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 author 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 an outbreak of plague 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 legendary escape tunnel. A warren of stone chambers lie beneath the enormous North Bridge, South Bridge and George IV Bridge in the centre of the city and further out is the subterranean dwelling Gilmerton’s Cove. The city is also criss-crossed by dozens of disused railway tunnels, not least the cavernous Scotland Street Tunnel built for a funicular railway.

Going Underground: Edinburgh takes the reader on a tour of the subterranean secrets of this historic city. This fascinating portrait of underground Edinburgh will interest all those who know the city and want to know more about its history as well as those visiting Scotland’s capital.