Gilmerton Cove
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Gilmerton Cove is a complex of man-made underground passages, chambers and stairs carved out of the sandstone beneath the Edinburgh suburb of Gilmerton . Gilmerton was a medieval Scottish village that grew larger as it came to house miners and stone breakers and their families. An inconspicuous hut forms the entrance to Gilmerton Cove.
Even archaeological investigations could not clarify when this complex was created or by whom or for what it was used. There are numerous theories about the origins of Gilmerton Cove. Traditional theory holds that the cave was the work of the blacksmith George Paterson, who made it as a workshop and home for his family between 1719 and 1724. This theory first appeared in 1769 in verses by the poet Alexander Pennecuik (1652-1722). It became widespread through a detailed description of the cave published by the Reverend Thomas Whyte in 1792 in The Transactions of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland. The Paterson theory prevailed in the 19th century, aided by the discovery that Paterson had operated an illegal dive bar in the town for drinking on the holiday.
In 1897, Frederick Rhenius Coles (1854-1929) of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland examined Gilmerton Cove. His conclusions, published in The Scotsman newspaper in 1906, were that Gilmerton Cove was hewn out of the rock long before George Paterson, largely because of the type of tools that hit marks on the rock. A new comprehensive archaeological investigation took place between 2000 and 2002. Debris blocking some chambers and passageways was removed and a stone step leading to a rear entrance, a network of drainage ditches and various artifacts from the past three centuries were discovered. The upshot was that Gilmerton Cove had been used so intensively over the past few centuries that all archaeological evidence of its formation was lost. Apart from the lack of space, the facility is reminiscent of continental earth stables .
The collaboration between Gilmerton Heritage Trust and The City of Edinburgh Council allowed the restored cave to be opened to visitors in 2003.