The Old Edinburgh Club

Exploring the city through history

Edinburgh's local history society

The Old Edinburgh Club is the city’s local history society, concerned with all aspects of the capital’s history and development.

For more than one hundred years we have encouraged interest through lectures, visits and projects. Join us and take advantage of these and our other activities, exploring Edinburgh through history.

Mobile decontamination unit Edinburgh

Our Publications

We publish the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, renowned as an authoritative source for residents, researchers alike or, indeed, anyone who shares our delight in the city’s rich heritage. The latest edition – Volume 19, is now available and has been sent to our members. 

Earlier editions from 1908 are available to download, and we recently added volumes covering 1995 to 2008.

Please browse our Bibliography of Edinburgh History too – it’s an essential starting point for exploring your interests.

Lectures & Visits

We hold our events in the Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL, with live streaming for anyone who cannot be there in person. 
All talks start at 7pm. Non-members may attend or view each event on request. Please contact events@oldedinburghclub.org.uk

Details of of our Winter Programme are now available.

News & Views

What’s new in the world of the Old Edinburgh Club: events, publications, projects and our blog.

The Picardy Linen Weavers in 18th century Edinburgh In the 18th century, a community of linen weavers from Picardy in France arrived and settled in

By: Jo Chapman

The Remarkable Tale of Margaret Dickson: The Woman Who Survived the Hangman’s Noose In 1724, a young woman from Edinburgh named Margaret Dickson was accused

The lost distillery at Burnhead, Edinburgh A study of the history of the south side of Edinburgh has revealed that a whisky distillery was established

Explore our website

We hope our website will help you to explore the fascinating past of Scotland’s capital.

For more on Edinburgh’s rich history, explore our detailed resource of useful websites, as well as links to local history and heritage organisations.

Follow us on social media

Follow us to find out even more about our activities and about the history of Edinburgh, including our popular ‘On This Day’ feature on Facebook. Click on the icons in the footer for Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter.