Traditions of Edinburgh . is two stories in height, the second storybeing reached by an outside stone stair within a small court- •yard, which had originally been shut in by a gate. The stonepillars of the gateway are decorated with balls at the top, as wasthe fashion of entrances to the grounds of a country building is picturesque in character, in the style of thesixteenth century in Scotland. As it resembles a neat old-fashioned country-house, one wonders to find it jammed upamidst tall edifices in this confined alley. Ascending the stair, cants close. 243 we find that tlie inter
Traditions of Edinburgh . is two stories in height, the second storybeing reached by an outside stone stair within a small court- •yard, which had originally been shut in by a gate. The stonepillars of the gateway are decorated with balls at the top, as wasthe fashion of entrances to the grounds of a country building is picturesque in character, in the style of thesixteenth century in Scotland. As it resembles a neat old-fashioned country-house, one wonders to find it jammed upamidst tall edifices in this confined alley. Ascending the stair, cants close. 243 we find that tlie interior consists of three or four apartments,\vith handsome panelled walls, and elaborately carved stuccoceilings. The principal room has a double -window on the westto Dicksons Close. Daniel Wilson, in his Memorials of Edinburgh, speaks of thisbuilding in reference to Dicksons Close. He says: * A littlelower down the close on the same side, an old and curious stonetenement bears on its lower crow-step the Haliburton arms,. - Old Mansion, Cants Close. impaled with another coat, on one shield. It is a singularlyantique and time-worn edifice, evidently of considerable curious double window projects on a corbelled base into theclose, while the whole stone-work is so much decayed as greatlyto add to its picturesque character. In the earliest deed whichexists, bearing date 1582, its first proprietor, Master James 244 TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH. Halyburton—a title then of some meaning—is- spoken of inindefinite terms as umq^% or deceased; so that it is a buildingprobably of the early part of the sixteenth century. It is knownthat the adjoining properties on the north once pertained to thecollegiate church of Crichton; while those on the east, inStrichens Close, comprehended the town residence of the Abbotof Melrose, 1526. The adjoining wood-cut will give some idea of this strange oldmansion in Cants Close, with its gateway and flight of looking over the titles, we
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectlegends, bookyear1868
