Edinburgh Castle

Had a great visit the castle and learned much about Scottish history. I had no idea of the early picts and nordish leaders and if someone had asked me who the first king of a united Scotland was I could not have said Kenneth mac Alpin. In fact if someone had asked me who Kenneth mac Alpin was I would have guessed he was a construction worker from Rangiora :))

But I won’t go on about too much historical stuff because I do appreciate that most people know more history than I.

Two quirky things piqued my interest were the stone of destiny and the one o’clock gun.

The stone of destiny is a big slab of stone supposed to be the pillow stone said to have been used by the Biblical Jacob. Certainly, since the time of Kenneth Mac Alpin, the first King of Scots, at around 847, Scottish monarchs were seated upon the stone during their coronation ceremony.

In 1296 the Stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair on which all subsequent English sovereigns except Queen Mary II have been crowned.

In 1328, in the peace talks between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, Edward III is said to have agreed to return the captured Stone to Scotland. However, this did not form part of the Treaty of Northampton and the Stone remained in England (and Scotland under Englands rule) for another six centuries.

Then on Christmas day 1950 a group of Scottish students decide to get the stone back. They set off in two cars from Edinburgh, broke in, took back the stone and drove off. The police and army were called in, borders closed, and all vehicles searched. But no stone was discovered. The students had actually drive south, buried the stone in a field, and gone back home. Once the hoohah died down they drove back, picked it up and returned to Edinburgh.

Perhaps assuming that the Church would not return it to England, the stone's custodians left it on the altar of Arbroath Abbey, in the safekeeping of the Church of Scotland. But once the London police were informed of its whereabouts, the Stone was returned to Westminster!

In 1996 the British Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Scotland and it was sent to Edinburgh Castle where it remains.

Interestingly 2 years later a new Scottish parliament was established for the first time in hundreds of years!

The one o’clock gun has been fired from the castle everyday at 1pm for a long time and it and the timeball station give ships at sea have a double time reference. But isn’t 1pm a strange time? Wouldn’t you think it would be at noon? Well yes, you and I might think that but the thrifty Scots don’t like to spend 12 rounds when they could spend just one. Here is the ritual that happens each day.