John Knox House and Moubray House next door are rare medieval survivors illustrating the old picturesque cluster around the Port. The last great ceremonial gate with towers and a handsome spire, begun in 1513 after the battle of Flodden, was finally demolished in 1764. Brass cobbles still mark the area it occupied. However, reinstated in the contemporary tower of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, are the original Netherbow bell, cast in 1621, and a stone plaque commemorating James VI and I's survival from the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.

Moubray House is the oldest occupied building in Edinburgh.with some parts dating to the 1400s Its present stone frontage was added around 1630. With its forestair, four storeys and its gabled attic with timber front, the old land has housed a tavern, a bookshop and a temperance hotel. It is said that the English spy and author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe was spotted peering out from lodgings here, and pelted with rubbish in 1706-7 when the Edinburgh mob opposed Union with England.

John Knox House, jutting out into the High Street, dates from the 14 and 1500s. Its film-set gables and picturesque west front are a classic example of domestic structures of the time of Mary, Queen of Scots and were created by her goldsmiths the Mosmans who also made the Scottish crown. Although any link with the great reformer and educationalist John Knox belongs only to his last months, the possibility saved this timber-galleried relic, in the face of successive plans to widen the High Street. Above the door can be seen the coat of arms of the Mosman goldsmiths. The wording over the door, 'Lvfe God abvfe al and yi nychtbour as yi sell', is the oldest inscription in Edinburgh and a reminder of the mottos and plaques on many Old Town doorways. Still owned by The Church of Scotland, John Knox House has entered a new lease of life as portal to the brand new Scottish Storytelling Centre, the first ever purpose-built centre for this ancient art.

The Netherbow area is now at the heart of the Old Town's literature quarter. Behind the Scottish Storytelling Centre with its performance and display spaces, is Sandeman House, a one-time Victorian model housing scheme, now home of the Scottish Book Trust. With the beautiful ‘Storytelling Garden’, Scottish Book Trust is Scotland’s national agency for readership development, with a strong emphasis on children’s writing. Many famous writers for children have strong connections with Edinburgh including Stevenson , JM Barrie, R M Ballantyne of Coral Island, Kenneth Grahame, Helen Bannerman, Joan Lingard and Anne Fine. Most recently this tradition has been gloriously continued by JK Rowling's Harry Potter .
 
Opposite the Storytelling Centre are the decorative gates of Tweeddale Court. This 16th century mansion was named after the Marquis of Tweeddale, who bought it in 1670. It was occupied from 1817 to 1973 by Oliver & Boyd, printers and publishers of such literary giants as Carlyle and Hogg. Now Canongate Publishers have their offices here, one of a group of innovative companies including Birlinn, Mainstream, and Luath, who have revived the legacy of publishing giants such as Chambers and Macmillans. Edinburgh's City of Literature Trust is housed in the same building. While the Saltire Society, Scotland's cultural champion, is next door. The harling and whitewashing of Tweeddale House show how the Old Town originally looked rather than the exposed rubble stone we see today.

A feature of Tweeddale Court is an 18th century taxi-rank, a lean-to for sedan chairs.  They carried the richer citizens above the filthy streets; the Old Town's closes and wynds being too narrow for coaches. Many of the chair-men were muscular Highlanders. An added hazard was that many houses had two doors. The novelist Henry Mackenzie records how one lady, deposited and ushered into what turned out to be the wrong drawing-room, made her apologies, re-boarded her chair and directed the bearers to another wynd – only to arrive at the rear entry of the house she had just left, and be ushered into the same drawing-room. The famous Judge and philosopher Lord Monboddo was often to be seen walking beside a sedan chair in which his wig was comfortably ensconced. Perhaps sedan chairs should be reintroduced to transport people round the literature quarter?

This material was commissioned and produced by Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, with support from the Scottish Arts Council.  The scripts were written by Edinburgh poet and author, Stewart Conn, and performed by Shonagh Price and Donald Smith, with additional editorial material by Donald Smith.

All material is copyright Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust unless otherwise stated.