Lauriston Castle Lecture Programme 2025

Join us in the beautiful surroundings of Lauriston Castle for our 2025 lecture programme...and perhaps a tour!

A montage of different fabrics, including red blue and green tartans, to orange birds on a black background, to quilted flowers

Patterns of Fashion: Exploring pattern in the dress history and textiles collection of Museums & Galleries Edinburgh

Wednesday 14 May 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

From chintz to tartan, paisley to pop-art, join History Curator Vicky Garrington on a tour of the origins of some of the most recognisable patterns... Book now More info
Gordon Roberts sitting in the back garden of his childhood home with his baby sister Frances wrapped in a shawl on his lap

Growing up in Corstorphine in the 1950s

Wednesday 21 May 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

This lecture will take the form of a personal reminiscence of growing up as a child in the 1950s and early 1960s in the suburb of Edinburgh. These... Book now More info
A watercolour of a group of small children crowding round what looks to be an older king and queen. The king wears a crown and a tartan sash

Welcome to Dollyland

Wednesday 28 May 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Join us to explore a unique miniature world created by two young friends in the early 1900s. Elisabeth and Margaret lived next door to each other in... Book now More info
A green-hued painting of birds in a garden gathering in a circle around a small fairy

Children’s Books at the Museum of Childhood: Through the Ages

Thursday 12 June 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Take a trip down memory lane with us with Lyn Stevens, Curator at Museum of Childhood, reminiscing about the books you may have read as a child, and... Book now More info
A black and white photo of Charabanc number 502 full of passengers with water and hills in the background

Edinburgh in the 1920s

Tuesday 1 July 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Join us for a lecture exploring life in the City at the time the last owner Mrs Reid would have lived. Using archive material which documents aspects... Book now More info
A row of women in WAAF uniforms line up for inspection at an RAF base, 1942

They All Wore Blue – The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force In World War II

Wednesday 9 July 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

During World War II, over 217,000 young women from 48 different countries served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. They were known as Waafs. From... Book now More info
Two men and a woman crossing a snowy crevasse on a ladder. The men are tied together by a rope, the one in front has a pickaxe embedded in the snow. The woman in the middle wears a hat and a long dress(!)

Petticoats and Pinnacles: Scotland's Pioneering Mountain Women

Tuesday 15 July 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

This illustrated talk will explore the National Library of Scotland’s collections to uncover the hidden history of Scottish women mountaineers. As... Book now More info
A sepia image of two ghostly images of women in Edwardian dress in a living room full of furniture with paintings on the wall

The Evolution of Edinburgh’s Ghosts

Thursday 17 July 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

An overview of how ghosts and the stories around them have changed over Edinburgh’s centuries as a capital city. Alex Staniforth has been a history... Book now More info
A Hogarth etching. Moll Hackabout is dying while two doctors argue over her treatment. The scene is one of pverty and squalor. Plaster has peeled off the walls, a child sits by the fire, washing hangs on a line above the bed chamber.

One Night with Venus, A Lifetime with Mercury: Sex and Syphilis

Tuesday 2 September 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Erasmus described syphilis as “the most destructive of all diseases”, and in the nineteenth century it was considered not just a health problem, but... Book now More info
An image of the book Ruxton The first modern murder, showing a head that is part male, part skeleton

Ruxton: The First Modern Murder

Thursday 25 September 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

The 1935 discovery of two dismembered bodies discarded in The Borderlands of Scotland would set off a chain of events that would result in one of the... Book now More info
Mrs Reid in a long skirt and jacket, wearing a hat and carrying a cane, standing beside a sundial in the garden. Black and white photo

Socialites to servants: the women behind Lauriston

Wednesday 1 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

In the 700-year history of Lauriston, three women have owned the Castle and countless others have kept the place running, yet their stories have been... Book now More info
Costumed Performers at Lauriston Castle

Emily Pankhurst and The Suffragettes

Tuesday 7 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

This is a story about the struggle of women to obtain the same right as men to vote in British general elections, a struggle which did not end until... Book now More info
A black and white photo of three women in Edwardian clothes and big hats leaning out of a train window from the first class carriage

A Decade through Page and Place

Thursday 9 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Join Ruthanne Baxter as she takes us on a time-travelling road trip across Great Britain and Ireland in the Edwardian era. As we ‘travel’ we’ll take... Book now More info
The cover of the The World's End Murders book, showing two silhouetted figures surrounded by shadowy trees and mist

The World's End Murders: The Inside Story

Thursday 23 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

The abduction and murder of two young Edinburgh girls in October 1977 shocked the city and led to the longest continuous murder investigation in... Book now More info
A black and white photo of Dr Margaret Caroline Tait and someone standing at her shoulder looking into the viewfinder of a camera

Scotland’s Herstory

Wednesday 29 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

History is full of men: politicians, kings, heroes. But what about the women? What role did they play in society? What names should we be remembering... Book now More info
A composite image of John Law in a large wig and holding a sealed document, a French cheque and some gold coins

John Law - Swindler or Prophet?

Thursday 30 October 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Described by Karl Marx as ‘the pleasant character mixture of swindler and prophet’, John Law inherited Lauriston Castle at the age of 12. At the age... Book now More info
A painting of Melrose from the distance, with hills in the background and trees in the foreground

Noble Intentions: The History of the Scottish Modern Arts Association

Thursday 6 November 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Founded in Edinburgh in 1907, the Scottish Modern Arts Association set out to establish Scotland’s first ever national collection of modern art. For... Book now More info
Curator Vicky Garrington, dressed in grey, admiring a yellow and black shortsleeved dress which is displayed on a mannequin. In the background, a street map is on the wall

War on the Fashion Front: Getting dressed as a civilian in World War 2

Tuesday 11 November 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Join History Curator Vicky Garrington for an exploration of the art of dressing during wartime. From rationing and restrictions to patriotic clothing... Book now More info
A black and white drawing of four women on their knees, in front of a raised throne-like chair. One man in mediaeval garb threatens them with a stick, another sits on the throne, a third points to the women

The East of Scotland Witch Trials

Tuesday 18 November 2025, 10:30am

Lauriston Castle Lectures

Between the 16th and 17th Century an estimated 4000 people were tried in Scotland for witchcraft, approximately 85% of these people being women. Of... Book now More info