Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
National War Museum of Scotland
Entry included in Castle entry fee
Located in the old hospital buildings, down a ramp between the café-restaurant
immediately behind the one o'clock gun and the Governor's House, the
National War
Museum of Scotland
covers the last four hundred years of Scottish military history.
Scots have been fighting for much longer than that, of course, but the slant of the
museum is very definitely towards the soldiers who fought for the Union, rather than
against it (or against themselves). While the various rooms are packed with uniforms,
medals, paintings of heroic actions and plenty of interesting memorabilia, the museum
manages to convey a reflective, human tone. Just as delicate is the job of showing no
favouritism to any of the Scottish regiments, each of which has strong traditions more
forcefully paraded in the various regimental museums found in regions of Scotland -
the Royal Scots and the Scots Dragoon Guards, for instance, both have displays in
other parts of Edinburgh Castle.
St Margaret's Chapel
Near the highest point of the citadel is tiny
St Margaret's Chapel
, the oldest
surviving building in the Castle, and probably in Edinburgh. Although once
believed to have been built by the saint herself, and mooted as the site of her death
in 1093, its architectural style suggests that it actually dates from about thirty
years later.
Mons Meg
he battlements in front of the chapel offer the best of all the Castle's panoramic views.
Here you'll see the famous fifteenth-century siege gun,
Mons Meg
, which could fire a
500lb stone nearly two miles. It last saw active service in the 1540s, and was thereafter
used occasionally as a ceremonial saluting gun before being moved to the Tower of
London in 1754. Such was Meg's emblematic value that Sir Walter Scott persuaded
George IV to return it for his 1822 state visit to Scotland.
Continuing eastwards, you skirt the top of the Forewall and Half Moon Batteries,
passing the 110ft-high
Castle Well
en route to Crown Square.
Crown Square
Crown Square, the historic heart of the Castle, is the most important and secure
section of the entire complex. he square's eastern side is occupied by the
Palace
, a
surprisingly unassuming edifice begun in the 1430s which owes its Renaissance
appearance to King James IV - though it was remodelled for Mary, Queen of Scots and
her consort Henry, Lord Darnley, whose entwined initials (MAH), together with the
date 1566, can be seen above one of the doorways. his gives access to a few historic
rooms, the most interesting of which is the tiny panelled bedchamber at the extreme
southeastern corner, where Mary gave birth to James VI.
A section of the Palace houses a detailed audiovisual presentation on the nation's
Crown Jewels
, properly known as the
Honours of Scotland
and one of the most potent
images of Scotland's nationhood; the originals are housed in the Crown Room at the
very end of the display. James V's jewel-encrusted
crown
incorporates the gold circlet
worn by Robert the Bruce and is topped by an enamelled orb and cross. he glass case
containing the Honours has recently been rearranged to create space for the
incongruously plain
Stone of Destiny
(see box, opposite).
On the south side of Crown Square is James IV's hammer-beam-ceilinged
Great
Hall
, used for meetings of the Scottish Parliament until 1639, while opposite this on
the north side is the serene Hall of Honour housing the
Scottish National War
Memorial
, created in 1927 by the architect Sir Robert Lorimer and 200 Scottish artists
and craftsmen.
