Holyrood Park

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Holyrood Park (also called Queen's Park, and formerly King's Park) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of whin (gorse) within its 650-acre (260 ha) area. The park is associated with the royal palace of Holyroodhouse, and was formerly a 12th-century royal hunting estate, although it is now publicly accessible. Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh, is at the centre of the park, with the cliffs of Salisbury Crags to the west. There are three lochs; St Margaret's Loch, Dunsapie Loch, and Duddingston Loch. The ruined St Anthony's Chapel stands above St Margaret's Loch. Queen's Drive is the main route through the Park, and is partly closed on Sundays to motor vehicles.^[1] St Margaret's Well and St Anthony's Well are both natural springs within the park. Holyrood Park is located to the south-east of the Old Town, at the edge of the city centre. Abbeyhill is to the north, and Duddingston village to the east. The University of Edinburgh's Pollock Halls of Residence are to the south-west, and Dumbiedykes is to the west.

Contents 1 Natural features 1.1 Arthur's Seat 1.2 Salisbury Crags 1.3 Samson's Ribs 1.4 St Margaret's Loch 1.5 Other geographical features 2 Cultural heritage 2.1 Holyrood Abbey 2.2 Holyrood Palace 2.3 St Anthony's Chapel 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Natural features

[edit] Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of the castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 metres (820 ft), provides excellent views, is quite easy to climb, and is a popular walk. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the East, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch, a small artificial loch located between Dunsapie Hill and Arthur's Seat. The loch is fed with water from Alnwickhill in the south of the city, and is a popular location within the park, supporting plentiful numbers of bird species.

[edit] Salisbury Crags

The Salisbury Crags are a series of 46-metre (150 ft) cliffs at the top of a subsidiary spur of Arthurs Seat which rise in the middle of Holyrood Park. Below the foot of the cliffs is a large and steep talus slope falling to the floor of Holyrood Park with a track known as the Radical Road running in the space between the two. This track was given its name after it was paved in the aftermath of the Radical War of 1820, using the labour of unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland at the suggestion of Walter Scott.^{[citation needed]}

The cliffs are formed from steep dolerite and columnar basalt and have a long history of rock climbing on their faces starting from the earliest days of the sport and leading to a number of traditional climbing and sport climbing routes being recorded. In recent years the park rangers (previously under the auspices of the Royal Estate and now Historic Scotland, who have taken over management of the park) have attempted to regulate access to the cliffs for climbing. One now needs to apply for a permit, free of charge, at the education centre to the east of the park in order to be allowed to climb. There is still some activity, though most of it is bouldering rather than free climbing. The finest areas are in the two quarries, although it is only in the south quarry that climbing is still permitted at this time. The south quarry contains the Black Wall, a well-known bouldering testpiece in the Edinburgh climbing scene.

[edit] Samson's Ribs

Samson's Ribs are a formation of columnar basalt.

[edit] St Margaret's Loch

St Margaret's Loch is a shallow man-made loch to the south of Queen's Drive. It is around 500m east of Holyrood Palace, and about 100m north of the ruin of St Anthony's Chapel. Once a boggy, marshland, the loch was formed in 1856 as part of Prince Albert's improvement plans for the area surrounding the palace. The loch has been used as a boating pond but is now home to a strong population of ducks, geese, and swans.

[edit] Other geographical features

Other geographical features include the Haggis Knowe, Whinny Hill and Hunter's Bog, which drains into St Margaret's Loch.

[edit] Cultural heritage

There are traces of prehistoric hill forts within the park, notably on the rocky knoll above Dunsapie Loch. The remains of cultivation terraces can be seen on the eastern slopes of Arthur's Seat.

[edit] Holyrood Abbey

The ruined Augustinian Abbey of Holyrood was established in 1128, at the order of King David I of Scotland, within his royal deer-hunting park. The Abbey was in use until the 16th century. It was briefly used as a Chapel Royal by James VII, but was finally ruined in the mid-18th century.

[edit] Holyrood Palace

The Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse began as a lodging within the Abbey, but eventually grew into a substantial palace. James IV had the first buildings constructed around 1500, although the bulk of the present building dates from the late 17th century, when it was reconstructed by Sir William Bruce. It remains as the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.

[edit] St Anthony's Chapel

St Anthony's Chapel was probably built around the early half of the 15th Century.^[2] It was originally rectangular in shape, around 43 by 18 feet (13 by 5.5 m), with 3-foot (0.91 m) thick walls, and was built with local stone. Now the chapel is a ruin, only the north wall remains.

[edit] See also

• Holyrood (disambiguation page)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Holyrood Park - site information from Historic Scotland

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Coordinates: 55°57′3.28″N 3°10′4.86″W / 55.9509111°N 3.1680167°W / 55.9509111; -3.1680167