Lady Stair's Close
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Lady Stair's Close (477 Lawnmarket) is a
close Close may refer to: Music * ''Close'' (Kim Wilde album), 1988 * ''Close'' (Marvin Sapp album), 2017 * ''Close'' (Sean Bonniwell album), 1969 * "Close" (Sub Focus song), 2014 * "Close" (Nick Jonas song), 2016 * "Close" (Rae Sremmurd song), 201 ...
in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, just off the Royal Mile, close to the entrance to Gladstone's Land. Most notably it contains the
Scottish Writers' Museum The Writers’ Museum, housed in Lady Stair's House at the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Run by the City of Edi ...
.


History

Located in Edinburgh's Lawnmarket, Lady Stair's Close is the location of a 17th-century townhouse called Lady Stair's House built in 1622 for Sir William Gray of Pittendrum, an Edinburgh Baronet. It was originally called Lady Gray's House after the widow of the first proprietor. She was the mother of the Scots Worthy Andrew Gray whose books became well-known despite dying at an early age. It was then bought in 1719 by Elizabeth Dundas, Lady Stair, the widow of John Dalrymple (1648 - 1707) the 1st Earl of Stair, hence its present name."Lady Stair's Close", Royal-Mile Edinburgh
/ref> The close contains the
Makars' Court Makars' Court is a courtyard in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It forms part of Lady Stair's Close, which connects the Lawnmarket with The Mound to the north, and is next to the Writers' Museum. Described as an "evolving national literary monumen ...
- inscribed stones to the great names of
Scottish literature Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes works in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin, Norn or other languages written within the modern boundaries of Scotland. The earli ...
.


Writers' Museum

The
Writers' Museum The Writers’ Museum, housed in Lady Stair's House at the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Run by the City of Edinb ...
, belonging to the city of Edinburgh, contains memorabilia which celebrate the lives of three writers who all at one time lived in Edinburgh: Sir
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Robert Burns. Burns stayed in a house in Baxter's Close (since demolished) to the east of Lady Stair's Close during his first trip to Edinburgh in 1786.


See also

* List of closes on the Royal Mile


Gallery

Scottish Writers' Museum.jpg, Scottish Writers' Museum at the Lady Stair's Close Makars' Court, Sir Walter Scott.jpg, Sir Walter Scott's stone slab at the Lady Stair's Close Makars' Court, Nan Shepherd.jpg, Nan Shepherd's stone slab at the Lady Stair's Close


References

{{Coord, 55, 57, 00, N, 3, 11, 38, W, region:GB, display=title Royal Mile