Edinburgh’s South Bridge isn’t your typical bridge. Encased by buildings on either side, it’d be easy to mistake it for nothing more than a road.
But when you walk across it, a series of extensive vaults expand beneath your feet.
The Blair Street Underground Vaults are the deepest and most extensive set of the South Bridge Vaults. Built along with the bridge in the 1780s, these vaults were once used as workshops and storage spaces. However, over time, their uses shifted. A permanent damp drove business owners away, but the vaults weren’t immediately vacated. One room, we know, was used as a tavern. At some point, an illicit whisky still was in use here.
In the early 19th century, Edinburgh didn’t have enough affordable housing for their poorest citizens. Housing for the poor was hard to come by and there were many overcrowded flats. Housing was in great demand, so the poorest of the poor eventually made their way into the vaults.
Desperate residents, and immigrants fleeing Ireland’s potato famine during the mid-19th century, lived in the vaults. Disease, gambling, and crime ran rampant, and the vaults became Edinburgh’s red light district. The vaults were also used to store cadavers which were sold to the University of Edinburgh’s medical school.
The air quality would have been dire in the vaults. There is no sunlight, no air movement, and the only light was by way of fish oil lamps. Butchered animal bones, children’s toys, horseshoes, buttons, clay pots, dinner plates, and makeshift stone cots were found underground. As a result of these findings, the vaults are often referred to as ‘Edinburgh’s Underground City.’
In the 1860’s, the people were evicted and the vaults were filled with rubble to keep people from moving back in. The vaults were forgotten until a chance excavation in the 1980’s revealed poignant reminders of those who had lived there.
The vaults are considered one of the most haunted places in the UK. Many visitors who head down to the lower levels are greeted by a gust of cold air. People have reported hearing children yelling and women singing. Others have reported that they have seen full-blown apparitions. But, the reality of the vaults is horror enough, as it reveals the twisted tales of history at its worst and are all true stories. This photo is from the most haunted section of Edinburgh’s legendary ‘Underground City’.
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Edinburgh’s South Bridge isn’t your typical bridge. Encased by buildings on either side, it’d be easy to mistake it for nothing more than a road.
But when you walk across it, a series of extensive vaults expand beneath your feet.
The Blair Street Underground Vaults are the deepest and most extensive set of the South Bridge Vaults. Built along with the bridge in the 1780s, these vaults were once used as workshops and storage spaces. However, over time, their uses shifted. A permanent damp drove business owners away, but the vaults weren’t immediately vacated. One room, we know, was used as a tavern. At some point, an illicit whisky still was in use here.
In the early 19th century, Edinburgh didn’t have enough affordable housing for their poorest citizens. Housing for the poor was hard to come by and there were many overcrowded flats. Housing was in great demand, so the poorest of the poor eventually made their way into the vaults.
Desperate residents, and immigrants fleeing Ireland’s potato famine during the mid-19th century, lived in the vaults. Disease, gambling, and crime ran rampant, and the vaults became Edinburgh’s red light district. The vaults were also used to store cadavers which were sold to the University of Edinburgh’s medical school.
The air quality would have been dire in the vaults. There is no sunlight, no air movement, and the only light was by way of fish oil lamps. Butchered animal bones, children’s toys, horseshoes, buttons, clay pots, dinner plates, and makeshift stone cots were found underground. As a result of these findings, the vaults are often referred to as ‘Edinburgh’s Underground City.’
In the 1860’s, the people were evicted and the vaults were filled with rubble to keep people from moving back in. The vaults were forgotten until a chance excavation in the 1980’s revealed poignant reminders of those who had lived there.
The vaults are considered one of the most haunted places in the UK. Many visitors who head down to the lower levels are greeted by a gust of cold air. People have reported hearing children yelling and women singing. Others have reported that they have seen full-blown apparitions. But, the reality of the vaults is horror enough, as it reveals the twisted tales of history at its worst and are all true stories. This photo is from the most haunted section of Edinburgh’s legendary ‘Underground City’.
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