The World's End - 4 High Street, Old Town, Edinburgh. EH1 1TB - Pictorial Pub Signs on Waymarking.com

On the 9th September, 1513, the invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey fought a decisive battle at Flodden Field in Northumberland. It was one battle of the ongoing conflict between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England and the one in which the largest numbers of troops fought. King James IV was killed, becoming the last monarch from the British Isles to suffer such a death, and was a decisive English victory.

After this battle Edinburgh became a walled city for protection and the gates to the city, which formed part of the wall, were just outside the pub and the brass cobbles in the road outside represent their exact location. As far as the people of Edinburgh were concerned the world outside these gates was no longer theirs, and hence the name, The World’s End.

This pub is billed as one of the ‘old style’, pulling in tourists who walk the cobbled streets and stop to quench their thirst. Above the bar, scores of foreign banknotes give a nod and a wink to the broad, international clientele who have drunk here. Complementing the ‘old-fashioned feel’, television is minimal, allowing the pub’s capacity of around 140 to drink in peace! Today, those venturing inside the tavern will find that its unique hospitality makes the world of difference. [Pub's own advertising blurb]...but a To Let sign is prominent.

The World's End is notorious for another event which occurred in more recent times. From Wikipedia; On the night of 15 October 1977, Christine Eadie and Helen Scott were seen leaving the World's End Pub at closing time, the final stop on a Saturday night pub crawl. The following day, Christine (Eadie)'s naked body was discovered in Gosford Bay, East Lothian, by hill walkers. (Helen) Scott's body was found unclothed six miles away from (Christine) Eadie's, in a corn-stubble field. Both girls had been beaten, gagged, tied, raped and strangled. No attempt had been made to conceal their bodies. The only living person to stand trial accused of the murders, Angus Sinclair, was acquitted in 2007 in controversial circumstances. Following the amendment of the law of double jeopardy, which would have prevented his retrial, Sinclair was re-tried in October 2014 and convicted of both murders on 14 November 2014. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 37 years, the longest sentence handed down by a Scottish court, meaning he would be 106 years old when he became eligible for parole.

Sinclair is thought to have killed four other women, in addition to Eadie and Scott, all within a seven-month period, as well as pleading guilty to culpable homicide of eight-year-old Catherine Reehill in 1961 and given another life sentence in 2001 for the 1978 murder of 17-year-old Mary Gallacher.

The pub sign shows the pub as being the last building in Edinburgh and a wall stretching into the distance with Scots on the inside and English troops on the outside being attacked with bows and arrows. A highlander has an English soldier held at knifepoint at the gate. Careful study of the sign is recommended.

Name of Artist: Not listed Date of current sign: Not listed Date of first pub on site: Not listed

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