This is the most utterly mysterious place to which I have ever been. Gilmerton Cove is a hand-carved series of underground passages and chambers. It seems to be a place that has been lost and found and lost and found again. There are so many stories about it, that I fear I have them all mixed up. One man who lived there in the late 18th century claims to have carved it himself in 5 years, but it's simply too big to have been carved by one person in that period of time. Also, the marks on the wall indicate a sharp instrument and not a chisel, which also indicate an earlier date. Additionally there are tunnels that have been back-filled. Why would someone go to all this work and then completely back-fill large portions of it? The back-filled tunnels have not been able to be opened up as yet, but a team from the University of Edinburgh has come with radar equipment, and the findings indicate that it is three times as large as what is currently accessible.
There are rumored associations with The Covenanters, witches, smugglers, gamblers, Masons, Templars and more! There are also similar sites that were used by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. The two pictures below show masonic symbols carved into the limestone near the basin.
In the 1800s, this place was a famous attraction among the wealthy, but it seems to have been forgotten about. Less than 20 years ago some building was going to take place near this spot, which would have demolished it. Some locals did still know about this place, and they petitioned to have it protected. It was allowed protection, and it is now open to the pubic - only since 2003, I think.
Recently, scholar Julian Spalding spent time studying Gilmerton Cove and believes it dates back to the iron age and that it was carved by druids as a temple and later filled in so as not to be defiled. Spalding and Euan MacKie recently published a paper in the Scottish Archaeological Journal regarding this.
It could be that the 18th century resident stumbled across this, removed the rubble and claimed to have carved it. Above is another image of the "punch bowl," a receptacle that could have been used for baptism (Covenanters) or sacred rites (witches, Templars, druids, etc.). The "table" is in a horn shape, surrounded by carved benches, and this room as well as the others has a womb-like feel to it. Below is a stone bed, complete with pillow.
Hard hats were required for the descent, and I'm glad they were, as I kept feeling mine bang against the ceiling. You can see evidence of this on the hats.
Below is a survey of the cove (that word potentially having come for "Covenanter" or "coven" or not). Here you can see 3 back-filled tunnels that head off into the unknown - perhaps Rosslyn Chapel, perhaps Craigmillar Castle, perhaps the Hellfire Club, perhaps elsewhere.
There is a lot of mystery here, and there is some push to get it classified as a World Heritage Site, in which case a visit would be very different. Today I was able to walk around freely and touch everything. Such a classification would protect the site, but it would also mean it would become like Stonehenge, where you can no longer walk among the stones, or Chichen Itza, where you can no longer walk up the steps of El Castillo Pyramid.
My day was book-ended by mysterious places - Gilmerton Cove in the morning and Real Mary King's Close at night. In the middle I visited The National Museum of Scotland. I thought that on this trip I'd have time to really explore this place. I had two hours today (because they close at 5pm - what's up with that?!), and it felt like just a couple of minutes!
I started by going straight to the rooftop terrace. It was such a beautifully sunny day again today, which was wonderful!
There is such a diversity of displays.
I can't help but wonder how women coped with this fashion back in the day. They certainly would not have been able to go up or down the narrow spiral staircases. I almost wonder if a man came up with this fashion in order to keep women on one floor only.
Below is a picture of Dolly the sheep, the only mammal to be cloned from an adult cell (1996).
I can't visit here without going to the discoverer's area to visit once again mathematician John Napier.
Below is the first pocket calculator - invented by Napier - and promoted over 100 years later by Sir Isaac Newton as an aid to calculation. You can easily multiple and divide with them. You can also extract roots, but I need to read more of Napier's works to figure out how to do that with these!
The cube above is the same size as a standard gaming die, which really demonstrates the small size of these.
This year I was in the museum at 4:00 pm and knew enough to hang out in this spot to see the Millennium Clock do its thing on the hour. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew to expect something. The show below goes on for about four and a half minutes (and parts are a bit on the PG side). This clock was the work of 5 artists and was completed in 1999.
I'll close this section on the museum with a look at the grand gallery.
I had time for a snack before my Real Mary King's Close tour . . .
. . . and the delights in this window had been catching my eye for days!
Double chocolate with vanilla ice-cream for me!
Real Mary King's Close is a close ("close" - like "nearby" not like "shut") that is underground, so to speak, but did not used to be. Closes, in Edinburgh, are narrow alleys off of the Royal Mile. This close had 10-story-tall tenements on either side. In the 1700s the Royal Exchange was built, and the tenants of these buildings were evicted, and the buildings were demolished above a certain level. The houses that remained below were used as the foundation for the new building. All that was below was shut off to the public for a long time, and legends grew of hauntings and murders. It is considered to be one of the most haunted places in Scotland, with tales of ghost sightings going back to 1685.
A visit here is a walk through the history of Edinburgh - famous names - living conditions - times of plague. One house we went into had a bedroom that is said to be haunted by Annie, a child who was apparently abandoned by her parents in time of plague. A medium visited in 1992 and felt such a sense of sadness in the room that she felt she had to leave. As she was leaving, she felt a tug on her pant leg and saw a small child who told her her parents had left her and that her doll was gone. The medium immediately went out and bought the first doll she could find (a tartan Barbie), and when she came back with it she sensed peace in the room. Today there is a huge pile of stuffed dolls (including Minions and Sponge Bob Square Pants) because visitors often bring a doll for Annie.
We couldn't take pictures because this site is below a government building, but I've included pictures below of other closes I've seen today.
No comments:
Post a Comment