Edinburgh Time Capsule riddle unsolved

A statute commemorating the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes has been temporarily moved as work on Edinburgh's tram system continues. Workers uncovered a time capsule, under the statue at Picardy Place, which was first installed in 1991.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Picardy Place, on May 22, 1859. He qualified as a doctor. His work at a field hospital in Bloemfontein during the Boer War helped earn him a knighthood in 1902. Conan Doyle is best remembered as the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the organisation responsible for the capsule, are refusing to reveal the contents of the capsule as it had not been underground for twenty years.

Ian Baird, the former chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the FMB told the Edinburgh Evening News that: "There were only five members who knew what was in the time capsule and two of them have now passed on. When we put it there we didn't expect it to be opened for 50 to 100 years. Myself and the other two who know what's inside will not tell anybody else."

The bronze statute of Holmes will go into storage and then be unveiled once more Picardy Place once the tram work has been completed.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887, in A Study of Scarlet. Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson appeared in more than fifty stories and novels.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Taken from the The Sign of Four (1890), Chapter 6. In The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Penguin edition 1981), p.111.

Picardy Place is a short walk from St Andrew Square and West Princes Street Gardens which both feature in the Old and New Towns Edinburgh audio walking tour.

Hear about some of the literary greats associated with the Scottish capital with two Walk Talk Tour Edinburgh audio travel guides. Each Walk Talk Tour Edinburgh city guide can be completed in two hours, though listeners have the flexibility to explore the sights at their own pace - stopping off, whenever and wherever they fancy.

To hear an audio sample from the Old and New Towns tour please click here.