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Edinburgh Castle

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History


 

The earliest stone building in the castle is St Margaret's Chapel built in 1076 by Margaret, the wife of King Malcolm Canmore.  Thereafter the castle was frequently used by the Scottish Kings as a royal residence and as an important place of refuge against the English. 

With the castle so well sited and strategically placed near the mouth of the Forth, Edinburgh soon emerged as the capital of Scotland.  In 1174 the castle was handed to the English after the defeat of William the Lion.  This was the first English occupation of the castle but it only lasted for a short time. 

At the end of the 13th century the castle was at the centre of the struggle between Edward I and King Robert the Bruce.  In 1296 Edward attacked the castle with a great siege engine.  After eight days the Scots surrendered and Edward installed 347 soldiers and attendants at the castle to establish a permanent occupation.   However, 16 years later 30 men, under the Earl of Moray, scaled the west face of the rock and seized the castle.  Bruce then ordered the demolition of the castle, apart from St. Margaret's Chapel, to prevent it being used again by English forces.   Nevertheless, a few years later during the minority of David II, Edward retook the castle and made good the damage.  The English planted gardens and orchards in readiness for a long stay but in 1341 a small party of Scottish soldiers disguised as merchants ambushed and defeated the surprised garrison. 

In 1650 Cromwell attacked the castle with heavy artillery for three months before it surrendered.  The final siege occurred at the castle in 1689 when the castle was held for James VII (II of England) against the forces of William of Orange. 

The struggle for ownership of the castle over the years has meant that little of the early structures have survived but there are still buildings from many centuries on the site.  The half-moon battery and portcullis gate date from the 1570s and the Great Hall and palace were constructed for James IV at the beginning of the 16th century.  The castle's interest is now historical rather than architectural.  In 1633 Charles I visited the castle the night before his Scottish coronation and so briefly did Charles II.  After that time no monarch visited the castle until George IV. 

The castle now proudly houses the Stone of Destiny, a relic of the Scottish kings, seized by the English and only returned in 1996.