Concordance

Locations associated with Scott's Works:

39 Castle Street

Compositional nucleus of the Waverley Novels

This is the single most important Edinburgh literary site.

Written here (1802–1826):

Waverley
Guy Mannering
The Antiquary
Old Mortality
Rob Roy
The Heart of Mid-Lothian
The Bride of Lammermoor
Ivanhoe
and many more through to 1826.

Nature of connection: Compositional.
Not fictional setting — but the physical site of creation.

This is the most substantial text–site relationship in Edinburgh.

Parliament Hall (Parliament House)

Direct fictional presence

Appears in:

The Heart of Mid-Lothian
Redgauntlet

The legal world of advocates, clerks, and petitioners is rendered with lived accuracy derived from Scott’s own role as Clerk of Session.

Nature of connection: Direct fictional appearance + professional experience feeding narrative realism.

Edinburgh Castle

Historical episode embedded in prose

The rediscovery of the Honours of Scotland (1818), led by Scott, informs:

His historical essays
Notes and introductions in the Magnum Opus editions
National-historical framing of works such as The Fortunes of Nigel

Nature of connection: Documented historical action feeding nationalist historiography.

Selkirk Sheriff Court

Embedded in regional fiction

Scott’s long service as Sheriff-Depute directly informs:

Guy Mannering
Redgauntlet

Border law, smuggling cases, rural disputes, and administrative procedure reflect first-hand judicial experience.

Nature of connection: Professional immersion shaping narrative structure and legal authenticity.

Ashiestiel House

Major poetic compositional site

Written here:

The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Marmion
The Lady of the Lake

Nature of connection: Compositional + landscape inspiration (Tweed valley environment feeding poetic imagery).

Abbotsford

Autobiographical and editorial significance

Late novels written here
Magnum Opus introductions composed here
Autobiographical reflections (published posthumously in Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott)

Nature of connection: Authorial self-fashioning and retrospective framing of the canon.

Sciennes Hill House (Meeting with Burns)

Cultural-literary memory site

Associated with Scott’s childhood memory of meeting Robert Burns.

Referenced in later reminiscences and biography.

Nature of connection: Autobiographical recollection influencing Scott’s sense of literary lineage.

Tibbie Shiels Inn (St Mary’s Loch)