Edinburgh Castle

We couldn’t go to Edinburgh and not visit Edinburgh Castle. The castle is managed by Historic Scotland. If you are a member of English Heritage, you can have discounted or free entry, depending on how long you’ve been a member.

On the site there were signs that it was lived from the Iron Age. In 100AD it was a fort. The first recordings of the castle were in the 12th century. It was a Royal residence until 1633. Research made recently, in 2014 identified that the castle had 26 sieges during its 1100-year-old history. This makes Edinburgh Castle “the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world”. On the grounds of the castle it’s a St Margaret’s Chapel built in 1130s and that makes it Edinburgh’s oldest building. The Chapel can be visited. Due to its small size and a lot of visitors, I don’t have clear pictures of it.
On the website of the Historic Scotland there is a very interesting timeline with lots of details about the castle.

This is the statue of Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig. It was praised for his actions in the Battle of the Somme, but now the decisions taken at that time are questioned. The statue is in front of the National War Museum.

Duelling pistols

A pocket mirror that belonged to Lord Ogilvy, an officer in the Jacobite army during the 1745 Rebellion. The mirror helped the gentleman to look as he should during battles. It also meant they or their servant had to carry extra weight.

In the 19th century it was a romantic image of the highland soldier. The uniforms become more elaborate and beautiful. Queen Victoria loved the highlands and she made the rest of the public enthusiastic too. The highland military outfit was expensive and these regiments attracted wealthy and fashionable officers of the army. They had to pay for their kits.

These were some of the living quarters of the prisoners.

The One O’Clock Gun is fired Monday to Saturday at 1pm every day. Today the only purpose of the gun is that is a tourist attraction. Traditionally it was used so the sailing ships could check and reset their chronometers.

We all were aware that the gun will go off and we were all scared when it happened. It was funny.

This is the dog cemetery used from Victorian times.

During the WWII, the Scotland’s Crown Jewels were buried here, in the David’s Tower. Only 4 people were aware of the location: King George VI, the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Governos-General of Canada. The last person sounds strange, but it was an assurance that the jewels would be safe even if the other three were captured.

The Crown Jewels can be seen, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

The King’s and Queen’s chambers. This fireplace is in the King’s chamber. In the Queen’s chamber is the place where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son, King James VI and I.

Two ladies were showing how a lady of the court would have dressed a couple of hundred years ago. In the first picture, top left, one of them is in her underwear. They explained in a very entertaining way. Everybody from the crowd was enjoying themselves.

The curtsy was very appropriate too.

The views from Edinburgh Castle are beautiful. I loved visiting it and I think it’s a must see for everyone that wants to see Edinburgh.