The Edinburgh Vaults (South Bridge)

OVERVIEW

South Bridge, opened in 1788, is a viaduct of nineteen arches with buildings on top and a warren of vaulted rooms inside; tradesmen, taverns and storage used them until damp drove business out around 1820, and the poorest of the city lived and died in them after. They were filled with rubble and forgotten until the rugby international Norrie Rowan broke through into them in 1985 and excavated them. The north side is used for ghost tours (Mercat Tours and others), the south side as the venue The Caves.

HISTORY

There is no evidence that Burke and Hare kept bodies in the vaults, though tours say so; the documented history is of illicit whisky, gambling and overcrowded lodging. A well, a hearth and floor tiles of the buildings of Adam Square, demolished for the bridge, were found in excavation.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Most Haunted (2003, and live in 2006) and Ghost Adventures filmed here; in 2009 a BBC crew left Joe Swash alone in the vaults for a night and his microphone recorded voices for some twenty minutes that he did not hear and that the engineers could not trace, broadcast in 2010. Tour guides name 'Mr Boots', a heavy-footed figure in one chamber, and a boy. The vaults are a business built on their stories and the entry records the stories as theirs.

VISITING

Guided tours only, from Blair Street or the Royal Mile; ticketed, day and night.