Another Unexpected Find

  In our continuing effort to find the unusual and the unexpected, we happened to stumble upon the "Deacon Brodie Tavern."

  William Brodie (1741-1788) was a Scottish cabinet-maker and Deacon of a trade guild. However, by night he lived a secret life as a burglar in order to support his gambling and two mistresses. He apparently used his daytime cabinet-making job, which included designing and installing locks in the cabinets of his customers, to make wax impressions of the keys. He would then return at night to rob his wealthy clients. Learning that his double life had been discovered, Brodie fled to Amsterdam, in the hopes of escaping to America. He was eventually captured, tried, and hanged (ironically on a gallows which he had helped to design) at Tolbooth Prison in 1788.

  Robert Louis Stevenson lived nearby and became fascinated by Brodie's double life. In addition to writing the "Life of Deacon Brodie", Stevenson used this tale as the inspiration for "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde". We learned that Robert Burns lived in the building opposite Brodie's house and cabinet workshop. However, there was no evidence that Brodie's tale inspired any of Burns' writings.

   Brodie's cabinet workshop has been turned into a tavern and we enjoyed a very nice breakfast there. His living quarters above the tavern have been converted into a Masonic Lodge.

The small alleyway, or Close, leading to the Deacon Brodie Tavern.

Originally Brodie's cabinet-making workshop, this is now the interior of the tavern.

This wall painting reportedly depicts how Brodie's workshop looked when he worked here.

The vaulted ceiling in what is now the kitchen of the tavern dates from 1420 is is considered to be one of the oldest such ceilings in Edinburgh.

Copy of a 1788 newspaper article reporting on Deacon Brodie's execution by hanging.