanks for that
I’ve been and done Mary kings close 4 times at different times of the year. It’s a fascinating place to visit, it should be on everyone list when visiting Edinburgh. Also the vaults and the graveyard tours shouldn’t be missed either
I just went there I loved it! I'm going again!
This is something a lot of travel shows don't mention. Thanks for sharing this adventure !!! Watch out for the Wee Free Men !!!! 😂😂 🇺🇲 / 🏴
Fabulous experience, haunting thought. To think they were just shit away and build on top of
Up and up. Talk buried and forgotten about. The faint smells still linger. Nor loch as we now know it as the beautiful garden's on princess street x
Wow, that is to cool
I've torn down enough lath and plaster in Missouri it makes me want to blow my nose and cough!! 😊
Haha. Yeah, it makes a mess when it comes down!
Great video.
Once again, an extremely fascinating look back! Edinburgh seems to have a lot of mystery! ❤ Maybe, this was the inspiration behind Rowling's Digon Alley (spelling)!! Was wondering, any good history in Wigtown? Understand it to be the beginning of Christianity! 😮 Can you expand? 😊❤❤ Merry Christmas to you and your family 🎄🎅
There's a video on the Wigtown Martyrs from May last year. 😄 Merry Christmas when it comes!
Not the beginning of christianity as such - that was in Israel, approx 2000 yrs ago, but Wigtown was one of the first areas of Scotland that early christian missionaries came to from England and beyond. A lot came over from Ireland too, to the West coast of Scotland and inward from there. Including the famous St. Columba.
There is the old main streets underneath Seattle Wa. dating back to the early 1800's, turned into a museum now. I've never been there but my Granddaughter and her girlfriend went last summer and said it was really cool.
Very interesting.
Thanks Robert.
Love watching the March on the Royal Mile.. pipers piping, drummers drumming, and soldiers with Bayonet bearing, M16 rifles all marching in precision.
Very interesting place, but also kinda..... creepy! ❤️ from Michigan USA
Must admit it didn't feel that way when I was in there. Too much to see! 🙂
This has changed so much since I was there back in 1997. There was nothing down there other than empty rooms.
Intriguing.
Gilmerton close, is my next adventure x
Cool.
Never been doon 😵
Due to no filming policy it’s good to see at last
Thanks
I love the plauge doctors costume iv got one of the beaked masks imagine walking about Edinburgh back then seeing them beaked guys walking about .....they think the plauge even started in Edinburgh around these times as it was the most populated place in Europe
Excellent video! Would you mind doing a video on how the Scottish accent came to be?!? And why it differs from the English speaking accent!
Haha. I'm not even sure how MY accent came to be. I've been accused of faking it. 🤣 Definitely one for a future video!
I was there its amazing
Hello Mr. Story Teller. Inquiring minds wish to know if there was a descendent of the Hoof GP in the Byre ???
Were there 17th century hoof trimmers ??? (that was supposed to be a funny !!)
Haha. No hoof timing required back then. It didn't really take off until the latter half of the 20th century, with concrete floors. 🙂
The gardens that everyone loves to sit in, have picnics and relax... if you knew what it was to begin with.. it would give you the fear...