\("d\" (I.,,\..M.. {(')P-( A 1,-( f i) ~' (., , r L r \ 1, I uL- (() Royal ReAHMS BROADSHEET 6 Commission on the Ancient and Historical The Archaeology of the Monuments of Royal Park

HOLY ROOD PARK

Arthurs Seat

Further information about the si tes illustrated in Most of the artefacts illustrated in this this broadsheet is avail able from the National broadsheet are on di splay in the National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) at the Museums of Scotland (NMS). The NMS is open address given below. The NMRS is open Monday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00, Monday to Thursday 9.30 - 16.30 and Tuesday 10.00 - 20.00 and Sunday Friday 9.30 - 16.00. 12.00 - 17.00. There is an admisssion charge (admission is free on Tuesday after 16.30). Roya l Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland National Museums of Scotland (l\'atiollai MOllumellts Record of Scotlmulj Chambers Street John Sinclair House EHI IJF 16 Bernard Terrace Edinburgb EH8 9NX Tel: 0131-225 7534 Fax: 0131-2204819 Web Site: www.nms.ae.uk Te l: 013 1-6621456 Fax: 0131-6621477 Web Site: www.rcahms.gov.uk Holyrood Park is designated as a Scheduled Emai l: [email protected] Ancient Monument and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and is in the care of Historic Further Reading Scotland. Visitors to the park are free to roam, Edinburgh, a landscape fashioned by geology, but stout footwear is recommended as some of Scottish Natural Heritage and British the paths are steep and can be especially Geological Survey (1993). si ippery in wet weather. Ar/hurs Seal and Holyrood Park: a visilad ' guide, C R Wickham-Jolles (1996). Historic Scotland Longmore House Crown Copyri ght: RCARMS 1999 Salisbury Place ISBN 1-9024I9-09-X Edinburgh EH9 ISH Photographs of th e artefacts are reproduced courtesy of NMS © The Trustees of the Tel : 0131-668 8600 Fax: 013 1-668 8822 Aerial view o/the clI/fivation terraces and areas of rig-and-furrow overlooking Duddil1gston and DUIIsapie Lochs. The ramparts of the forts on-Art!Jur s Seal ami DlIlIsapie Crag are visible ClsFlillt horizontal scars. National Museums of Scotland 1999 Web Site: www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

An Earl). Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC) Pygmy Vessel{ofmd near Samson s Ribs.

Art/lllr:, Seat alld Sa/isblllY Crags dominate the Edinburgll sk Jllille.

Late Bronze Age (c. 750 BC) slVords and sockefed axesjollnd duril1g the construcrion ofth e QlIeen~ Drive in 1846.

Lale 19th eel/filly view oINoly rood Palace cwd Abbey wUf/ fh e park;/'1 rhe background. The whins fOn e quarries alon.g Sa/ishwy Crags/rolll th e souflr end a/the Rachcal Road.

