The Royal Mile, running between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Abbey, must be Edinburgh’s busiest street and one of its best-known landmarks.  Filled with bustling shops, small eateries and historic buildings, visitors to the city cannot help but find their way here. 

Beneath the busy street lies a maze of underground “closes”, the most famous of which is St Mary’s.  However, amongst the everyday bustle, often overlooked, are a number of other historic buildings with an intriguing past.

The Witches’ Well is situated at the entrance to the Castle esplanade on the wall of the Tartan Weaving Mill.  A cast iron wall fountain now marks the spot where over 300 women were burned at the stake.  Accused as witches, many of these women had previously been subjected to horrific torture before finally being condemned to die in the fires.

Enter the World of Illusion in the Outlook Tower for a large display of holograms and optical illusions.  This is also home to the Camera Obscura which has been displaying panoramic views of Edinburgh for over 150 years.

Look out for the cannonball embedded in the west gable of Cannonball House at the top of the Castle Wynd steps.

And watch your step to spot the Heart of Midlothian, a  heart-shaped mosaic set into the cobbles of Parliament Square to mark the site of the Old Tollbooth Prison. Many a heart would pound as they entered here, one of Scotland’s places of public execution, and legend has it that criminals would spit here as they passed, a tradition still retained to this day by some locals.

In 1861 a building on the Royal Mile collapsed, killing all but one of the people inside.  The survivor, a young boy named Joseph McIvor, shouted out of the rubble to his rescuers “Heave Awa Lads, I’m no deid yet”.  The replacement building was subsequently called the Heave Awa Hoose in remembrance of the event, illustrated by a carving of Joseph McIvor’s head.

One of the oldest houses in Edinburgh stands on the Royal Mile.  Moubray House has served as both a tavern and a bookshop, also home to the author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe.

Canongate Kirkyard (or churchyard) is the final resting place of some of the city’s most prominent inhabitants including Clarissa, the famous mistress of Robert Burns and the Scottish poet Robert Fergusson.

World’s End Close is aptly named for the many that lived, trapped between the City Walls, unable to pay the toll to enter the city.

Legend tells us that on February 9th 1567 Queen Mary of Scots and her court were making their way up Toddrick’s Wynd, following a visit to Mary’s estranged husband Lord Darnley at Kirk o’ Feld, when they passed the Earl of Bothwell, making his way down the alley on his way to assassinate Darnley.  Although it seems unlikely that the queen was aware of the assignation plot, her husband was indeed murdered the very next day, followed a few months later by her marriage to Bothwell.