Cannonball House, Castlehill, Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

2286

Title

Cannonball House, Castlehill, Edinburgh

Description

Along the cobblestone street of Castlehill is Cannonball House. The house entrance is reached by steps with walls on either side. Nearby is a lamp post and a stone structure displaying notices. In the adjacent row of houses is a shop which advertises tea rooms. A horse-drawn carriage waits near a letter box.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1920

Size

9 x 13.5 cm

Type

Photograph; Postcard

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Castlehill is the section of the Royal Mile running from Castle Esplanade to the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh.

Cannonball House is a tenement building located on Castlehill at the top of Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The building's name comes from the cannonball lodged in its wall. Legend has it that this projectile was fired from the Edinburgh Castle towards Holyrood Palace during the Jacobite siege of 1745. A more mundane , but more probable explanation is that the cannonball was used by engineers as a marker to indicate the height of the water source at Comiston from where Old Town's piped water supply was drawn.

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Related subjects

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh areas > Royal Mile

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Carriages