Edinburgh Castle dominates Scotland’s capital city from its great rock. Its story has helped shape the nation’s story. Battles and sieges were fought over it, royalty lived and died within its walls, and countless generations have been and inspired by it. Fierce Iron Age warriors defended a hill fort here, and the nation’s oldest poetry tells of a war band feasting here for a year before riding to their deaths in battle. The Scots and English struggled for control of the castle during the Wars of Independence. In 1314 it was recaptured from the English in a daring night raid led by Thomas Randolph, nephew of King Robert the Bruce. The castle has sheltered many Scottish monarchs. They include Queen Margaret (later St Margaret), who died here in 1093, and Mary Queen of Scots, who gave birth to James VI in the Royal Palace in 1566. Her great-great-great grandson Charles Edward Stuart – Bonnie Prince Charlie – captured Edinburgh but was unable to take the castle during the 1745-6 Jacobite Rising. In 1996, the Stone of Destiny, on which kings were enthroned for centuries, was returned to Scotland. It is now displayed in the Crown Room. In the 1600s, the castle became a military base. Some buildings were rebuilt and new ones were raised to house a huge garrison – and provide a secure jail for prisoners of war. The military presence remains unbroken, but over the last 200 years the castle has become a national icon. It is now Scotland’s leading tourist attraction, and a key element of the Edinburgh World Heritage Site. Info from the Edinburgh Castle official website.
We happened to be in Edinburgh on June 10 for the Duke of Edinburgh’s birthday. From our hotel window on Princes Street we watched the cannons at Edinburgh Castle fire the gun salute commemorating the special day. According to The Official Website of the British Monarchy: Gun salutes are customarily fired, both on shore and at sea, as a sign of respect or welcome. Just as a salute with the open hand was used historically to show that no weapon was concealed in the palm, so the firing of cannon as a salute indicated the friendly intent of an empty chamber. Today gun salutes mark special occasions on certain days of the year, many of them with Royal associations. On these days, Royal salutes are fired from locations in London and authorised stations in the United Kingdom. The number of rounds fired in a Royal salute depends on the place and occasion.
View of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street:
Entering Edinburgh Castle:
Statues of Robert the Bruce by Thomas Clapperton and William Wallace by Alexander Carrick were added to the Gatehouse entrance in 1929:
We met for a free tour of the castle which I highly recommend. Our guide was wonderfully entertaining:
The Stone of Destiny is displayed alongside the Crown Jewels in the Royal Palace on the east side of Crown Square. According to Edinburgh Castle’s website: Kings of Scotland were enthroned on this enigmatic stone for centuries. But in 1296, the English King Edward I took the Stone from Scone near Perth and had it built into his throne. It has since been part of the coronation ceremonies of most monarchs of England and, later, Great Britain. In 1996, the Stone was returned to Scotland. The Stone was supposed to have been a Biblical relic – the pillow on which the Patriarch Jacob rested his head when he dreamt of Jacob’s Ladder. In legend, this sacred stone was brought to Ireland and then to Scotland by the first Scottish kings. The Stone will only leave Scotland again when there is a coronation in Westminster Abbey. On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students removed the Stone from Westminster Abbey in London. Three months later it turned up 500 miles away – at the front door of Arbroath Abbey. The Crown, Sceptre and Sword of State are the oldest crown jewels in the British Isles. The Sceptre was presented to James IV by Pope Alexander VI in 1494 while the Crown was first worn by James V for the coronation of his wife, Queen Mary of Guise in 1540.
The Great Hall was completed in 1511 for James IV. Its famous medieval wooden roof is one of the most remarkable in Britain. You can see a huge collection of weapons and armor displayed around the walls of the Great Hall.
The great, curved wall of the Half Moon Battery gives the castle its unique profile:
The beautiful Scottish National War Memorial commemorates the dead of the First and Second World Wars and of military campaigns since 1945:
Great views of Edinburgh from the castle:
One of the world’s most famous guns, Mons Meg was given to King James II by Duke Philip of Burgundy in 1457. She was cutting edge military technology, capable of firing a 150kg gun stone for up to 3.2km (two miles) to devastating effect.
St. Margaret’s Chapel was built by David I in about 1130 as a private place of worship for the royal family. The King dedicated the chapel to his saintly mother, Queen Margaret. It is still used for christenings and weddings.
At the gift shop we found this bottle of scotch selling for £3,900:
After the tour we visited some of the other museums and sights at Edinburgh Castle including two independent regimental museums: The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum in the New Barracks and the Royal Scots Museum in the Drill Hall opposite. They tell the stories of two of Scotland’s oldest regiments through artwork, memorabilia and personal accounts.
Below the Great Hall and Queen Anne Building we visited the cavernous stone vaults that were for many years used as prisons of war. Prisoners from France, America, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Denmark and Poland were kept here. They included a five-year-old drummer boy captured at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
The One o’clock Gun is fired at 13:00 hours every day except Sunday. The tradition began in 1861 to provide ships in the Firth of Forth with an audible time signal to accompany the visual signal of the time-ball dropping at the top of the Nelson Monument. This helped shipping set the maritime clocks needed to navigate the globe long before satellite navigation was available. Our guide mentioned that 1:00 works better than 12:00 because that requires firing only one cannon as opposed to twelve.
In the National War Museum, we learned about 400 years of Scotland at war through personal accounts, military artifacts and treasured collections. This museum contains a wealth of material that ranges from letters home from foreign campaigns to Highland broadswords and chemical warfare suits.
After visiting the castle, we explored the city streets. Edinburgh is so beautiful!
We also found the statue of Greyfriars Bobby:
