27 January 2010: The Lawnmarket

It was originally one of the great open spaces within the city walls, known as the 'Land Market' where street traders or 'lawn merchants' sold produce from the land on market day. A broad plaza, it was the residence of rich and poor alike, with the wealthier citizens occupying the middle storeys of the towering tenements, from where they could observe the busy street scenes below. Before the formation of Johnston Terrace, the Lawnmarket’s West Bow was the main entrance to the city from the south west.

On January 28 1828, it is reputed that 25,000 people attended the hanging of William Burke on the Lawnmarket. William Burke and William Hare were two Irish immigrants who devised a scheme of murdering their victims in order to supply the corpses for medical dissection in exchange for money. In total it is thought that they supplied 17 bodies to Dr Robert Knox, a private anatomy lecturer whose students were drawn from Edinburgh Medical College.

Although Burke and Hare were arrested after a year of disappearances had raised suspicions, the evidence against the pair was still not overwhelming. Lord Advocate Sir William Rae offered Hare immunity from prosecution if he confessed and agreed to testify against Burke. Hare's testimony led to Burke's death sentence in December 1828. He was hanged the following month, after which he was publicly dissected at the Edinburgh Medical College. His skeleton, death mask, and items made from his tanned skin are still on display at the College's museum.