The Real Mary King's Close

Beneath the Royal Exchange building lies one of Edinburgh's most atmospheric secrets: Mary King's Close, a warren of 17th-century streets frozen in time beneath the modern city. A "close" is a narrow alleyway between tenements, and this one was named after Mary King, a merchant burgess who traded here in the 1630s — a notable achievement for a woman of her era. When the Royal Exchange was built in the 1750s, the tops of the old tenements were sheared off and the lower floors used as foundations, sealing the streets below. The close endured Edinburgh's devastating plague outbreak of 1645, and legends of hauntings have swirled ever since — most famously the ghost of a little girl called Annie, for whom visitors still leave toys. Today guided tours take you down into the preserved rooms and passageways, where you can walk streets unchanged for over 350 years, hidden just metres beneath your feet. Carry on down the Royal Mile from here — a couple of minutes and you'll reach the junction where South Bridge and North Bridge meet the street, and that's where we stop next.