Description: This is a small free musuem at the top of the Royal Mile. With so many famous citizens, it was nice to see something of the ordinary folk who shaped the city. I have a very strong interest in social history, so I enjoyed it. The musuem is located in what was the Cannongate Tollbooth.
A cell is still set up and posters about escaped prisoners. The cell was probably made for tourists though, as it is described as a very unpleasant and dirty place when it was a jail. The cell was clean and comfortable.
The other galleries reflected life in Edinburgh. My favourite was the working gallery. Here was information and displays on working conditions, pay etc. for dockers, domestic servants, fishing, hotel staff, barrel makers, bookbinders etc. There was some typical reconstructions which were probably off the mark, but there was also lots of old photos, written testimonies of people who remember those years, tools, and information like old posters.
The gallery exploring housing in Edinburgh was also informative, again with photos, written testimonies, newspaper reports, etc. It covered everything form slum clearance to the development of the big council estates, high rise blocks, etc. and it touched on homelessness.
Other similar galleries focused on leisure, law and order etc.
On the top floor, a video constantly plays where old people of Edinburgh talk about their work, leisure, housing, and family life earlier in the century, and about major hostorical issues. This is what I loved about the musuem. It really was the people's story.
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