Edinburgh Castle

In 1018 King Malcolm II defeated the English at the Battle of Carham and firmly secured for Scotland the territory between the Firth of Forth and the River Tweed. A royal castle at Edinburgh was built towards the end of the century.

By the start of the 12th century the castle served as a royal residence, a storehouse, as the headquarters of the sheriff, and as a prison. The earliest surviving building, a little chapel, was probably built by King David I (1124 - 53). It was later dedicated to his mother, who was canonised as St Margaret in 1250.

In 1296 King Edward I of England invaded Scotland and Edinburgh Castle soon fell into his hands. A large garrison was installed - 347 strong in 1300. After the King's death in 1307, the English grasp on Scotland weakened. In the spring of 1314, a surprise night attack led by Sir Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, acting for Robert the Bruce, recaptured the castle by scaling the north cliffs with just 30 men. Bruce immediately order the dismantling of the defences to prevent reoccupation by the English.

In 1335 the castle once more fell into English hands. Major repairs were carried out, but these failed to prevent a party led by Sir William Douglas, from disguising themselves as merchants and taking the castle by surprise.

In 1356 Robert the Bruce's son, King David II, returned to Scotland after 10 years in captivity in England. He immediately began rebuilding his castle at Edinburgh. In 1386 work began on a massive 30m high L-shaped tower house crowning the eastern heights. Only a part of the ground floor and a stretch of stone curtain wall remain. In 1433 work began on a new Great Chamber for King James I, intended to complement the restricted accommodation within David's Tower.

During the reign of King James III (1460 - 88), Edinburgh finally emerged as the capital city. About this time the castle was replanned. The focal point was a new courtyard, the quadrangle, called Palace Yard but now known as Crown Square, around which was placed the principal royal accommodation.

The palace and St Mary's Church already stood along the east and north sides of the new courtyard. Along the west side was placed the Gunhouse, where the royal artillery was displayed. The south side was occupied by the Great Hall, the principal banqueting and reception room.

In June 1566 Queen Mary gave birth to a baby prince, James. On 6th May 1567 Mary Queen of Scots returned to the castle with James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Nine days later she and Bothwell were married. The union provoked a large section of the nobility to rebel. Queen Mary surrendered at the Battle of Carberry Hill in June, and was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle where she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son. Escaping ten months later, she fought and lost her last battle at Langside, near Glasgow, before fleeing to England.

Despite her departure, there were still those in Scotland who continued to support the Queen, including Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange, Keeper of Edinburgh Castle. By the summer of 1571 he was defiantly holding the fortress against the Regent governing on behalf of the infant King James. The castle was under siege for over a year (the Lang Siege) until in 1573 Regent Morton sought help from Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Heavy guns were dispatched from Berwick and set up around the castle. Within ten days of the massive bombardment opening on 16th May, much of the castle had been reduced to rubble, including most of David's Tower, the Constable's Tower and the stretch of wall in between. With the main water supply choked by the collapse of David's Tower, Kirkcaldy had no option other than to surrender. He was hanged for treason soon afterwards.

Work was immediately put in hand to reconstruct the castle after the Lang Siege. Much of the effort went into securing the defences, but scant attention was given to the residential accommodation. From this time the monarch's Edinburgh residence was at Holyrood Palace.
The most significant task was the building of a great defence, the Half-Moon Battery, around the stump of David's Tower. The rounded shape of the battery enabled its numerous guns to provide a wide horizontal sweep of fire. This firepower was augmented by guns emplaced on the rebuilt Forewall Battery which ran northward from the Half-Moon Battery to the new portcullised gate tower, the Portcullis Gate, built to replace the Constable's Tower.

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth of England died unmarried and without children. Her heir was King James VI of Scotland. King James and his queen, Anne of Denmark, soon headed south for London. The king returned only once, in 1617. In advance of the royal homecoming, works were carried out to prepare the castle for the king's visit. The most important task was the refurbishment of the Palace, which had received such a battering during the Lang Siege. Much of what the visitor sees today is the result of this operation.

The refurbishment of the Palace included the provision of a strongroom to house the Honours of Scotland, the 'Crown Jewels'. The Crown Room, situated on the first floor, still houses the Honours, the oldest regalia in the United Kingdom.

King James VI seldom visited Edinburgh Castle, preferring to stay at Holyrood Palace. His successor, King Charles I, visited only once, the night before his coronation as King of Scots in 1633, the last occasion that a reigning monarch slept in the castle.

King Charles' execution, and the unequivocal Scottish support for his rightful successor, King Charles II, brought Oliver Cromwell to Scotland. Bt Christmas Day 1650 the English 'Roundheads' had set up their headquarters in Edinburgh Castle. They built a new eastern defence, the dry ditch fronting the gatehouse, and converted the Great Hall into a soldiers' barrack.

It was Cromwell's creation of a permanent standing army, his 'New Model Army', that was to transform the castle into a garrison fortress. Before Cromwell's time the Scottish army had been called into the field only when occasion demanded, otherwise living in their own homes. When King Charles II returned to his throne in 1660 he continued the idea of a regular paid army, and from then until after the First World War, a permanent garrison of soldiers was stationed in the castle.

During that time the medieval castle was transformed into a garrison fortress, and much of what the visitor sees today dates from this phase of use. Throughout the 1720' and 30's most of the artillery defences now seen protecting the castle on its north and west sides was built. The last military action the castle saw was during the 1745 Jacobite Rising when Bonnie Prince Charlie failed to take the fortress.

Over the next century the castle was used to hold prisoners of war during several conflicts including the Seven Years' War (1757-63), the War of American Independence (1775-83), and the Napoleonic wars (1793-1815).

In 1818, Walter Scott, the famous novelist, together with the Governor of the castle, broke down the doors to the Crown Room to rediscover the Honours of Scotland which had been locked away after the 1707 Treaty of Union between Scotland and England. The Honours were almost immediately placed on public display and people flocked to the castle to view them.

With it's new found popularity with visitors, efforts were made to restore parts of the castle for public viewing. This involved demolishing some of the newer buildings and restoring others, although not necessarily to their original state - the Great Hall acquired a magnificent Victorian interior.

In 1923 the main garrison finally marched out to their new home, Redford Barracks, in the suburbs of the city, though the castle still serves as an Army headquarters. The now vacated North Barracks in Crown Square was converted into the Scottish War Memorial, opened in 1927.
On St. Andrew's Day, 1996, the Stone of Destiny was returned to Scotland and now rests in the Crown Room alongside the Honours of Scotland. The Stone had served as the seat on which Scottish Kings had been inaugurated for over 400 years until its removal from Scone Abbey to London in 1296. For nearly 700 years monarchs of England and later Great Britain and Ireland were crowned on the Stone in Westminster Abbey.

This history of Edinburgh Castle was taken from the official souvenir guide to Edinburgh Castle published by Historic Scotland