All About Edinburgh
Infirmary Street
Lady Yester Church
Lady Yester, erected the Lady Yester Church in 1647. There was a cemetery around the church and some of the tombstones and tablets still survive embedded into the boundary walls. The church was demolished in 1803.
9 Infirmary Street
This is an interpretation of early 17th-century Jacobean style (1603-1625) to replace the Lady Yester church, which stood east on the present corner site area and demolished in 1803.
13 Infirmary Street
The new church was built in 1804 as the Secession Chapel and opened in December 1805 as a chapel for Secessionist Presbyterians, a nonconformist group that split from the Church of Scotland it then became the Tolbooth Free Church (circa 1850) for a short time before moving to St Andrew's Square in 1858.
ROYAL INFIRMARY EDINBURGH
On the 06 August 1729 the first voluntary hospital in Scotland opened (Little House) in what is now Infirmary Street Edinburgh at the top of Robertson’s Close. This became the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1736 in the same building.
As the infirmary became too small for the volume of patients a New Royal Infirmary was built by William Adam and opened in 1741. This was one of the first infirmaries in the world. Royal Infirmary Edinburgh was founded by Alexander Monroe.
(The first of a dynasty of three Monroe’s that held the Chair of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh for a continuous 126 years (1720–1846). The 3rd Alexander Monroe (1773–1859) performed the public dissection of the murderer William Burke in 1829).
The Infirmary was further extended with the Surgical Hospital opened in 1852.
The building being purchased from the High School.
South Bridge Primary School
South Bridge Primary School 6 Infirmary Street was part of the original site of the First purpose built Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1741 -1884. The present School building opened in 1885 and closed as a school in 1986. It has been used by the Edinburgh council for multiple purposes and is now being renovated at a cost of approximately £4m to become the new permanent headquarters of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and its artist hub, Fringe Central.
A public baths were ALSO built on the site which is now Dovecot Studios.
Inscription on plaque reads:
James Syme 1833 -1869 and Joseph Lister 1869 - 1877 while regius professors of clinical surgery in the University of Edinburgh.
Had charge of wards in this building. Then the Old Surgical Hospital and part of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Skeleton in the car park
The skeleton was found in 2013 during renovations at the front of the University of Edinburgh building in Infirmary Street. This was the site of the Blackfriars Monastery then the famous Edinburgh High School where many famous names in history attended. The picture taken below was the first sight of the remains since buried, possibly over 500 years ago.
This would have been the site of the Blackfriars Monastery burial ground
Royal Infirmary Edinburgh and Slavery
The largest contributor to the Royal Infirmary was Dr Archibald Kerr, on his death he left a 420 acre Sugar Plantation in Jamaica called Red Hill Pen. Which also included the land and the 39 enslaved people living on it. The funds were received from the rent of the Red Hill Pen between 1749 and 1892 which help fund the infirmary and the purchase of land and building the new infirmary in Lauriston Place.The foundation stone for the New Royal Infirmary was laid in 1870 and the hospital opened in 1879.
Blackfriars Monastery
Dominican monastery, founded in 1230 by King Alexander II, a major religious hub until it was destroyed by Protestant Reformers in 1559 over 300 years as a spiritual centre. This building was all but demolished and a High School was built in
High School building constructed in 1777 and opened in 1780 and now part of the University of Edinburgh.
Professor James Pillans was born in Edinburgh in April 1778. Attended the High School the University of Edinburgh,
became Rector at the High School in 1810 till 1863. Died in his house at 43 Inverleith Row March 1864.
It was in this building that James Pillans (1778-1864) promoter of the blackboard and invented coloured chalks.
Blackfriars Monastery Orchard
This is also near to where the murdered body of Mary Queen of Scot's husband, Lord Darnley, was found in 1567. The body was found in the Dominican Gardens under a tree in the orchard. A conspiracy lead by Bothwell
Had gunpowder placed under the bed of Darnley, however it seems Darnley was strangled and thrown across the town wall into the gardens prior to the gunpowder exploding and destroying the house he had been in.
Old High School Doorway
Sir Walter Scott initials W.S. can be seen today amongst the 18th + 19th century graffiti on the walls by the entrance to what was the old high school. W.S. JFS GF WE WM GT DB OL C WATSON IR RH BLACK 1819
Surgeon's Hall
In 1697, the surgeons of Edinburgh moved from their former meeting place in Dickson's Close to conduct their business in what we now refer to as Old Surgeon's Hall. This building, on the south side of Surgeon's Square, remained the home of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh until 1832, when they moved to new and more prestigious premises in Nicolson Street where there is also a museum.
The Plaque on the Royal College of Surgeons Building reads; 1697 The Edinburgh surgeons moved from their meeting place in Dickson’s Close to this building. Here they conducted their business until they moved to the present Royal College of Surgeons in Nicolson Street in 1832.
The other plaque is to honour Elsie Maud Inglis Graduate of the University.
How Edinburgh Streets Change over the years
Jamaica Street changes to North College Street and Infirmary Street
Red line is City Wall
Chisholm House Surgeon’s Square Edinburgh
Chisholm House, was originally one of a number of houses in Surgeon’s Square. The Square was close to the old Flodden Wall. Chisholm House was built in in 1764 one of many residence for surgeons which became part of the hospital complex and now the University of Edinburgh. It was used as a hospital from 1803 until 1996. The house is named after George Chisholm, the first lecturer in Geography at Edinburgh University. Another famous name who once lived in the square was Dr Robert Knox, the surgeon that was linked with Burke and Hare.
High School Yards
The buildings of High School Yards were built circa 1893 and was the first municipal social housing
The five-story sandstone tenements with deck access (open balconies), which provided better ventilation and hygiene for the residents.
High School Yards
George Heriot's Hospital (School)
In 1838 the Heriot Trust started a new project to build and run free primary schools throughout Edinburgh.
These schools provided free education for the poor children in Edinburgh creating public education.
You can see some of the buildings as they are designed on the the school in Lauriston Place.
This building is at the end of High School Yards.
George Heriot's School from Heriot Bridge in Grassmarket George Heriot Statue and George Heriot's From Lauriston Place Edinburgh
Original Royal Infirmary Gates
The ornamental gates carved stone gateposts of the Royal Infirmary of High School Yards (Infirmary Street) 1738 were saved and are reserved at the entrance to the University Geography building in the adjacent Drummond Street. The Plaques of Mongo Park and Charles Glover Barkla are on either side of the doorway.
Mungo Park
Born 1771, near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. He Studied at the University of Edinburgh both medicine and botany. A surgeon and explorer of Africa, also and author of a book, Travels into the Interior of Africa (1797).
Charles Glover Barkla
Born in Widnes, Lancashire, in 1877, Nobel Prize winner Physics in 1917, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1913 till his death in 1944 in Edinburgh
