Edinburgh's Literary Old Town: Writers, Philosophers and Poets

“Here I stand at what is called the Cross of Edinburgh, and I can in a few minutes shake fifty men of genius by the hand.”

These words, spoken by the renowned English chemist John Amyatt, are testament to the intellectual vivacity of Edinburgh in the 1700s. The city has cultivated a well-deserved reputation for fostering literary genius, with its Old Town a particular hotbed of inspiration.

On this walking tour, you’ll trace the footsteps of such luminaries as Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson through the narrow closes and grand courtyards where they lived, worked, and met their Muse. You’ll discover how this compact neighborhood became the crucible of the Scottish Enlightenment and produced writers like David Hume and Adam Smith, whose works continue to shape literature, philosophy, and economics worldwide.

The tour starts at the Writers’ Museum in Makar’s Court. You’ll pass by the birthplaces of many of these famous men, and visit more than one of their graves. From the lofty heights of the Royal Mile, you’ll descend into the bowels of the Cowgate, before looping round to finish the tour where the Old Town ends and the New Town begins.

Along the way, you’ll hear how Deacon Brodie’s double life inspired Jekyll and Hyde and learn why David Hume’s toe is supposed to (but probably doesn't!) bring students good luck. The tour ends at the Scott Monument, the second tallest monument to a writer in the world, where Sir Walter Scott sits beneath a soaring gothic tower adorned with characters from his fiction.

On this 90-minute tour, you’ll also have a chance to:

• Listen to the story about Robert Burns getting into an altercation with a man who had almost exactly the same name as him
• Learn how Arthur Conan Doyle’s studies inspired Sherlock Holmes, in more ways than one
• Explore why Glasgow’s tobacco trade influenced Adam Smith’s revolutionary economic theories
• Hear about Hume’s undignified rescue from the Nor Loch by devout Christian fishwives
• Walk past John Knox House, the oldest surviving medieval building on the Royal Mile
• See which writers received the Edinburgh Award for their literary contributions to the city
• Find out who did more than anyone else to shaped the religion of modern Scotland
• Discover which writers made things difficult for themselves due to their skepticism over the existence of God

This tour explores how Edinburgh’s writers contributed not just to Scottish literature, but also to Western philosophy, religion, economics, and culture. What’s more, it provides an insight into how the city itself influenced their ways of thinking, thus revealing the global impact that Edinburgh continues to have across the world today.

Those interested in taking the virtual tour of Panmure House can access it here