HOLYROOD PARK Cinerary Urns in dicate that Bronze Age people furrow in the park, however, lies at Powderhouse engin e, the line incorporates one of the ea rliest Holyrood Park lies at the heart of Edinburgh, also buried their dead in the park. Corner, but immediately outwith the boundary surviving rai lway tunnels at its north-west end, and Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano at its The oldest archaeological sites visible in the of the park, on the fl atter grOlUld occupied by and a fine example of a cast iron bridge across centre, dominates the city skyline. A place park date from later prehistory (500 BC-AD 500) Prestonfield Go lf Clu b, there are swathes of th e Braid Burn to the south-east of Bawsinch renowned for its natura l history, as well as its and arc represented by fOllr fortificatio ns, situated broad curving rigs which are particularly Nature Reserve. historical associations, the park is open for the on Salisbury Crags, Saluson's Ribs, Arthm's Seat striking when seen under low sunlight. During the 19th century the rol e of the park public to enjoy all year round, a refuge from the and Dunsapie Crag. onc has been closely dated, Documentary evidence suggests that th e first shifted to recreation for the wider population. bustle of city life, where visitors can come from but a Roman intaglio of the I st century BC bas major quarries in the park date to the mid-16th The Radical Road, its Ilame derived from the near-and-far to marvel at the panoramic views been found in the fort above Sanlson's Ribs; it was eenhlry, coin ciding with construction work at politics of the unemployed weavers who built it across the city to Fife and the Lothians. But the presumably lost during the Roman period. The and the erection of the park in the I 820s, quickly became a popular wa lk. park has much more to offer; for here, there are large forts on Arthur's Scat and Salisbury Crags, wall. Thc earl iest workings are probably those This and the schemes that followed -Queen's the remains of earlier landscapes stretching 8.4 hectares and 9.4 hectares in extent, were along Sa lisbury Cra gs and on the adjacent slope Drive, and St MaTgaret's and Dunsapie Lochs - back for over two thousand years - from 20th evidently major centres in the later prehistoric to the north of Camstone Quarry. Stonc was have left an in delible imprint upon the landscape century rifle ranges and 18th and 19th century period. Rather less imposing are the two small quarried fo r buildi ng, but the hard volcanic rock of the park as we know it today. quarries, to furl ongs of medieval rig and enclosed settlements, onc on the eastern flank of of the crags was especially favoured for street The most recent archaeological remain s to be cultivation terraces and the walls of prehistoric Dunsapie Crag (ben\feen the fort and the park paving, and such was its reputation that seen in the park are associated with th e use of forts and settlements. wa ll) and, the other, a short distance to the south­ quantities were sent as far afield as London. The Hu nter's Bog as a rifle range. In the 1830s, the The earli est evidence for man's presence in west of Windy Gowl. With their scooped yards scale of quarrying on Sa lisbury Crags reached a castle ga rri son used the area for target practice, the park co mes not from archaeological and platforms for timber round-houses, these peak in the first decades ofthe 19th century and and by 1877 there were e ight firing lines running monuments but from the discovery of a number settlements are typical of the later prehistoric generated considerable public concern, so much roughly from north to south along the va ll ey of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint and stone farmsteads that once populated the Lothian Pl ain. so that legal action was brought agai nst the Ea rl floor. By 1896, the direction of the ranges had too ls, indicating that the area was exploited By far the most extensive remains within the of I-Iaddington, then Keeper of the Park to the switched to fi.ring across the va lley, and the from at least as early as the 5th mi llemtium BC. park comprise cu ltivation terraces and furlongs of Crown. Camstone Quarry, on the backslope of target were located at thc foot of Arthur's Seat But the most spectacular finds date to the Late rig-and-fu rrow cultivation, some of which are Salisbury Cra g, was quarried for sandstone. in th e east. The range continued in use until the Bronze Age (l 000-750 BC) and comprise a overlain by the park wall. The most striking The quarries, however, are no t th e only 1950s, when it was sti ll used by the Territorial collection of bronze objects that had been exampJes are to be found on the eastern slopes of archaeological l'emains within the park that are Army, bu t the targets and associated buildings ritually depos ited in Loch, and Arthur's Seat, where a flight of fifteen terraces associated with min eral extraction. The we re dismantled in 196 1. Today, a narrow ledge which were discovered in 1778 when marl was form a staircase marching up the hillside. They are 'Innocent Rai lway' , now a public fo otpath and at the so uth-east end ofHuntei"'s Bog is al l that being dredged to fertilise the surrounding accompanied by a fi.lrlOllg of rig-and-fi.IITow that cycl eway cutt ing through its southern margin, sUI'vives of the targets, whil e the f iring positions fields. More recently, three Early Bronze Age encroaches on the lower terraces, while the banks was opened in 1831 to ca rry coal fi-om Dalkeith and lo cations of the buildings are marked by (2000- 1500 BC) flat axeheads were recovered of two later enclosures overlie the terraces on the into the city. So-call ed because the carri ages platforms and other minor features. Aerial view along Salisbwy Crags. Th e rampart ofthe/ort alld afield-bank runf mm the cliff-edge. from Dunsapie Crag, while the discovery of nvo north-west. The best preserved plot of rig-and- were drawn by horses rather than a steam Camslolle Quarry from the ail: Th e sile of the new Scottish ParliameJ1 t is visible top right. 7;;f~1,"..•.10% .... {}fl~ 6~~' 0#... V~.~ '~~~ WI ~ Royal (~' I Co~mission on the HOLYROOD PARK ~ AnCient and Historical The Archaeology of the Monuments of Scotland Royal Park

The earli est record s of the land that now fa lJ s within HolyTood Park show \\\ \,1\ .. ' that in the early 12th century it was divided betweelJ royal demeslJe and \'i-\\\ ...... ( ...... the estate ofTreverlen (Duddingston), then in the hands of Uviet the , ... ~... \. White. With the foundation of in 11 28, David j granted . . demesne lands to the Augustinian canons, and Uviet endowed the Abbey with part of Arthur's Seat. From the outset, Holyrood Abbey provided a royal guesthouse for the king and hi s court, and its popularity as a royal lodging increased during the 14th and 15th centuries. In the early 16th century .Ta mes IV and l ames V developed the Palace and, in 154 1, the ...... latter enclosed the park with a stone wall. After the annexation of ...... monastic lan ds in the late 16t.h century, IIolyrood reverted to the Crown. ~." . In 1646, while still Crown property, the park was h·ansferred to the keepership of Sir l ames Hamilton of , and remained in the care of his fam ily and the Earl s of Haddington for the nexllwo hundred yealfS. The increasing unpopularity of the quarrying of Salisbury Crags led to the Crown reassuming control in 1846, and during Victoria's reign Queen"s Drive, DUllsapi e Loch and St Margaret's Loch were built. Further areas have been added to the park since I R46, in particul ar th e grollnds to the east of th e Palace and Abbey (the Paradc Ground), acqui red in the late 19th century. The present boundary was compl eted in 1926 with the gift of the ground to the east ofDuddingston Loch.

;-:----~- LEGEND General Features !J -50... Index contour (50m interval) Road ) ...--.... Contour (5m interval) Path '238 Spo t height (m) Roofed bui lding (within park) • \\\ ~ Rock outcrop Cl Wood land I'lf'1'l"1 Cliff Gorse v--- ~ Loch/pond Ii1 Car park ~ Burn n Inform ation board Duddingston Loch -+-- Drai n A Pedestrian access poin t

Archaeological Featmes Fort/settlement wall CuJtivation terr(Jce Fort/settlement wa ll (l ine ot) Furrow

=0 Sb·uc!urcs .:::~~ __ . Trackway /' Rifle ra nge feature ~0 Quarry Cl Field·bank and enc losu re '''~:;:' Spoil

N Scale 1: 5500 ~ 100 200 300 400 SOOm I I I I

Rep roduced from th e Ordnance Survey mapping wit h the permission orthe Contro ller ur Her Majesty's Stationery Office Crown Copyri ght. RCAHMS Licence GD03127Gi009/98. Vegetation is CO l-Imvcy Map 1998.