Скачать или смотреть The Old Closes of Edinburgh's Royal Mile

Old closes run off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh like ribs on the spine of a huge skeletal beast, all the way from the castle downhill to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

There's plenty of them. They are essentially narrow passageways, barely wider than your shoulders, lined with tall tenements, often leading from one street to another, or from a street to a court, but always with access to the lining tenements.

Most take their name from a person who once lived in a tenement in the close. Others take their name from a business or industry that once existed in the close, like Bakehouse Close, named from a bakery, or Tanners Close (not on the Royal Mile, I know), named from tanners who used to work there. Others have names that speak for themselves, like Stinking Close, harking back to those smelly days when human waste was simply chucked out of house windows with cries of 'Gardeyloo!'

Over the centuries the name of the close can change as people and industries come and go. Mary King's Close, for example - now a visitor attraction called The Real Mary King's Close - has had a number of different names over the years, like Towris Close and Brown's Close, all from previous occupants.

While many of these old closes still exist practically intact, so too have many more or less vanished. In some cases all you have is a close name on a wall of a modern building, or above the entrance to a shop that is clearly not a close. In other cases it's just the close mouth that exists, and a wander through the entrance swiftly brings you to modern developments.

But there is one close that has been partially preserved more or less intact. A close whose history goes back to the 16th century. A close that was built over in the 18th century and sealed. A perfectly-preserved time capsule

For one cannot talk of closes on Edinburgh's Royal Mile without mentioning Mary King's Close, now a visitor attraction called The Real Mary King's Close. For in this subterranean street and warren of rooms and ancient passageways, one will gain an insight into the lives of the hundreds of men, women and children who once lived, worked and died right here.

In addition to Mary King's Close, we also look in a little depth at Whitehorse Close, Bakehouse Close and Lady Stairs Close.