The Story of the Lost Close
A very brief background story of this unique venue
The Parliament Close and Public Characters of Edinburgh, Fifty years since, attributed to John Kay (1742-1826). City Art Centre, Edinburgh Museums and Galleries.
1742 John's Coffee House and Parliament Close
John's Coffee House was a place where some of the most influential people in history came together, Adam Smith and David Hume, to name a few. Unfortunately, it was lost in the great fire of Edinburgh in 1824.
City of Edinburgh Council - Edinburgh Libraries www.capitalcollections.org.uk
1824 Great Fire of Edinburgh
The Great Edinburgh Fire started on the 15th of November 1824. It took the newly instated fire brigade under the firemaster, James Braidwood, five days to extinguish the fire. By then, most of Parliament Square and everything below it was lost.
1845 Edinburgh Police Chambers
In 1830, the designs for the new police chambers were completed, and in 1845, the building with its newly built courtroom and jail cells was taken into use. The holding cells and courtroom were mostly used to deal with petty crimes as the more serious cases went to the High Court. But there was one famous case that took place in this building.
1872 Greyfriars Bobby Court Case
The famous case of Greyfriars Bobby, as portrayed in Disney's 1961 film, highlights the community's effort to protect the loyal dog who faithfully visited his master's grave for 14 years.
2018 CoDE Hostels
The police left the property in the 1980s, and the building was converted to offices until CoDE Pod Hostels acquired the property and renovated it into a luxury pod hostel, incorporating all the former history of this property.
If you are interested in sleeping in the old courtroom or one of the jail cells, then have a look at codehostels.com
2019 The Lost Close
During the renovation works of CoDE Hostels, a hidden basement was found under all the rubble from the fire nearly 200 years before.
In the old maps, we can see Closes, living quarters, taverns, and even the Royal Bank. Steil's Close regularly features in the maps pre-1824 and disappears thereafter. This is the same with Royal Bank Close and Hangman's Close. They all led into Old Fishmarket Close, which still stands today.
We can't say for certain which Close we have, but we can say it is a Close... Why? It has gradual steps down on foundation stone and leads to a clear arch for those to walk through towards Old Fishmarket Close.
