Do you happen to know the history of this street? If you have an anecdote or any other piece of information about its history, please comment. In 1803, as a result of a legacy left by James Gillespie, a wealthy Edinburgh manufacturer of snuff and tobacco, James Gillespie's school was founded for 65 boys and one master! The school moved to a larger building in Gillespie Crescent (see the tenement crescent on the right hand side of the photo) and as the school developed, girls were admitted as well as boys. 1908 the Edinburgh School Board took over responsibility for the school and it moved to a building in Bruntsfield links. In 1966 the current school buildings were built around Bruntsfield House and it continued as a school for girls. In 1973 the school became a co-educational comprehensive school taking in boys and girls.
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Some ghost story about Gillespie Crescent which I found on the internet
"Beneath the cupboard on Gillespie Crescent...
At the end of Gillespie Crescent once stood the beautiful Wrychtishousis Mansion (where the Royal Blind Asylum is now). A General Robertson and his servant Tom stayed there about 200 years ago while the general's own house in Lawers was being renovated.
The morning after their first night, Tom was absolutely terrified. He hadn't been able to sleep in his basement room because he'd seen a headless ghost with a baby in her arms. She'd walked out of a built-in cupboard and across the floor, turned, and walked back into the cupboard. Tom begged to be allowed to sleep somewhere else.
The general said no and warned Tom about drinking too much.
Night after night for three long months poor Tom saw the ghost, but the general wouldn't listen. Tom grew thin and ill with stress. Eventually the alterations at Lawers were complete and the pair moved out.
Years later, when the general had long since passed away, his niece received a visit from one of her friends. This friend's family now lived in Wrychtishousis Mansion, and she wanted to know if the general had ever seen anything...odd...during his stay.
Tom was summoned. He gladly told them all he'd seen, and it matched the new residents' experiences - they'd seen the headless lady too.
Wrychtishousis passed into the hands of the Merchant Company and was turned into a school and hospital with money left by James Gillespie. During the renovations the built-in cupboard in the basement was removed. Workmen noticed the original floorboards beneath the cupboard had been cut out and replaced with different ones, and decided to investigate.
Underneath the floor there was a rotten, damp and clearly homemade coffin.
Clearly, because it was made too small for the corpse of the woman and baby inside it - and so her head had been cut off to make it fit.
Near the coffin was a thimble, a pair of scissors and a handwritten confession from the murderer. The confession solved the mystery. A previous owner of the house had gone to war, leaving his wife and child in the care of his younger brother. Sadly he'd died abroad and all his wealth passed on to the baby. The much trusted younger brother had then murdered his sister-in-law and his nephew in order to inherit it all for himself
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