William Burke and William Hare were two notorious serial killers, often mistakenly referred to as grave robbers, who lived in Edinburgh in the 1820s. They were responsible for the murder of sixteen innocent victims and sold their bodies to local anatomists for dissection before that they were caught and tried in the High Court in Edinburgh. Hare made King’s Evidence his partner in crime, escaping with his life and vanishing into obscurity while Burke was publicly hanged in front of a howling crowd of 25,000 citizens in January 1829.

But did you know that many of the actual locations in Edinburgh associated with Burke and Hare can still be seen and visited to this day?

Tanners Close – was the site of Hare’s boarding house and was in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. Neither the old tenement building nor Tanners Close now exist and a modern gated car park marks the spot where the building once stood. It is accessed from a lane known as Kings Stables Road in the West Port area of ​​Edinburgh, just off the Grassmarket. All but one of Burke and Hare’s known victims were killed in the alleyway that was then Tanners Close.

West Port – A street in Edinburgh’s Old Town, just south of Edinburgh Castle and running from Main Point, at the junction of Bread Street, Lauriston Street, East Fountainbridge and High Riggs, to the south-west corner of Grassmarket. The name is derived from the West Harbour, which was the only westward exit from the city at the time the city walls were raised, allowing passage through the old Flodden Wall. It was in this seedy part of the old town that Burke and Hare lived and committed their crimes, which is why they are often referred to as the West Port Murderers.

Grassmarket: Located at the foot of Edinburgh Castle and next to the Cowgate. Originally an open, cobbled market square and the location of some of Edinburgh’s tallest buildings, some eight or nine stories high, Grassmarket was also the scene of public executions, the last held there in 1784. It was from here that Burke and Hare he lured many of his unsuspecting victims to their deaths.

Surgeons Square – Located behind the Old High School building and the New Surgical Hospital, in High School Yards. Several of the houses around the square were used for private anatomy classes, including those taught by the famous Dr. Robert Knox at 10 Surgeons Square. It was to this address that Burke and Hare delivered the freshly slaughtered corpses of their victims for dissection.

Gibb’s Close – At Canongate, towards the end of the Royal Mile, at the “tail” of Castle Rock. On this site, in 1700, the 4th Earl of Traquair erected a dwelling and it was here that he established his residence. Coachbuilder Robert Gibb chose to make this his home at the turn of the century and it bears his name to this day. This was the scene of the murder of Mary Paterson by Burke and Hare. A shop selling Scottish tourist products now occupies the site.

University of Edinburgh Museum of Anatomy – University School of Medicine, Teviot Place. After William Burke was hanged on January 28, 1829, his body, as ordered by the court, was publicly dissected by Professor Alexander Monro tertius and his skeleton remains hanging to this day in a glass case where the saw post -mortem cut his skull. be seen clearly.

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh – Surgeons’ Hall Museum, Nicolson Street. After his death, Burke’s tanned skin became various items, including a paperback that is on display at the Surgeons’ Hall Museum along with his death mask. Another example of one such book can be seen at the Police Centre, a museum on the Royal Mile that houses exhibits and contains information on some of Edinburgh’s most notorious criminals.

High Courts of Scotland – Parliament Square. It was here, at the High Court of Justice, that William Burke’s trial took place (most of the work of the High Court of Justice now takes place in a building across the Royal Mile). The trial began on Christmas Eve 1828, and the jury returned a guilty verdict on Christmas Day after deliberating for only fifty minutes.

Site of Burke’s execution – Lawnmarket, Royal Mile. William Burke was publicly hanged on a rainy Wednesday morning shortly after 8 a.m. on January 28, 1829, in the Lawnmarket at the head of Libberton’s Wynd. The event generated such interest that it was even witnessed from the coveted window of an upstairs apartment by the famous novelist Sir Walter Scott. Libberton’s Wynd no longer exists, having been demolished during the construction of the George IV Bridge, but three brass ‘H’ blocks mark the spot where the gallows was erected. In the same area, diagonally across from Deacon Brodie’s public house, a bronze plaque marks the site of the last public execution in Edinburgh, that of George Bryce (“The Ratho Killer”), hanged on 21 June 1864. .