📌 Old Town, City of Edinburgh
★★
John Knox House is one of the least known of over a dozen museums jostling for attention on the crowded Royal Mile in Edinburgh‘s Old Town. The museum shares the premises with the Scottish Storytelling Centre (which sounds like a fascinating place in itself), and juxtaposes the lives of two men with links to this 15th century building (one of the oldest on the Royal Mile) – which once stood next to the fortified gatehouse between the formerly separate burghs of Edinburgh (uphill) and Canongate (downhill). The first of the men was James Mossman: goldsmith and staunch Catholic, who lived here in the mid 1500s. The second is of course John Knox: minister and staunch Protestant (and founder of the Presbyterian movement), who possibly lived here later in the century, preached to the Royal Mile from a first floor window and also ministered at nearby St Giles’ Cathedral. Both men had an influence on Mary, Queen of Scots (herself a Catholic, to the dismay of Knox), and together the three figures neatly tell the story of the Reformation in Scotland. The displays aren’t particularly engaging, but they might fill a few gaps in your religious history knowledge – and the top-floor Oak Room has a very attractive painted ceiling.
🌍 Location
📌 Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Royal Mile, 10-min walk southeast of Edinburgh Waverley station
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 261737
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.950616,-3.185067
🚌 Numerous local buses | 🚆 Edinburgh Waverley | 🚋 St Andrew Square (0.5 mi)
🚗 Car parks / street parking nearby (both charge)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily
🎫 £7 adult / £1.50 child
