Abbey Strand. A tiny street at the foot of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, right beside the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the old abbey ruins, and probably once part of that abbey.
Around 1900 a photographer took a photo of the 15th century buildings on the eastern side of Abbey Strand, nearest the palace.
Sitting on the ledge of a window in those old buildings was a woman staring directly at the camera.
Who was she? What was she doing? And why was she staring at the camera?
When I first saw this photo, initially included in a video I made about Edinburgh's Royal Mile about two years ago, I was captivated by the image. Old old buildings with the added bonus of tinplate adverts on the gable end. I love old adverts. Most of these were for chocolote, Fry's chocolate, which is understandable given that the ground-floor shop was a confectioners, owned by a William Vallance.
But who was the woman sitting on the window ledge? Did she work in the shop?
'Twas then I embarked upon a quest of monumental proportions to try and determine who the woman was. It would have been far easier picking dead flies from the crusty bottom of a hippopotamus!
But I HAD to find out. Sometimes in life things drive you but you're never too sure who the driver is.
I visited the Central Library on George IV Bridge, and mulled things over over a beer in the wonderful old pub that is Sandy Bell's.
With a brief history of Abbey Strand and the adjacent Watergate, we delve into a small part of Edinburgh's past that was at the very heart of Scotland.
Did I find out who she was? You're going to have to watch the video.