There have been quite a few important women of Edinburgh over the centuries and not enough of them have received the recognition they deserve. Just notice the hundreds of sculptures and statues around the city. Only about half a dozen of them are female, and most of those are queens. However, many notable female figures in history deserve their own statue, or at least to have their story heard, and the Real Mary King’s Close is doing just that for Women’s History Month.
The Real Mary King’s Close
The Real Mary King’s Close is one of my favorite tours in Edinburgh, along with the Scottish food tour. It’s not often you have a preserved town under the modern city, which isn’t actually underground. I won’t spoil the tour, but in summary, the tops of several rows of buildings were removed over two centuries ago and the Royal Exchange was built on the remaining structures. This effectively preserved the streets, accommodations, stables, and shops beneath.
The tours always provide incredible information about many of the key historical figures of Edinburgh. However, for the month of March, in honor of Women’s History Month, there are several tours each day that solely focus on the prominent women of Edinburgh, the primary of which is Mary King herself, after whom the close was named. In fact, nearly half the homes on Mary King’s Close were registered under women, which was extremely unusual back then, even for Edinburgh.
This special tour is aptly called A Herstory Tour and takes place every March. There are several other special tours available at the Real Mary King’s Close throughout the year. But even if you don’t do one of the unique tours (like the tour with a whisky tasting at the end), the normal tour should definitely be on your itinerary when visiting Edinburgh.
Other Important Women of Edinburgh
The Real Mary King’s Close tour highlights several other important women in Edinburgh not necessarily connected to the close. One key figure was Sophia Jex-Blake, the English physician who led a campaign at Edinburgh University which paved the way for women to train as doctors. She was herself the first practicing female doctor in Scotland.
There are plenty of other locations where you can find out about important women, including the National Museum, the Museum of Edinburgh, and of course Surgeons’ Hall museum, which shows much of the work from Sophia and other female physicians over the years.
Digging into Edinburgh’s History
Edinburgh is such a fascinating city to discover the history of. The Real Mary King’s Close is just one of many attractions in well-preserved locations around the city. Other centuries-old buildings include Gladstone’s Land (originally recorded in 1501), Rosslyn Chapel (mid-1400s), The Georgian House (18th century), and the South Bridge vaults (1788), not to mention Holyrood Palace (earliest structure from 1525) and Edinburgh Castle (earliest structure circa 1130). In other words, it takes more than a day or two to explore the city.
If I were to choose the best five activities, I would always put Mary King’s Close as number one, the Scottish food tour as a close second, and the Mercat ghost tours, Holyrood Palace, and Rosslyn Chapel to finish the list.
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