Silence for close deaths

A MINUTE'S silence was held in the confines of Edinburgh's best known "hidden" street to mark St Roch's Day - a saint invoked against the plague.

Mary King's Close fell silent as tour staff at the attraction paid tribute to the hundreds who died following the outbreak of the plague in 1645.

Nearly half of those dwelling in the close perished as the disease spread through the city.

Those infected in Mary King's Close were ordered to stay indoors, with bread, coal and even wine delivered daily, for anything from two to six weeks or until death.