The Canongate

An absolutely corker of a late autumn/early winter's day. The sun was out, it was quite mild and loads of people were out and about enjoying walking up the Canongait and Royal Mile.

Here is the light outside the Canons' Gait pub.

King David I founded a monastery at Holyrood (just down the road, by the Abbey) in 1128 and the road followed by canons (to protect Edinburgh) as they moved between the monastery and the walls of Edinburgh further up the hill became the Canons' Way or Canons' Gait.

For many centuries the area known as Canongate remained a separate burgh, outside Edinburgh's city walls. This made it a much more spacious and desirable place to live for the great and the good of the city: though at times it could also make it a dangerous place to live. The area was sacked repeatedly, most comprehensively by Richard II in 1380.

This history is remembered in the name of The Canons' Gait. The building housing the pub is located on the site of Plainstanes Close, so called because it was paved like Canongate itself. In the 1500s Mary Queen of Scots' French tailor, Jaques de Soulis lived here.

Anyway, there is a lot of history going on there ...

I hope everyone has had a good Sunday, getting closer to Christmas.