Gilmerton Cove: Mysterious Cave System Still Keeps Its Centuries-Old Secrets

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – Gilmerton Cove is a mysterious cave system on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. For a long time, it was considered the work of a blacksmith George Paterson, who used it from 1724 to 1735 (or 1737), according to ancient records.

But there is a problem. Even the most skilled one, this blacksmith, would not have created the entire system himself.

Gilmerton Cove. Credit: John Dale – CC BY-SA 2.0

His claim to have spent five years excavating the place was long accepted at face value, though a moment’s thought tells you that such a task would have taken the lifetimes of several hard-working men. So, most probably, he only cleared out the rubble and backfill of a much earlier period.

So the question remains: who were the builders responsible for the creation of this mysterious underground structure.

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