Qualla: John Knox House https://qualla.com/john-knox-house en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: John Knox House https://qualla.com/john-knox-house John Knox House: Introduction https://qualla.com/john-knox-house/ Photo credit SSC Elaine, CC0. The most famous house on the Royal Mile is named for a man who almost certainly did not live in it. John Knox, the firebrand of the Scottish Reformation, lodged a short walk up the slope in Warriston Close, where a plaque marks his actual address. The name stuck anyway, because the Victorians liked a good story and the timber-galleried house at the head of the Canongate looked properly Reformation-era. The real owner met a far grimmer end than Knox did. James Mosman was hanged, quartered, and beheaded in 1573 for staying loyal to a queen the Reformers had forced from her throne.

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Image: SSC Elaine | CC0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/gcvw-john-knox-house-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full John Knox House: A House Older Than the Reformer https://qualla.com/john-knox-house/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 2.0 de. Construction on the building began around 1470, half a century before Knox was born. It already had a fine wooden gallery and a hand-painted ceiling when it passed to Walter Reidpath, then to his grandson John Arres, then in 1556 to Arres's daughter Mariota. Mariota married James...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/gcvw-john-knox-house-a-house-older-than-the-reformer.mp3 0:06 2 full John Knox House: The Goldsmith's Choice https://qualla.com/john-knox-house/ Photo credit Sourav Niyogi, (WT-en) P.K.Niyogi at English Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1567, James Mosman was working on a piece of jewellery for Mary, Queen of Scots when she was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle and forced to abdicate. He made a choice that would kill him: he stayed loyal. Mary's supporters were holding Edinburgh Castle during what historians cal...

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Image: Sourav Niyogi, (WT-en) P.K.Niyogi at English Wikivoyage | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/gcvw-john-knox-house-the-goldsmiths-choice.mp3 0:06 3 full John Knox House: How the Name Stuck https://qualla.com/john-knox-house/ Photo credit Palickap, CC BY-SA 4.0. Knox did stay here briefly during the siege of Edinburgh Castle, and the visitor's pamphlet says it is believed he died here. The popular tradition of calling it John Knox's House was first recorded around 1800. Victorian writers like Robert Chambers and Sir Daniel Wilson repeate...

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Image: Palickap | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/gcvw-john-knox-house-how-the-name-stuck.mp3 0:06 4 full John Knox House: The Well Outside https://qualla.com/john-knox-house/ Photo credit Herbert Frank from Wien (Vienna), AT, CC BY 2.0. Just outside the door stands the Fountain Well, also called the Netherbow or Canmore. Built in 1675 by the King's Master Mason Robert Mylne to a design by Sir William Bruce, it is one of the last surviving public cisterns that once supplied Edinburgh with drinking water. Rebuilt ...

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Image: Herbert Frank from Wien (Vienna), AT | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/john-knox-house-wp/gcvw-john-knox-house-the-well-outside.mp3 0:06 5 full