Jacobite Edinburgh - A Healthy Walk through History

A walking tour through time, seeing Edinburgh's Old Town as it was during the Jacobite occupation from September 17th to October 31st 1745.

The tour starts at 10:30 AM, lasts approximately 1.5 hours and is approximately 6,000 – 7,000 steps so a good contribution towards the daily recommended 10,000 steps, on an undulating route through the Royal Mile and Grassmarket good for cardiovascular fitness. There are a total of seven stops on our pilgrimage through place and time:

1. Starting at the Netherbow Port, broached by the Jacobites before dawn on Tuesday, September 17th 1745 (just outside the World's End public house - pictured).

2. Proceeding up the High Street to the Tron Kirk, where three days earlier members of the Edinburgh Defence Volunteers – the local "Home Guard" formed to resist the Jacobites – mustered to decide what to do next.

3. Then onto the Market Cross, where King James was proclaimed on Wednesday September 18th 1745.

4. Then round St. Giles Cathedral / Parliament Square (next to the Market Cross).

5. Onto the statue of David Hume, philosopher and member of the Edinburgh Defence Volunteers, whose thinking seems to have been influenced by his encounters with the Jacobites during their period of occupation.

6. From there, a walk to the Lawnmarket, from where Directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland led by John Campbell of Ardmaddie tentatively walked into the Castle on October 3rd 1745 to recover the bank’s gold reserves and pay off banknotes held by the Jacobites. The following night, it was the scene of a brutal street battle when the government soldiers trapped in a castle sought to break the Jacobite blockade late on October 4th / 5th 1745.

7. Down to West Bow to Lord Provost Archibald Stewart’s Land. Stewart was Lord Provost of Edinburgh at the time of Jacobite occupation and afterwards tried for treason for allegedly collaborating with the rebels.

His home overlooked the Gallowgate in the Grassmarket, where General Henry ("Hangman") Hawley executed members of his own army who served as scapegoats for his defeat at Falkirk Muir on January 17th 1746.

The guide for the walk will be Michael Nevin, author of 'Reminiscences of a Jacobite', who since 2016 has served as Chair of The 1745 Association, a non-political SCIO originally founded in 1946 to promote fuller awareness and understanding of the Jacobite era and the Rising of 1745. Michael's short films 'When Madame de Pompadour met Bonnie Prince Charlie' (24 min, 2021) and 'Remembering Dunkeld' (27 min, 2019) can be viewed on YouTube.