The Real Mary King's Close

There’s plenty to enjoy – some of it gruesome, all of it gripping – on a one hour guided tour of this historic close off the Royal Mile. The tours are led by costumed characters, and the experience has achieved enough renown to earn a five-star historic attraction rating from the Scottish Tourist Board. 

#It does a great job of delving into the real lives of the tenants who lived here over the centuries, using historical records to bring to life some of its characters such as a household maid, a poet and a ‘foul clenger’, whose job it was to clean the houses of plague victims. 

Mary King herself, who lends her name to the close, lived here in the 17th century and was a merchant burgess who sold cloth to keep her family supported. It transpires, however, that she also had a liking for fine wines and expensive ceramics, proving that, as is so often the case in Edinburgh, there's more to the past than meets the eye.