People’s Story Museum
Address: 163 Canongate, Edinburgh, EH8 8BN
The People’s Story explores the lives of ordinary people throughout Edinburgh’s history. The museum brings the past to life through a series of life-size sets and costumed figures, depicting working and social scenes from the 18th century to the present day. Memories from real people are used throughout the museum.
The museum is in the Canongate Tolbooth on the Royal Mile, a historic building dating back to 1591. Back then, it was the centre of administration and justice for the Canongate area, a separate burgh outside of Edinburgh’s Town Walls. It was used as a council meeting place, courthouse and prison. It became a museum in 1989. Part of the original prison still remains today and has been used in a jail scene. Other displays include a 1930s pub and tea room, a second world war home kitchen and more modern social scenes from when the museum opened in the eighties.
5 things to do at the People’s Story Museum
- Explore the various scenes in the museum, such as a bookbinder’s workshop, wartime kitchen, wash house, prison cell, pub and tea room.
- Encounter characters along the way, including a prisoner, town crier, servant, dressmaker and housewife.
- Learn of their stories through the reconstructed scenes, real objects from the past, information and displays.
- Hear the words of real Edinburgh people, taken from oral history reminiscences and written sources.
- Cross the road to visit companion museum, The Museum of Edinburgh, which explores the city’s origins. The two museums share a gift shop, which is inside the Museum of Edinburgh.
