Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle sits above the city, and dominates the skyline for miles around. A fort or castle has stood upon this rock, as far back as the 11th century. The castle today, is a major tourist attraction in fact it, is Scotland`s second most visited attraction.

The castle today is now run by Historic Scotland. They maintain a number of attractions each year for the visitors to see. An educational centre operates within the castle, which is run by Historical Scotland.

This gives the children of Edinburgh, and surrounding areas, gives children to witness re-enactments acted out, in full costume. The children can also see weapons, dating back as far as the 12th century. Although the castle is a major tourist attraction, it still has a working garrison, within the fortress.

The men from the garrison today though, are mainly used for ceremonial purposes. The garrisons New Barrack Block is used as the Head quarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the 52nd Infantry Brigade.

The Barrack Block is also home to the Royal Scots and Dragoon Guards regimental museum. The garrison`s troops are employed on a daily attraction, with the firing of the one o`clock gun. The mount battery guns fires exactly at one every afternoon, except on Sunday.

It was decided that, the mariners who sailed on the Firth of Forth, needed a reliable time signal. Once they heard the cannon, this would allow them to check their chronometers. It was in 1861 that a Scottish officer a Captain Wauchope invented the time ball. This can be seen today on top of Nelsons Monument, on Calton Hill.

At one o`clock the ball would drop, giving the signal to the sailors, this meant though someone needed to watch for the ball to drop. It was decided that a gun would be fired at this exact moment, allowing everyone to hear the occasion, being marked.

The first gun used, was an 18 pound muzzle loading cannon. This gun would require, four men to load and fire it. The gun was a huge success, and could be heard, for up to almost three miles away. The cannon, was finally replaced in 1953 by a Howitzer, and more recently by a L118 Light Gun. The gun is now fired from the Mills Mount the original position, was the Half Moon Battery.

It is the district gunner from 105th Regiments Royal Artillery who fires the gun today. One of the most famous gunners, to fire the cannon, was known as Tam the Gun. This was one Staff Sergeant Thomas McKay MBE, who fired regularly from the year 1979 till his death in 2005.

He also opened a small museum, within the castle, that told the history of this gun. A trip to Edinburgh today, is not complete, without a visit to this historic castle. If you are planning to stay over night, many cheap hotels in Edinburgh can be found, close to the castle.