Canongate Churchyard

The Canongate Kirkyard  stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid 20th century.

The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard are the economist Adam Smith and the poet Robert Fergusson, but many other notable people were interred in the cemetery, including Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, the inspiration for Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge, and possibly David Rizzio, the murdered private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Canongate was until the 19th century a separate parish from Edinburgh. This separate parish was formerly served by Holyrood Abbey at the foot of the Royal Mile, and Lady Yester’s Church on High School Wynd. In 1687 King James VII adopted the abbey church as a Royal Chapel, and the general population worshipped in Lady Yester’s Kirk (built in 1647) until 1691. Both of these sites formerly served as burial grounds to the parish.

The new Canongate Kirk was founded in 1688 and completed in 1691. A large area of ground was purchased beyond that required for the erection of the church, and this appears to have been used for burial immediately from the church's foundation in 1688. This area is now fully occupied as a burial ground.