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Cave or grotto

Gilmerton Cove

Gilmerton, Edinburgh

Hand-carved rooms under a street, and nobody knows who made them.

Under the streets of Gilmerton is a set of passages and rooms carved out of the sandstone, with stone tables and benches. A blacksmith called George Paterson claimed to have dug them in the 1720s, but some think they are older.

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When
Unknown
Where
55.9070, -3.1340
Group
Caves & grottoes

Visiting

Guided tours must be booked in advance.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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