Edinburgh Castle sits atop Castle Rock, the plug of an extinct volcano that last erupted around 350 million years ago, its steep, defensible sides having made the site a natural stronghold occupied in some form since at least the Iron Age, long before the castle’s earliest surviving stone structures were built. St Margaret’s Chapel, within the castle grounds, dates to the early 12th century and is considered the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, a small, plain Romanesque structure that has outlasted virtually every other building added to the castle in the nine centuries since.
The castle has been besieged more times than almost any other fortress in Britain, changing hands repeatedly during the Wars of Scottish Independence and later conflicts, a defensive history so extensive that historians have described it as one of the most attacked castles anywhere in the world.
A Castle That Still Fires a Cannon Every Day
The One O’Clock Gun, fired daily from the castle’s Half Moon Battery since 1861, originally served a practical purpose, giving ships in the Firth of Forth an audible time signal they could use to accurately set their chronometers before modern communication made the practice obsolete, a tradition maintained today largely for its own historic and ceremonial value. The castle also houses the Honours of Scotland, the country’s crown jewels, among the oldest surviving royal regalia in the British Isles, alongside the Stone of Destiny, the ancient coronation stone of Scottish kings, returned to Scotland in 1996 after centuries spent in England following its seizure by Edward I in 1296.
Edinburgh Castle remains an active military site as well as a visitor attraction, still home to a garrison and regimental headquarters, a working military role that has continued in some form for centuries alongside its role as one of Scotland’s most visited historic sites.
Painting a Fortress on Volcanic Stone
Edinburgh Castle’s dark stone ramparts rising from ancient volcanic rock give a watercolourist dramatic elevation and rugged texture to work with. We’ve captured that setting in our own Edinburgh Castle Watercolor Print, painted first by hand and printed to order on archival paper, a small piece of Scotland for a wall at home.
Built on the remains of a volcano and besieged more than almost any fortress in Britain, Edinburgh Castle remains a stronghold whose ground has always been as significant as anything built on top of it.