Actual Education Interactive Guided Tours

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Due Spring 2010

This virtual tour is the sequal to our popular Greyfriars Kirkyard Interactive Guided Tour. This CD-ROM explores the historic graveyards of St Cuthbert's, Old Calton, New Calton and Canongate. We also pay a quick visit to historic Greyfriars. This virtual tour CD-ROM makes a perfect addition to any books on the history of Old Edinburgh and acts as a guide should you wish to visit any of the graveyards featured in this CD-ROM.

Features

• Over 70 panoramic scenes
• Each image taken has 'full screen' capability
• This tour is a perfect way to understand some of the personalities of Old Edinburgh
• This tour acts as the perfect accompaniment to an actual visit to Edinburgh
• This tour has informative text and audio commentary

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Tour 1
Greyfriars

Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of Edinburgh's historical gems and it has featured on more than one of our Interactive Guided Tours. You will learn about the Covenanters, William Smellie (the man who printed the first version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica), William Carstairs (one time spy for William of Orange), Sir George Mackenzie (also known as 'Bluidy' Mackenzie) and many other fascinating people.

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Tour 2
Canongate

The kirkyard of Canongate Church is another very well preserved graveyard. Some notable people are buried here including Robert Fergusson (the tragic poet who coined the term 'Auld Reekie'), Adam Smith (the father of capitalist economics), Dugald Stewart, Robert Burns' 'Clarinda' and, supposedly, the body of David Rizzio, the unfortunate court favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was murdered in front of the queen one terrible night at Holyrood Palace.

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Tour 3
New Calton

Just up the hill from Canongate Kirkyard lies the graveyard of New Calton. This impressive place for the dead has one of the best preserved lookout towers in Scotland. This tower was used to deter the infamous bodysnatchers who frequently tried to exhume freshly buried bodies.

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Tour 4
Old Calton

Our next virtual tour takes us around the Old Calton burial ground. We will learn about the famous philosopher David Hume and of the struggles of the political martyrs whose obelisk reminds us of a time when universal sufferage was just a dream.

Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards
Tour 5
St Cuthberts

The final tour on our travels takes us to St Cuthberts kirkyard. Located next to Princes St, this graveyard also contains a watch tower to ward off 'Resurrection Men'. The church is now in one of the busiest places in Edinburgh but this was not always the case. The relative remoteness of this graveyard in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant that bodysnatchers were such a problem that the wall was raised in a bid to make the graveyard more secure. Amongst the people buried here is the architect of the Scott Monument and the opium-taking writer, Thomas de Quincy.

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(Panoramic scene from our "Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards". Use your mouse to control this scene. Double click to access the 'full screen' feature.)

(Video preview of our "Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards")

(Click the 'play' button to see a slideshow of screenshots from our "Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards" CD-ROM)

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(Our "Edinburgh's History - The Graveyards" CD-ROM cover)

You may also be interested in the following Interactive Guided Tours;

The Edinburgh's History Collection - Interactive Guided Tours of Edinburgh's Old Town and other Edinburgh topics.