John Knox House
The John Knox House is an historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland,
reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant Reformer John
Knox during the 16th century, but known not to have been (Knox's house
was on Warriston Close, where a plaque correctly marks the site).
The house itself was built from 1490 onwards, featuring a fine
wooden gallery and hand-painted ceiling. It belonged to the Mossman
family, Edinburgh goldsmiths who refashioned the crown of Scotland for
James V. Over the next few centuries many decorations and paintings
were added, and the house and its contents are now a museum.
The building is owned by the Church of Scotland and is now
administered as part of the new, adjacent Scottish Storytelling
Centre.
It has only been known as "John Knox House" since the mid-19th
century, at which time Victorian romantics sought to find sites of
historic occurrences. This house looked old enough, but no research
was done at the time to establish the rights or wrongs of the claim.
The house was owned by a prominent Catholic at the time of Knox. It is
unlikely he ever visited the house, but he would have been familiar
with it.
Photo 836, May 2011