Old Town - Edinburgh - page 51

Don't Miss
The Esplanade
The castle's Esplanade is a parade ground dating from 1820, with superb views south
over the city towards the Pentland Hills. At its western end is the Entrance Gateway , dat-
ing from 1888 and flanked by statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace. Above
the gate is the Royal Standard of Scotland - a red lion rampant on a gold field - and the
Scottish Royal motto in Latin, 'Nemo me impune lacessit.' This translates into Scots as
'wha daur meddle wi' me', and into English as 'watch it, pal' (OK, it literally means 'no
one provokes me with impunity').
One O'Clock Gun
Inside the entrance, a cobbled lane leads up beneath the 16th-century Portcullis Gate ,
topped by the 19th-century Argyle Tower, and past the cannon of the Argyle and Mills
Mount Batteries. The battlements here have great views over the New Town to the Firth of
Forth. At the far end of Mills Mount Battery is the One O'Clock Gun , a gleaming WWII
25-pounder that fires an ear-splitting time signal at 1pm every day (except Sundays,
Christmas Day and Good Friday).
St Margaret's Chapel
South of Mills Mount, the road curls up leftwards through Foog's Gate to the highest part
of Castle Rock, crowned by the tiny St Margaret's Chapel , the oldest surviving building
in Edinburgh. It's a simple Romanesque structure that was probably built by David I or
Alexander I in memory of their mother Queen Margaret sometime around 1130 (she was
canonised in 1250). Following Cromwell's capture of the castle in 1650 it was used to
store ammunition until it was restored at the order of Queen Victoria; it was rededicated in
1934. The tiny stained-glass windows - depicting Margaret, St Andrew, St Columba, St
Ninian and William Wallace - date from the 1920s.
Mons Meg
Immediately north of St Margaret's Chapel is Mons Meg , a giant 15th-century siege gun
built at Mons in Belgium in 1449. The gun was last fired in 1681, as a birthday salute for
the future King James VII/II, when its barrel burst. Take a peek over the wall to the north