Origins
Life on a 17th-century close
A close is a narrow alley between the tenements of Edinburgh's Old Town, running downhill from the Royal Mile. Mary King's Close was one of dozens, and by the 1630s it was packed: merchants at the top, the poor at the bottom, everyone sharing the same steep, unlit steps. Mary King herself, a widowed fabric merchant, owned property here.
A timeline
Key moments on the Close
1635 — Mary King is listed as a burgess. 1645 — the plague reaches the Close. 1753 — the Royal Exchange is built over the streets. 1902 — the last resident, Andrew Chesney, is bought out. 2003 — the Close opens to the public.
1645
The plague year
The last great plague to hit Edinburgh killed perhaps a fifth of the city. The sick were confined to their homes with a white flag at the window; the plague doctor, in his beaked mask stuffed with herbs, visited with a lance to burst the buboes. The legend that the Close was walled up with victims inside is not true — but the fear was real, and it is still down there.
Andrew Chesney, the last man living in the Close, was bought out in 1902 for £400. His workshop is on the tour.
The site
Streets with a building for a roof
When the Royal Exchange — today's City Chambers — was built in 1753, the architects used the lower storeys of the old tenements as foundations. So the tour is not a cellar: it is the original street level, with house fronts, doorways and stairs, under a ceiling that is somebody else's floor.
On the tour
Four closes, one hour
The route links several closes that once ran parallel down the slope.
Mary King's Close
The main street — the merchant's house, the plague rooms, the well.
Stewart's and Pearson's closes
The poorer neighbours, with workshops and the notorious cowshed.
Allan's Close
The last stretch, and Andrew Chesney's saw-maker's workshop.
With your ticket
What you actually see with your ticket
The Signature Guided Tour is one hour underground with a character guide, through the preserved streets and rooms. Audio guides are available in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Dutch, Portuguese and Polish. The Closes & Coffee and Above & Beyond tours add The Lost Close, a second alley sealed for nearly 200 years.
