Opportunity Knox after historic find in city centre

Published on Wednesday 6 October 2004 12:12

HISTORIANS are waiting with interest to see the contents of three time capsules buried 150 years ago in the Royal Mile.

The large glass jars, which hold dozens of scrolls, were discovered in a stone chamber by workmen renovating the Netherbow Centre in the High Street.

They were working in the foundations of the former Murray Knox Church built next door to John Knox’s House in the 1850s in order to shore it up.

The jars are thought to include lists of donors who raised money for the church to save John Knox’s House from being demolished.

Donald Smith, director of the Netherbow Centre and a cultural historian, said: "It will be a huge thrill to open them up, but I have to wait until we can bring in a specialist to prevent damage."

The Netherbow is undergoing a 3.5 million revamp and Mr Smith said the time capsules suggested history was repeating itself.

"We have been gathering all the names of people who have given money towards the project we are presently carrying out, because we wanted to honour those who have donated to make it possible to complete all this work.

"It is unbelievable timing to find they had exactly the same idea all these decades ago.

"What I hope to do is add our recent time capsule with all the names of the donors now, and add them to the place I am going to bury the original capsules."