Watchtower

It was a gorgeous morning for a run - a nice temperature, no wind and bright and sunny!

I headed down to St Cuthbert's Church on Lothian Road cutting through the cemetery to get into West Princes Street Gardens.  Lots of people use this route!

On the corner of the graveyard at King's Stables Road is this watchtower, built to defend against grave-robbing which was rife from the 1700s. 

At this time grave-robbing was a thriving business with doctors and medical schools paying well for cadavers to study.  In 1738 the wall around the graveyard was raised to 8 feet.  In 1803 a guard was hired.  Then in 1827 this watchtower was built in the hope of keeping out the "resurrectionists", as the grave robbers preferred to be called.  But within 10 years the watchtower was abandoned as the law was changed to allow the donations of cadavers for scientific use.  Then in 1875 burials ceased at St Cuthberts.

The watchtower was restored in 1990 to use as an office.