History of Edinburgh the meantime the Old Town continued to decay into an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates, and was practically segregated socially from the rest of the city. This was especially true where the sub-division of tenements offered the cheapest lodgings in narrow alleyways that formed the backdrop to the infamous 'West Port Murders' of Burke and Hare. In 1865 Alexander Smith wrote of one of the poorest districts, The Cowgate is the Irish portion of the city. Edinburgh leaps over it with bridges: the inhabitants are morally and geographically the lower orders. They keep to their own quarters,
West Port Book Festival West Port Book Festival The West Port Book Festival was a book festival which was held in Edinburgh from 2008-2012. Initially it took place in August during the busy Edinburgh Festival season, but later it was held at different times in the year. It is of note due to its use of many working second-hand book shop venues, pubs, fish and chip shops, cafes and art venues in the West Port for most of the events, and its insistence on free tickets for entry. Although the West Port Book Festival received some coverage claiming it was a formal rival to