JK GILLON

At the foot of Edinburgh's Canongate, a circle of stones in the centre of the road marks the site of the Girth Cross, the boundary of the Holyrood Abbey Sanctuary, within which debtors were immune from arrest. The limits of the Abbey Sanctuary are also marked by S-shaped brass studs in the paving of the street.

The Sanctuary was established in the 12th Century, under a charter granted by King David I, and was originally extended to criminals. The first record of a debtor taking sanctuary in Holyrood is in 1531.

Once over the boundary line between the Canongate and the Abbey, debtors had to make a formal application to the Bailie of Holyrood for the "benefit and privilege" of sanctuary within twenty-four hours, or risk being ejected. After considering the case, and on payment of a booking fee, the applicant was presented with "letters of protection" showing that he had been admitted to the Sanctuary. The debtor was then safe to live within the Sanctuary, free from risk of arrest.

The Sanctuary's area was extensive including Arthur's Seat and the Royal Park stretching southwards to Duddingston and Newington and eastwards to Jock's Lodge. All the habitable houses, some of which survive in the Abbey Strand, were crowded around the foot of the Canongate and accommodation for debtors was available in lodging-houses and inns.

In addition to the debtors, who were commonly known as the "Abbey Lairds", there was a general community of tradesmen, shopkeepers, innkeepers and residents who chose to live within the Sanctuary. The Bailie of Holyrood was responsible for keeping law and order within the Sanctuary, which was outside the control of the Edinburgh magistrates. This gave the Abbey Sanctuary the feeling of being a small town in its own right, independent of control from Edinburgh.

At midnight on a Saturday, the "Abbey Lairds" could safely leave the Sanctuary for twenty-four hours of freedom as, under Scot's Law, legal proceedings could not be taken on a Sunday. Most of them took advantage of this opportunity to visit friends or go to church.

During the last 200 years of the sanctuary, Holyrood sheltered around 2,000 people. The population of debtors included clergymen, lawyers, officers of the army and navy and members of the aristocracy. Thomas De Quincy, author of Confessions of an English Opium-eater, was resident in the abbey Sanctuary off and on between 1835 and 1840.

The ancient right of sanctuary within the grounds of Holyrood has never been repealed, however, the need for a debtors' sanctuary ended in 1880 when imprisonment for debt was abolished.