Explore The Hidden Edinburgh Through Street Found in a Library

Libraries are wonderful places, full of knowledge and bursting at the seams with brilliant opportunities for the community. But one library in particular, the National Scottish Library, has something else going for it, too. Tucked away in the lower levels of the brilliant library building, hidden behind a secret door, is an entire street!

The street is part of what was once the city of Edinburgh and has been built on over the centuries. Since its discovery, it has been referred to by the team at the National Library of Scotland as ‘The Void’. It’s not open to the public, but a few select special people have had the chance to delve into The Void.

Finding The Void

The Void was found by library staff back in the 1990s. The library staff were working and broke down a small hatch on a wall that housed a row of filing cabinets. When the hatch revealed a hole, they crawled through it. They were met with a long passage, complete with arches into entire chambers and rooms.

It is thought that the rooms and arches off of the street would have once been stored for what is now George IV Bridge. Where the library is situated, in the heart of the Old City, a number of streets were demolished to make room for the bridge in the early 19th century — but clearly, some of the streets are still there!

Within the arches and rooms, the former director of the library found furniture, ledgers, shoes, and even a gross stale urinal. All of the items were at least 100 years old, and, unfortunately, a lot of them were rotten, waterlogged, and damaged.

The director, Bill Jackson, described his experience walking through The Void. He said that the entire passage was so dark that his ‘torch was hardly illuminating anything,’ and that it was quite a frightening experience. For this reason, he’s since fitted lights and another door to provide access and visibility to the area.

More recently, other members of staff at the library have said that The Void allows you to see the brickwork of the library’s lower levels, but more interestingly, the brickwork of the bridge, too. The passage runs for several hundred feet at an incline.

Now, officials have made the door into The Void more accessible by widening it. Several of the arches and rooms are used to store large water tanks for the library’s sprinklers.

What Was Once There

Now, of course, the National Scottish Library and George VI Bridge weren’t always there. So what was the street used for? What was it part of?

The street was once a part of an area of the old city called Libberton’s Wynd. It was completely demolished – or so it was thought – to make way for the George Bridge in the 1830s. The bridge was built to connect the Royal Mile with the south side of the city, allowing passage over the Cowgate. Prior to its construction, Libberton Wynd sat as the route from the Cowgate to Edinburgh’s gallows in the Royal Mile, in an area called The Lawnmarket.

After the bridge was built, eventually so was the library. The library sits on top of the bridge, with floors running all the way down into the Cowgate (the street beneath the bridge, once used for herding cattle.)

The History of Libberton’s Wynd

Before its demolition, Libberton’s Wynd held large, rambunctious crowds who came to the area for the executions which took place at Edinburgh’s city gallows. The gallows sat where Libberton’s Wind met the Lawnmarket, and were where many criminals met their end.

The biggest name out of all those who were executed at the Lawnmarket was William Burke, who was executed in January 1829. Burke was found guilty of body-snatching and murdering prior to his execution. The site of the gallows is now marked by bronze plates on the road.

The area was more than a site for executions, though. Libberton’s Wynd was also home to one of the best taverns in all of the Scottish capital. Its original name was The Mermaid, but it was eventually renamed Johnnie Dowie’s Tavern.

Accounts from the time of Libberton’s Wynd referred to Mr. Dowie, who ran the establishment, as ‘the sleekest and kindest’ landlord around.

It is thought that even renowned poet, Robert Burns, spent nights in The Johnnie Dowie, sitting in a small, windowless chamber of the tavern, often referred to as the Tavern. According to historians, the life of Libberton Wynd wouldn’t have stopped there. It is likely that it was home to merchants, barbers, shoemakers, grocers, silver turners, and glaziers!

Explore More of The Hidden Edinburgh

A city as old as Edinburgh is bound to be full of all sorts of hidden burrows and pockets. One of the better-known examples of this is The Real Mary King’s Close. Hidden right under the lively streets of the Scottish capital’s Royal Mile, The Real Mary King’s Close is a preserved 17th-century street.

Tours of the street are run on a regular basis and allow guests and tourists to explore winding alleyways and learn about who lived, died, and worked in the area. The tours are an hour long and filled with history and knowledge about the Edinburgh that once was, right beneath the Edinburgh that still stands.