Kirk o'Field

Edinburgh University’s Old College stands on the site of Kirk o’Field, where Henry Lord Darnley was blown to smithereens by a faction of the Scottish nobility.

At school they taught us about Darnley. His poxy face reflected a corrupt and dissolute man; it was a good Catholic school, and Darnley was a Protestant that had led astray a Good Catholic Queen.

He was certainly an unsympathetic character. Even his wife wanted him dead. Queen Mary heard the explosion when his house went up. Darnley fled the building, but was thwarted in his escape.

He was throttled with his own nightdress.