Day 25 - Edinburgh: Mary King’s Close

Oh the things you learn on tours:  today we toured the Real Mary King’s Close (alley) which was the residence of a prominent lady in the 1600’s - lady, not man.  The lavatory custom was to dump all human remains out the window into the street. But first you shouted “Guardy loo.” If someone beneath understood or was coherent, they would say “hold thy hand” giving them a few seconds to clear the way. An incoherent person would look up and and say “whaaaat???”  and then get dumped on. Hence the term “shitfaced.”

Also, we learned that poor people lived on the top floors because heat rises and those were the hottest floors. Also, poor people lived on the bottom floors where there were nasty smells and no sunlight or ventilation. But middle type people lived in the middle floors, hence the term middle class. (Rich people had their own house and didn’t live with others.)

The close now sits under government buildings so we were not allowed to take pictures; but I snuck one of the Close on the way out of the tour.

We also learned that it took 3 tries to behead Mary Queen of Scots. She spent one night in Mary King’s Close years before she was killed, so they felt they had to tell the story. From the web: The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe.

Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared "God save the Queen." At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair.