Oct 102024
 

Reid’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8BZ

Sir John Nisbet, Lord Dirleton (1610–1688), was a Scottish lawyer and judge who, as Lord Advocate, led the prosecution of Thomas and Jean Weir in 1670. His Edinburgh townhouse was on the Canongate at the head of Reid’s Close, distinguished by a projecting square turret.

Black and white sketch of an old building with people out front.
John Nisbet, Lord Dirleton’s house on the Canongate
©Cassell’s Old and New Edinburgh vol. III (1870), Wikimedia Commons

In 1663, Nisbet purchased the estate of Dirleton, including Dirleton Castle, in East Lothian. Between 1649 and 1650, in Dirleton, six witches had been accused of dancing upon the green with the Devil and had been imprisoned in the castle dungeon.

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