Thomas Carlyle's house, Comely Bank is a

Category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was once the home of Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

. He lived there with his wife Jane Carlyle from October 1826, the time of their marriage, to May 1828, when they moved to Craigenputtock. The two-story house was built in 1818. It was rented for them in May 1826 by Jane's mother, Grace Welsh. The Carlyles typically spelled the street name as "Comley". Carlyle described the house to his brother:

Thus pass our days, in our trim little cottage, far from all the uproar, and putrescence (material and spiritual) of the reeky town, the sound of which we hear not, and only see over the knowe the reflection of its gas-lights against the dusky sky, and bless ourselves that we have neither part nor lot in the matter. I assure you, many a time on a soft mild night, I smoke my pipe in our little flowergarden, and look upon all this, and think of all absent and present friends, and feel that I ''have'' good reason to "be thankful that I am not in Purgatory."

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Historic Environment Scotland Listing
{{Thomas Carlyle Buildings and structures completed in 1818 Buildings and structures in Edinburgh Thomas Carlyle Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh