Edinburgh Attractions

Venue: Edinburgh Castle    When: Daily

Britain's second most popular tourist attraction, Edinburgh Castle dominates the city and is the site for the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the traditional end-of-festival fireworks at the Edinburgh International Festival, both in August. But the museums, crown jewels and historic battlements are worth visiting all year round.

The first site to be inhabited and probably fortified in prehistoric times, what we know as Castle Rock makes its debut in history when Lothian became a part of Scotland. King Malcolm III and his wife Queen Margaret (who died in 1093) lived there. Margaret was later canonised and their son, David I, built a small chapel in her memory - the oldest surviving building in the castle.

In 1356 David II began to fashion the buildings in a way we recognise today, while James IV in the 14th century endangered the fabric of the building from within when he used the place as an ordnance factory! The Great Hall dates from around 1510, built by James IV, while the Half Moon Battery followed late that same century on the orders of Regent Morton (after the castle had fallen to the English). Its last sight of defence was during the (unsuccessful) siege by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. After the First World War the Scottish National War Memorial was housed in the castle.

The esplanade - the Castle's forecourt - was started in in 1753 and, although a garrison has not formally been sited there since 1914, the building is guarded by Scottish soldiers and is the headquarters of the Scottish Division as well as housing several regimental headquarters.

Alongside various military museums, the castle houses Scotland's Crown Jewels - probably the oldest Royal Regalia in Europe (Oliver Cromwell having been unable to emulate his destruction of the English Crown Jewels, as the Scottish regalia were smuggled out of the castle before he could get his hands on them) - and now the Stone of Scone, returned after 700 years in Westminster Abbey. At 1pm daily the Royal Artillery fires the famous "One O'Clock Gun," by which the whole of Edinburgh takes its time.

Edinburgh Castle forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, and was awarded its preservation status in 1995.