Image: Tirling pin, Royal Mile - geograph.org.uk - 1538640

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Description: Tirling pin, Royal Mile The tirling pin was a primitive ancestor of the door-bell and a cousin of the door-knocker. It was scraped up and down to make a rattling sound that would announce a visitor's presence. This one is on the door of Cannonball House on Castlehill. Alas, the word 'tirling' has disappeared as no-one has any use for it any more. The original 'Wee Willie Winkie' poem by William Miller may be its final resting-place (provided it is not translated). Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun, Up stairs and doon stairs in his nicht-goun, Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock, 'Are the weans in their bed, for it's noo ten o'clock?'
Title: Tirling pin, Royal Mile - geograph.org.uk - 1538640
Credit: From geograph.org.uk
Author: kim traynor
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
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Wee Willie Winkie

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