27 September 2025 (10:00 - 16:00)
28 September 2025 (10:00 - 16:00)
The Cockburn Association is the country’s oldest independent conservation and amenity charity. We work to protect the qualities and amenities of the city and to promote its special architectural, landscape and historic heritage. 2025 is our 150th anniversary as an organisation. To celebrate this, we will have displays throughout our office detailing the Association’s history and work, as well as information about the historic Moubray house where our offices are located.
Only the Association’s offices are open. These were transformed from unused storage space into the Association’s offices in 1990. The Association is celebrating its 150th year anniversary this year, and there will be exhibitions and information about its work protecting Edinburgh’s heritage and civic amenity.
Access to the hidden garden and Patrick Geddes memorial sculpture behind Moubray House will be also available.
Moubray House was originally built around 1477 for Robert Moubray, but was reconstructed and extended in 1529. The Association purchased Moubray House in 1910 to prevent its demolition. Some famous occupants Scotland’s eminent portrait painter George Jamesone (1587–1644), Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe) who edited the Edinburgh Courant (1710) when he was a spy for the English government, and the once premises of publisher Archibald Constable (1774-1827), who created the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

2025 Theme Architectural Heritage: Windows to the Past, Doors to the Future
The Cockburn Association is a heritage, architectural, and civic amenity conservation charity with a 150 year history of protecting Edinburgh’s built heritage. Our displays will showcase the Association’s work through the years, exploring what remains, and what has been lost, of Edinburgh’s heritage.

There is a small set of stairs upon entering the building, and two sets of stairs within, all with handrails.

Address
The Cockburn Association, Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR