Edinburgh Castle (from St.Cuthbert's Churchyard)

Category

Library Item

Item no

641

Title

Castle of Edinburgh (from St.Cuthbert's Churchyard)

Description

Edinburgh Castle towers above St. Cuthbert's Churchyard. The castle has an outer curtain wall, which has watchtowers and part of the fortifications have crenulated ramparts. Soldiers are faintly visible on the walls. A funeral procession follows a horse-drawn hearse into the graveyard. Crypts can be seen within the walls of the cemetery.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1818

Size

18 x 23 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Edinburgh Castle is perhaps the city's most famous landmark. It stands on top of the remaining core of an extinct volcano. Excavations suggest the site was inhabited by Bronze Age man as early as 900 BC, and was fortified by Iron Age man roughly 2000 years ago. The oldest part of the present day Castle is St Margaret's Chapel, built in the early 12th century. The Castle holds the Honours of Scotland and more recently has welcomed back the Stone of Scone otherwise known as the Stone of Destiny.

St Cuthbert's Church sits below Edinburgh Castle, to the east of Lothian Road. First records of a church on the site date from 1127. The current building was completed in 1894, retaining the tower that was added to the previous building in 1789.

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Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

Landscape > Land > Rock formations

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Churchyards

Religion > Religious facilities > Graveyards

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