Baron Grants Close, High Street

Category

Library Item

Item no

19152

Title

Baron Grants Close, High Street

Artist / maker

Channing, William

Date

1854

Size

24.9 x 17.5 cm

Type

Pencil work

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Baron Grants Close was one of the closes between John Knox's house and the Netherbow. (Now demolished.)

The Netherbow Port was the main gateway into the burgh of Edinburgh. It stood between the Canongate and the High Street. People entering the burgh had to pay a fee at the gate. It was demolished in 1764. Brass cobbles in the street now mark where it stood.

William Channing's drawings and paintings from the bound volume of his 'Sketches in Edinburgh', give an artist's impression of tenement life in the mid 19th century. His drawings are glimpses into the past down the narrow closes and alleyways of the Old Town. We see higgledy-piggledy houses and tenements towering skywards, laundry hanging from windows across the walkways and local characters talking in the streets.

Channing's delightful sketches are particularly valued for their representation of the architectural elements and details of buildings and closes now much changed or long since disappeared.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Arches

Architecture > Architectural features > Chimneys

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

Architecture > Architectural features > Walls

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Canongate

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Alleys

Transport > Infrastructure > Footpaths

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