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Greyfriars Bobby Day

Each year on the 14th January a ceremony is held in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh, Scotland honouring the loyalty of Greyfriars Bobby.

As the terrier went for his dinner when the time gun fired from the Half Moon Battery at Edinburgh Castle, the ceremony normally starts with the firing of the One o’ clock Gun.

2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Dr Robert Lee, the minister of Old Greyfriars. As Dr Lee was chaplain to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert when they came to Scotland on frequent visits, he would have kept the royal couple informed on the little dog’s welfare. A bust of Dr Lee can be seen inside the church on the north wall above the burial door.

Dr Lee was responsible for installing the beautiful stained glass windows in the building where the National Covenant was signed, transforming the interior. John MacLeod’s painting of the terrier sitting in a kennel can be seen in the visitors’ centre.

Baroness Burdett-Coutts donated funding to the City of Edinburgh to set up a drinking fountain to the memory of Greyfriars Bobby. The baroness was a close friend of Queen Victoria who was patron of the RSPCA.

The statue of the little dog stands at the junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row, directly across from the kirkyard. Thousands of tourists travel to Greyfriars from all over the world to see Bobby’s statue, which was sculpted by William Brodie RSA, and to visit the spot where the little dog is buried. When you arrive in Edinburgh, head for Greyfriars which Sir Walter Scott described as ‘Scotland’s Westminster’.

Visitors are always welcome to attend the annual ceremony, organised by the One o’clock Gun Association, which is followed by a special tour of the churchyard which includes Jean Grant’s table tombstone where Bobby stored his bones and the headstone of James Brown the kirkyard superintendent who looked after the little dog.

Find out more about Greyfriars Bobby – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEBm1jP22dY

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