☰Abbey Strand

Abbey Strand is the small cobbled precinct immediately outside the gates of Holyrood Palace — historically a sanctuary for debtors, who could shelter here from their creditors on the basis that the abbey's ecclesiastical jurisdiction superseded civil law. The right of sanctuary technically still exists, though debtors' prison is long abolished. The area contains some of Edinburgh's oldest domestic buildings alongside the impressive gatehouse of the Palace. The brass S-shaped markers set into the cobbles indicate the boundary of the old sanctuary — a small historical detail worth knowing as you enter the Palace grounds.