Edinburgh Outdoors15 Jul 2025

Edinburgh's City Walls with Hetty's History Walks

Many people don't know that Edinburgh was once a walled city, so we set off to find traces of the old walls that still remain. In the times when the extent of the city covered the area we now call the 'old town' it was enclosed to protect its residents from attack and also to control commercial activity. Remnants of the wall remain today, some dating back to the fourteenth century, and many people walk past them unaware of these ancient relics. There are also indications of walls dating as far back as the twelfth century. Many of our road names are indicators of the location of the walls and gates - known as 'ports' - in and out of the city.

I headed out with podcast regular, Hetty Lancaster of Hetty's History Walks, to discover some bits of the wall and its history. It was one of the most interesting podcasts I have recorded. Listen in to join Hetty and me as we disappear into the closes of the Royal Mile to find original sections of the wall and learn when and why they were built. There is a lot more of the original walls remaining than you might realise!

A useful map of Edinburgh city walls which is discussed on the podcast, can be found here: https://www.trove.scot/image/1323636 Places we found parts of the wall include: Tweedale Court, location of the oldest, King's Wall: here John Knox House, probable original site of the Netherbow Port: here Wall based image of the original Netherbow Port (look up!): here Brass markings on the roadway showing the later site of the Netherbow Port: here Long section of the Flodden Wall: here You can find sections of the walls in Greyfriar's Kirkyard: here Further sections of the Flodden and Telfer wall are in the Vennel: here And to find out more, the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club has been publishing scholarly articles about Edinburgh's history since 1908. Enter what you are looking for (e.g. city walls) in the pages 'search' function: https://oldedinburghclub.org.uk/boec/ Details of Hetty's History Walks can be found here: https://www.hettyshistorywalks.co.uk

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