Going Underground: Edinburgh

Edinburgh isn’t like other cities. Certainly, it has underground rail tunnels and hidden passageways - but also a legend of an ‘Underground City’ - many parts of which are on display to the public. Not only is Edinburgh’s ‘Underground City’ large and varied, it has a rich, turbulent and fascinating past, stretching back hundreds of years. In this book, Jan-Andrew Henderson who has spent more than 20 years working in the city as a tour guide, explores the world beneath the streets of Edinburgh. The Old Town ridge is a warren of hidden passages and cellars, but also contains Mary King’s Close which was sealed up after a plague outbreak and Marlin’s Wynd, a section of Edinburgh’s first cobbled street beneath the Royal Mile leading up to the castle with its vaults and dungeons and escape tunnel. The city is also criss-crossed by dozens of disused railway tunnels, not least the cavernous Scotland Street Tunnel built for a funicular railway. This book takes the reader on a tour of the subterranean city secrets.