none shall pass

One of those little Edinburgh factoids which makes the rounds every now and then is the one about Edinburgh having the largest number of railing-impalings. The details are always lacking; greatest number of impalings per capita per annum, per metre of railings or per head of student population? Apparently however many there are are a mix of the Alan Partridge-style trying-to-climb-over foot-punctures and the classic falling-off-a-wall whilst trying to climb into a window to visit a friend or perpetrate a burglary.

It has the flavour of an urban myth although a significant number of Edinburgh railings are intact; many elsewhere had their top-spikes harvested during the war and were never restored. Oddly it was mostly the cheaper and less ornate railings which suffered although these more substantial railings in the New Town would have made for a more efficient crop.