Folklore of Midlothian

The year ahead

Told of Midlothian, but not tied to a day of the year.

Folklore from the old calendars

Christening the Cat Lore and belief MidlothianThe pamphlet Newes from Scotland, printed in 1591, gives the confessions of the Scottish witches of that time.
High Jinks No longer kept MidlothianHigh jinks was a Scottish drinking game with dice, played by the Saturday night club at Daunie Douglas's tavern in Anchor Close, Edinburgh, and described in Guy Mannering.
Mrs Griffiths’s Dream Lore and belief MidlothianLady Clerk of Penicuik used to tell how her father, young Mr Dacre from Cumberland, lodging in Edinburgh with his uncle Major Griffiths, planned to join a fishing party going out in a boat from Leith at six the next morning.
The ‘Prentice’s Pillar at Roslin Lore and belief MidlothianEarly in the nineteenth century visitors to Roslin Chapel were shown round by an old woman, Annie Wilson, who recited its legends in a sing-song without a pause.
The ghost of the Canongate fire Lore and belief MidlothianScott heard as a child an Edinburgh version of the Littlecote tale, in which a clergyman was led blindfold to a house at the head of the Canongate to comfort a young mother, and heard a pistol shot as he left.
The nine graves of Edinburgh No longer kept MidlothianRobert Armin's Nest of Ninnies of 1608 tells of Jemmy Camber, a fool of King James in Scotland.
The poisoned lady of Greyfriars Lore and belief MidlothianIn Greyfriars churchyard in Edinburgh is a monument of a woman lying under a canopy, with four female figures standing at its corners.