Makars' Court is located next to the Writers' Museum in Lady Stair's Close off Edinburgh's Lawnmarket. The Court was designated in 1999, having been formed from the western part of Wardrop's Court, following an initiative by the Saltire Society, Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd. and the City of Edinburgh Council. It is intended to celebrate the life and works of Scottish writers. The Scots word 'makar' emphasises the role of the author or poet as a worker in the craft of writing. Set in the paving of the Court are a series of slabs which commemorate writers, from the 14th Century to the present day, through quotations of their work. Authors represented include John Barbour (c.1316-95), Robert Henryson (1425 - 1508), William Dunbar (c.1460 - 1520), George Buchanan (1506-82), Robert Fergusson (1750-74), Robert Burns (1759-96), Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832), Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94), Violet Jacob (1863 - 1946), John Buchan (1875 - 1940), Helen Cruickshank (1886 - 1975), Hugh MacDiarmid (1892 - 1978), Nan Shepherd (1893 - 1981), Naomi Mitchison (1897 - 1999), Robert Garioch (1909-81), Sorley MacLean (1911-96) and Iain Crichton Smith (1928-98). An ongoing project, further slabs are added periodically.
