Edinburgh - Scotland - page 109

( www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk ; adult/child incl audioguide £16/9.20; 9.30am-6pm Apr-
Sep, to 5pm Oct-Mar, last admission 45min before closing) The brooding, black crags of
Castle Rock, rising above the western end of Princes St, are the very reason for Edin-
burgh's existence. This rocky hill was the most easily defended hilltop on the invasion
route between England and central Scotland, a route followed by countless armies from
the Roman legions of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD to the Jacobite troops of Bonnie
Prince Charlie in 1745.
Edinburgh Castle has played a pivotal role in Scottish history, both as a royal residence
- King Malcolm Canmore (r 1058-93) and Queen Margaret first made their home here in
the 11th century - and as a military stronghold. The castle last saw military action in
1745; from then until the 1920s it served as the British army's main base in Scotland.
Today it is one of Scotland's most atmospheric, most popular - and most expensive -
tourist attractions.
The Entrance Gateway , flanked by statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace,
opens to a cobbled lane that leads up beneath the 16th-century Portcullis Gate to the can-
nons ranged along the Argyle and Mills Mount batteries. The battlements here have great
views over New Town to the Firth of Forth.
At the far end of Mills Mount Battery is the famous One O'Clock Gun , where crowds
gather to watch a gleaming WWII 25-pounder fire an ear-splitting time signal at exactly
1pm (every day except Sunday, Christmas Day and Good Friday).
South of Mills Mount, the road curls up leftwards through Foog's Gate to the highest
part of Castle Rock, crowned by the tiny, Romanesque St Margaret's Chapel , the oldest
surviving building in Edinburgh. It was probably built by David I or Alexander I in
memory of their mother, Queen Margaret, sometime around 1130 (she was canonised in
1250). Beside the chapel stands Mons Meg , a giant 15th-century siege gun built at Mons
(in what is now Belgium) in 1449.