📌 Old Town, City of Edinburgh
★★★
Edinburgh‘s Royal Mile is now a bustling hub full of souvenir shops and tourist services, but amongst all this there are still hundreds of tenement blocks: centuries-old residential flats linked by a common staircase spanning several floors. In Scotland the name covers a multitude of urban accommodation ranging from the very best to the very worst in living conditions. Gladstone’s Land is one such block, named after cloth merchant Thomas Gladstone who purchased the building in 1617, extended it and rented it out to wealthy tenants. Each floor has been restored to tell the story of a tenant, spanning the period 1632 to 1911. The ground floor has also been converted into a rather boujee ice cream parlour, continuing the building’s history as a commercial hub while no doubt acting as a useful money-spinner for the National Trust for Scotland!
🌍 Location
📌 477B Lawnmarket, Royal Mile, 5-min walk south of Edinburgh Waverley station
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 255736
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.949452,-3.193701
🚆 Edinburgh Waverley | 🚌 Numerous local buses | 🚋 Princes Street
🚗 Car parks / street parking nearby (both charge)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily except Christmas & New Year period
🎫 £10 adult / £6 child / free for National Trust for Scotland members
