Heart of Midlothian (Royal Mile)
The Heart of Midlothian is a heart-shaped mosaic, formed of coloured granite setts, located outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. It marks the site of the entrance to Edinburgh's Old Tolbooth, which was demolished in 1817.[1] Sir Walter Scott would immortalise the Tolbooth in his 1818 novel The Heart of Midlothian, which centres on a girl who is wrongfully imprisoned there.
Locals will often spit upon the heart, an action which is said to bring good luck, though it may have originated as a sign of disdain for the executions that took place in the Tolbooth.[2] The Edinburgh football team Heart of Midlothian F.C. takes its name from the Tolbooth and the mosaic that marks its former location.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Cosh, Mary (2003). Edinburgh: The Golden Age. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited. p. 542. ISBN 978-1-78027-258-0. OCLC 908403124.
- ^ Monuments and Statues of Edinburgh, Michael T. R. B. Turnbull, 20 April 1989, ISBN 978-0550200501 (Chambers) p.17
- ^ "History | Heart Of Midlothian Football Club". www.heartsfc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
External links
[edit]- A short documentary with both locals and tourists giving their differing views about the origin of spitting on The Heart.
- Picture of the Tolbooth in Edinburgh City Libraries' Capital Collections
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