Advocate's Close

Of the ninety-odd closes that survive along the Royal Mile, Advocate's Close offers perhaps the most perfect Edinburgh moment: a narrow medieval lane plunging steeply from the High Street, framing the Scott Monument and the New Town rooftops at its base like a painting. This view is actually accidental — buildings on the west side of the close were demolished in the 1920s, opening up a sightline that would have been invisible for the previous five hundred years.

The close dates to at least the fifteenth century and takes its name from Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, who lived here from 1635 to 1713 and served as Lord Advocate of Scotland from 1692 to 1709. In Edinburgh's medieval hierarchy, your address on or near the Royal Mile signified your social standing, and the Lord Advocate's presence made this one of the most prestigious closes in the city. Lawyers, merchants, and Scottish gentry jostled for space in the tall tenements that lined both sides.

Edinburgh's closes were not alleyways in the modern sense — they were self-contained communities. Each close had its own well, its own unofficial rules, and was locked with iron gates at night. At their peak, around 250 of these lanes threaded off the Royal Mile, housing tens of thousands of people in the tall "lands" (tenements) that gave Edinburgh its unique vertical skyline. A close was named for its most prominent resident, its trade, or its most notorious incident.

An extensive but sympathetic redevelopment in the 2010s converted the historic buildings along Advocate's Close into restaurants, bars, and boutique spaces while retaining the close's medieval character. The descent from the Royal Mile to Cockburn Street below takes you past centuries of exposed stonework, carved lintels, and the kind of atmospheric dimness that Edinburgh's Old Town does better than anywhere else in Britain.