Edinburgh Castle

It stands on the core of an extinct volcano. Though the castle existed in the 6^th century, very little is known about its role. It is therefore important to remember that Edinburgh was not the capital of Scotland until the end of the Middle Ages, before that time the capital was wherever the king and his court happened to be.

In the 11^th century the castle became a favourite residence of the Scottish kings. It was in this castle that St. Margaret died, shortly after hearing of the death of her husband, King Malcolm III and her eldest son, in 1093. The oldest surviving building in the castle is the Chapel and it’s dedicated to her memory, though it was probably not built until after her youngest son, David I, came to the throne in 1124.

Apart from the chapel, nothing is known about the other buildings.

Between 1174 and 1186 the castle was held by an English garrison, following the capture of King William the Lion at Alnwick, and it was again taken by the English in 1296,  and it was to change hands on several occasions in the course of Scotland’s fight for independence of English domination.

The castle’s defences were demolished by the Scots in 1313 because they didn’t want the English to hold it against them.

In 1356 when King David II returned to Scotland from English captivity, he started rebuilding the castle walls and they began to assume their present form.

David concentrated on building a strong defensive line across the east side, with a great tower (later known as David’s Tower), for his residence.

This work was continued by his successor, Robert II, who added a gate-tower at the north end on its upper floors.

Several kings improved the royal accommodation within the castle. It is very likely that a chamber which James I is known to have built for himself to the south of David’s tower in 1430s was on the site of the later Palace block.

In the first years of the 16^th century, James IV completed a fine Great Hall, which had to be built out on a massive sub-structure along the south side of the castle, and it was probably he, who began to give the southern part of the palace building the form it has now.  It was during this period that the role of the castle became more important for it was the seat of government.

The castle was once the principal store of royal artillery and in the 1540s a repository was built for the state records.

In 1544 Edinburgh Castle was attacked by the English, though it had not been seriously threatened, it was decided to increase the defences immediately and an Italian engineer was commissioned to build an artillery bastion. The castle’s military and political significance was by now beginning to outweigh its function as a royal residence, except at times of emergency, and more comfortable and spacious accommodation for the royal household was found elsewhere, as in the Abbey of Holyrood.

In 1566 Mary Queen of Scots chose to give birth to her son in the castle.

In the second half of the 16^th century, Scotland was torn by great internal conflicts, and the castle was in the middle of much of these. In 1573 the walls were blasted to pieces when Kirkcaldy of Grange tried to hold it for Queen Mary and in the course of the next 15 years, the defences on the east side of the Castle rock were transformed.

The ruins of David’s tower were completely enveloped by a massive wall topped by an artillery platform, known as the Half Moon Battery and a greatly strengthened cross-wall capped by the Forewall Battery was erected across the rock. A new gatehouse now known as the Portcullis Gate was built.

During 1615 and 1617 further works were undertaken in anticipation of James VI’s first homecoming after he had been crowned as James I of England in 1603.  All these works were purely domestic and involved the extension of the Palace block to provide suitable accommodation for the king.

After 1647 the castle’s royal role almost disappeared. In 1650 Cromwell’s force of occupation had begun to convert the royal buildings to military uses by sub-dividing the Great Hall to form barracks.

Although in 1672 part of the palace range was fitted up as an official residence for the Duke of Lauderdale, as Commissioner to the Scottish parliament; the castle’s prime function was that of a fortress and barrack.

The ditch across the entrance front was started in 1650s and in the 1670s major works of improvement were made to the defences.

Repairs and reconstruction of the walls were again undertaken in the 1720s and 1740s, and in 1742 an elegant house was built for the Governor to the north-west of the main complex of buildings.

In the course of these years the castle suffered several assaults.

In 1640 General Leslie had besieged and taken the castle for the Covenanters, and in 1650 it was taken for Cromwell.

The Duke of Gordon unsuccessfully attempted to defend the castle for James VII against the forces of William and Mary in 1689 and in 1715 the Jacobites made an attempt to take the Castle for the Old Pretender. The last action the Castle saw was in 1745 when Prince Charles’s forces made another half-hearted effort to take it.

By the second half of the 18^th century, the castle’s defences had reached the form they have now, and from this date onwards, the main building activity concentrated on the structures within the castle walls.

In 1796 the vast New Barracks were built towards the south of the rock to accommodate the soldiers fighting in the wars with France. By the early 19^th century, its role was beginning to be modified by a growing awareness of its historical importance and romantic associations. Sir Walter Scott was closely involved in this change of attitudes.

In 1846 St. Margaret’s chapel was rediscovered among the clutter of later buildings, and restored to what was thought to be in its 12^th century form. In 1858 work started on the reconstruction of some of the western walls but was later abandoned because of public protest.

By Monica Loreto 

Edinburgh Castle and a typical pub below from the old town

View from  Prince Street

The Castle and  Prince Street Gardens

View of the Castle from Castle St

The Castle and the Castle Rock, view from Prince Street

Another view of the Castle

Panoramic view of Edinburgh -new town- from the castle