|
Greyfriars Bobby Statue and Greyfriars
Kirk / Church can be found in the centre
of Edinburgh, a short walk from
the Royal Mile along the street named
George IV Bridge. Free to visit.
The image top shows the street named
George IV Bridge leading from St Giles
Cathedral on the Royal Mile to Greyfriars
Kirk. Postcode: EH1 2QQ
For Images on Mobile swipe right.
The Statue of Greyfriars Bobby is in
front of the Greyfriars Bobby Bar / Diner
with Greyfriars Kirk up the lane next to
the Diner. The National Museum of Scotland is to the
left in this image of the Statue.
At the entrance to Greyfriars Kirk you
will see the Monument and Grave of
Greyfriars Bobby.
The Grave of John Gray is down to the
right from the Main Gate, a Red Granite
Headstone.
John Gray was the owner of Bobby, a
Skye Terrier he bought to keep him
company at nights when working as a Night
Watchman, with him dying of tuberculosis
in 1858.
Bobby then spent 14 years guarding his
Grave till he died himself in 1872, aged
18.
Books and Films have been based on
this Dog, the novel Greyfriars Bobby in
1912 by Eleanor Atkinson, and films
Greyfriars Bobby in 1961, and The
Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby in
2006.
The interior of Greyfriars Kirk is
quite impressive, larger that it looks
from the outside.
There is a small Museum in the Church
that gives information on the History of
the Church, Greyfriars Bobby, and a
number of Graves in the Kirkyard that are
claimed to have been used by JK Rowlin in
the Harry Potter movies for names, such
as Potter, Moodie, Scrymgeour,
Cruikshanks, and McGonagall.
The Grave of Tom Riddle can also be
found, said to have inspired the writing
of JK Rowlin.
Rowlin was born in England in 1965,
started writing about Harry Potter in
1990, moved to Portugal as a teacher in
1991, moved to Edinburgh with her
daughter in 1993 after divorcing her
Portuguese husband, her first Harry
Potter book was released in 1997.
You get a better view of Greyfriars
Kirk from the east side, showing just how
large it is.
The Flodden Wall runs through
Greyfriars Kirk, built after the Scots
were defeated by the English at the
Battle of Flodden in 1513. A time
Scotland had joined France in war with
England.
This wall was built as the Scots then
expected a full on invasion by the
English, but that never happened.
The English under the Tudor King Henry
VIII did invade in 1544, burning much of
the Old Town, a time Henry was trying to
force the infant Mary Queen of Scots to
Mary his Son to unite Scotland and
England, also to stop Scotland helping
France.
The Scots and English were involved in
a number of small battles and attacks on
each others ships for a number of years
around that time, known as the Rough
Wooing.
The English knew they could defeat
Scotland in Battles with their much
larger army, but could not keep control
of Scotland, so they had to try and take
control through Marriage.
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth, daughter of
Henry VIII, died without leaving an Heir,
leading to her Cousin, the Scottish
Stuart King James VI, becoming King of
Scotland, England and Ireland, ending the
long running battles between England and
Scotland.
|
