Stairs down to Mary King’s close
2 [fig. 22]
High Street
1 1. Writer’s Court 2. Reception & Shop-
Today, some of the 800 years of history enclosing the site can be unveiled through a wander in the subterranean close. With an upward glance, visualising the once towering tenements, once can imagine the crowded and squalid living conditions of the past. The surviving features of the building fabric give us clues to the close’s former use and dates, structures that existed, patterns of the closes, and the changes over 800 years.
One of the first clues after, descending down steps from the Writer’s Court, is a cast iron pulley set into the ceiling (see fig. 23). There are noticeable spikes (see fig.24) that once held a roof connecting a pulley. The Royal Exchange initially functioned as a trading building and the pulley must have been used as a mechanism for transporting goods.6 Another interesting matter is the material of the pulley. The Carron Iron Works in Falkirk was founded in 1759 and it was only until 1765 that the first Blast Furnace began to produce cast iron.7 Therefore, it can be concluded that the pulley could only have been inserted after this date, which fits in with the Royal Exchange, which was built between 1752 and 1760. [fig. 23]
[fig. 24]
Cast iron pulley fixed into ceiling.
Cast iron pulley system used to transport goods when the Royal Exchange operated as a trading building.