ENN13183 - Greyfriars, 1887 (Excavation)

{1} The site of Greyfriars cemetery is said to have been found in Princes Street in the late 19th century. In 1887 houses were pulled down in the angle contained between Newland and the south side of Princes Street in order to build the new temperence hall, and excavation was made to contain the cellars and foundations of the new building. The space excavated was about 97ft east and west, 56 north and south at the east end, 30ft north and south at the west end, and about 7ft from the surface of Princes Street. About 80 or 90 interments were found. The ground falls to the west and the south, but the burials were about level- about 6ft deep at the north-east and 2ft deep at the west and 4ft deep at the south.