Brief Edinburgh Castle History

Edinburgh castle stands proudly in the Centre of Scotlands capital city, it is built high upon the basalt remains of a long extinct volcano.

The oldest part of the castle dates back to the Normans, and there are buildings and fortifications covering every period since.

The castle is home to the Scottish Crown Jewels (Honours), the Stone of Destiny, the giant 15th century siege gun, Mons Meg, the Scottish National War Memorial and the famous One O'Clock Gun, which is fired daily at 1.00pm. The castle also contains several military and regimental museums.

Recent archaeological excavations have discovered evidence for a settlement of round houses on the rock dating back to the late Bronze Age (about 900BC). The archaeologists also found a wealth of Roman material, suggesting close contact between the native Votadini tribe and the Roman military in the region.

In time the Votadini tribe became known as the Gododdin, and it is with the Gododdin that the castle rock first appears on record shortly before 600AD. In Din Eidyn (the stronghold of Eidyn) 300 men pledged to die in service for their king, Mynyddog Mwynfawr. Most did die on a raid into the territory of the Angles in about 600AD at Catraeth (Catterick in Yorkshire). Retreating to their tribal lands, the Gododdin were pursued by the Angles. Din Eidyn was besieged and taken in 638, and the place seems to have received the English name, Edinburgh, which it has kept ever since.

In 1018 King Malcolm II defeated the English at the Battle of Carham and firmly secured for Scotland the territory between the Firth of Forth and the River Tweed. A royal castle at Edinburgh was built towards the end of the century.

Edinburgh Castle dominates the city of Edinburgh like no other castle in Scotland , and Edinburgh Castle is unequalled in the whole of the British Isles . Over one thousand years of history sit on top of the famous Edinburgh rock and it is easy to see why over a million visitors a year visit Edinburgh Castle .