Edinburgh Castle: Fortress, Military Garrison and National Symbol

Few buildings define a city as completely as Edinburgh Castle. Set high above the Old Town, it has been a royal residence, a besieged fortress, a barracks for soldiers and prisoners, and the home of Scotland’s crown jewels. Following how Edinburgh Castle’s role changed over the centuries explains why it still means so much to Scotland, and it is a constant presence above the Old Town for travellers on our Edinburgh Festival Fringe small group tour.

A rock made for defence

The castle’s story begins with geology. Historic Environment Scotland describes it as standing on a volcanic outcrop that commands the centre of the city. The same records show that the Castle Rock has been settled since the late Bronze Age and was probably an Iron Age hill fort, and that the castle’s royal connections go back around a thousand years. Its later defences grew from that natural advantage, and the long slope of the Old Town runs down from it towards the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

What is the oldest building in Edinburgh Castle?

The oldest building is St Margaret’s Chapel, which is also the oldest building in Edinburgh. It was built around 1130 by David I as a tribute to his mother, Queen Margaret. Modest in scale, it shows that the rock was a place of royal devotion as well as defence from the castle’s early centuries.

A royal fortress

Through the Middle Ages the castle changed hands with the fortunes of the Scottish crown. Robert I took it from the English in 1314 and reportedly razed it, and after it was recaptured in 1341 David II ordered large-scale rebuilding. The royal apartments grew around what is now Crown Square: the Palace dates from the fifteenth century and was substantially reconstructed in 1615–17 for a visit by James VI.

The Great Hall was built in 1509–11 under James IV, a century and more after the kingdom’s early struggles described in our article on the birth of Scotland. Its hammer-beam roof is one of only two surviving late-medieval timber roofs in Scotland, and it remains one of the castle’s grandest spaces.

Sieges and guns

Historic Environment Scotland describes Edinburgh Castle as having been besieged more times than any other castle in Europe. The most destructive was the Lang Siege of 1571–73, during the civil war that followed the deposition of Mary, Queen of Scots, when the castle was held for her. The siege brought down David’s Tower, and the curved Half-Moon Battery was later built on its remains.

Among the castle’s guns is Mons Meg, a great medieval siege cannon. Its present carriage, made in 1935, is based on a stone panel carving in the Gatehouse. Edinburgh was not the only royal stronghold to see repeated conflict; our guide to Stirling introduces another great castle of central Scotland.

From royal fortress to military garrison

As monarchs spent less time in the castle, soldiers took their place. It became a military garrison in the 1560s and, from 1660, served as Scotland’s chief garrison. The Queen Anne Building of 1708–13 was the first purpose-built barracks within the walls. After the Jacobite Rising of 1745, new storehouses and a powder magazine were added in 1748–56, and the New Barracks followed in 1796–99.

The castle also held prisoners of war, whose stories are told in its exhibitions. Today it houses three regimental museums, which keep its long military identity in view.

Why does the One O’Clock Gun fire?

It began as a time signal for ships. The gun was first fired on 7 June 1861 to replicate, in sound, the visual signal of the time ball installed on the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill in 1852, which drops at exactly one o’clock, so that captains in the ports of Leith and Newhaven could set their chronometers. It still fires at one o’clock every day except Sundays and Christmas Day, and the castle also lists Good Friday as an exception.

A national symbol

The castle’s role as a symbol of Scotland rests above all on the Honours of Scotland: the crown, sceptre and sword of state, which the castle describes as the oldest crown jewels in Britain. The crown was made for James V, and Mary, Queen of Scots, was the first monarch crowned with the crown and sceptre together, in 1543. The Honours were hidden from Cromwell’s army in 1651–60, locked away in a chest after the Union of 1707, and rediscovered by Sir Walter Scott in 1818. They are displayed in the Crown Room of the Royal Palace.

For almost three decades the castle also held the Stone of Destiny, taken from Scone by Edward I in 1296. It was formally returned to Scotland in November 1996 and displayed at the castle, left for the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, and in 2024 moved to a permanent home at Perth Museum.

Remembrance is part of the castle’s meaning too. The Scottish National War Memorial, designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in a redeveloped barrack block on Crown Square, was formally opened on 14 July 1927 by the Prince of Wales. It commemorates Scottish service personnel and others who died in the two world wars and later conflicts.

The castle in August

In August 1950 the first Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo was held on the castle Esplanade, the broad parade ground in front of the Gatehouse. That first performance tied the Tattoo to the castle’s front door. Our story of how August turned Edinburgh into a festival city places it alongside the Fringe, the International Festival and the Book Festival.

The castle on a small group tour

The tour is based in Edinburgh for eight nights in August. An orientation walk with the Program Leader introduces the city, tickets to four Fringe performances are included with selections confirmed once the programme is published, and the itinerary includes the National Museum of Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland. Two free days leave time to visit the castle itself. The castle lies within the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh UNESCO World Heritage Site, and our article on Edinburgh’s UNESCO World Heritage status explains how the site is managed. For more of the Royal Mile and the Old Town, see our guide to Edinburgh.

How much walking does the tour involve?

Around 3 to 5 kilometres a day, some of it on uneven surfaces. The tour is graded Level 1, Introductory to Moderate. The castle sits at the top of the Royal Mile, so reaching it means a climb, and visitors with mobility concerns should check the castle’s current access information before going.

Our guide to places to visit in Edinburgh off the beaten track suggests quieter corners, and our country spotlight on Scotland sets the capital in its national context.

Above all, the castle rewards time. To see it presiding over the city during its busiest month, join our nine-day Fringe tour in a small group of up to 16.