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Edinburgh, 475 And 479 Lawnmarket, Baxter's Close
Public House (19th Century), Shop (Period Unknown), Tenement (17th Century)
Site Name Edinburgh, 475 And 479 Lawnmarket, Baxter's Close
Classification Public House (19th Century), Shop (Period Unknown), Tenement (17th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Burns' Lodgings; T N Middlemass & Co
Canmore ID 111896
Site Number NT27SE 650
NGR NT 25556 73584
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/111896
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
Baxters Close was one of four closes named for the property of the Incorporation of Baxters (i.e. Bakers) which stood some 200 feet North of the High Street on a site now occupied by North Bank Street. It is listed as Upper Baxter's Close on Edgar 1742 and as Old Baxter's Close on Ainslie 1780, and is famous as being where Robert Burns lodged on his first visit to Edinburgh in 1786. It was also known as Hooper's Close, from a family named Hooper (or Hopper or Happer) who held property in it before 1723. It also seems to have been one of the four closes in Edinburgh named Bull's Close for Robert Bull, deacon of the Wrights in 1680, who sold property "on the North side of the High Street" to David Hopper, one of the family who owned a tenement in the close.
(from Stuart Harris, "Place Names in Edinburgh", 1996, page 85)
