Grassmarket

Today the Grassmarket is all terraces and pubs, but its name gives away its origins: from 1477 it was a market for livestock and grain. And for centuries it was also the main stage for Edinburgh's public punishments.

1Where the gallows stood

The stone circle in the ground marks the site of the scaffold. It remembers the Covenanters executed here in the 17th century for their faith. But the most astonishing story is Maggie Dickson's. Convicted of concealing her pregnancy and the death of her baby, she was hanged here in 1724. As her coffin was being taken to Musselburgh, those escorting it heard knocking from inside: Maggie was alive. Since her sentence had already been carried out, she was set free and lived for many more years. She became known as 'Half-Hangit Maggie', and a pub on the square bears her name.

2The Porteous Riots

In 1736, at the hanging of a smuggler, the Town Guard fired into the crowd and killed several people. Its captain, John Porteous, was sentenced to death but then reprieved. Outraged, hundreds of townspeople stormed the jail, dragged him out and hanged him right here.

Walter Scott turned the riot into the opening of his novel 'The Heart of Midlothian' (1818).

3What to look out for

• The Covenanters' Memorial, at the eastern end.
• Maggie Dickson's pub, on the north side.
• The Vennel steps, to the west: beside them survives a stretch of the 16th-century Flodden Wall.