Lady Stair's House, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
by Yvonne Johnstone
Title
Lady Stair's House, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
Artist
Yvonne Johnstone
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Lady Stair’s House lies just off the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh's Old Town.
The house was built in 1622 by Sir William Gray of Pittendrum, a very successful city merchant. At that time it was common for the wealthy to live tucked away down one of the hundreds of narrow passageways known as closes, away from the bustle and noise of the main street.
Sir William Gray’s fortunes turned dramatically during the Civil War in the 1640s. He was fined and later imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle for his connections with royalists. Then, in 1645, his daughter died of the plague.
Sir William himself died in 1648, but his wife continued to live there for many years, and eventually the close leading to the house became known as Lady Gray’s Close in her honour. It kept that name until around 1719 when Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Stair, bought the building and so the close and house took on her name.
Today Lady Stair’s House is home to the Writers’ Museum, with displays celebrating authors such as Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Uploaded
July 23rd, 2019
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