UK Trip Report, Day 7, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Castle, National Museum,

DAY 7, MAY 4, SAT 7(11°C-2°C):

 We had left the rest of our luggage at our London hotel as we were returning there for another 5 day stay.

The train station is just across the street

Checked Out of Premier Inn Edinburgh Park at 8.30. Took the train to Waverly, stored our bag in the station locker for  £ 8.

Edinburgh Castle:

Edinburgh Castle is located at the top of the Royal Mile, at the west end of Edinburgh's Old Town.

This castle has existed since the reign of David I in the 12th century, and continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

The Edinburgh Castle is a fortress atop the volcanic Castle Rock. The Castle Rock is 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north, 260 ft high. The volcanic Castle Rock offers a naturally defended position, with sheer cliffs to north and south, and a steep ascent from the west.  This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The castle's defences are situated accordingly, with a series of gates protecting the route to the summit of the Castle Rock.

The defensive advantage of such a site is clear, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is an extremely poor aquifer. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28-metre (92 ft) deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege.

These 2 bronze statues of two heroes in Scottish history  were added to the gatehouse entrance in 1929.

Sir William Wallace (on the right ) was the first leader of the Scots to rebel against the rule of the English King Edward I who had over-run Scotland in 1296.

 Robert the Bruce (left)  in 1306  declared himself king of Scotland—through his father he was a fourth-great grandson of David I, and one of the claimants to the Scottish throne.  His fight against the English was long and hard. On 14 March 1314, in a surprise night attack he guided a party of thirty hand-picked men  along the north face of the Castle Rock. Making the difficult ascent, they took the garrison by surprise and took control. Robert the Bruce immediately ordered the destruction of the castle's defences to prevent re-occupation by the English and  fully set Scotland free - at least for a time.

Tickets are sold inside the castle. but we bought them online so that we can avoid the lines at the counter. Turned out to be a great decision as the crowd was huge.

We waited for the gates to open at 9.30 and then sprinted in. Can see officials checking their watch at the entrance, after the drawbridge. It was a very cold day though the sky was clear.  The previous day it had drizzled steadily but the cloud cover trapped some warmth and we had not felt cold walking through the botanic garden.

Just inside the gate is the Argyle Battery overlooking Princes Street, with Mills Mount Battery, the location of the One O'Clock Gun, to the west. Battery means a fortified emplacement for heavy guns. Firing this cannon must be awesome.

One O'Clock Gun:

This is the One O'Clock Gun.

It is a time signal, and is fired every day at precisely 13:00, excepting Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day. The 'Time Gun' was established in 1861 as a time signal for ships in the Firth (estuary)of (river)Forth, and complemented the 'Time Ball', which was installed on the Nelson Monument in 1852, but which was useless as a visible signal during foggy weather.

The gun could easily be heard by ships in Leith Harbour, 2 miles (3.2 km) away. Because sound travels relatively slowly (approximately 343 metres per second (770 mph)), a map was produced in 1861 to show the actual time when the sound of the gun would be heard at various locations across Edinburgh.

The original gun was an 18-pound muzzle-loading cannon, which needed four men to load.  The present One O'Clock Gun is an L118 Light Gun, brought into service on 30 November 2001. The gun is now fired from Mill's Mount Battery, on the north face of the castle, by the District Gunner from 105th Regiment Royal Artillery (Volunteers).

Although the gun is no longer required for its original purpose, the ceremony has become a popular tourist attraction.

Royal Scots Dragon Guards Regimental Museum:

This museum opened in 2006, the exhibits include uniforms, medals, weapons, regalia, music and a captured enemy standard from the Battle of Waterloo.The bagpipes are fascinating.

The military band leader.

Military medals and trophies.

Scottish emblem—the rampant lion.

 After the military buildings, we reached the upper ward, the highest part of the castle rock.

 The summit of the rock is occupied by St Margaret's Chapel which can be seen in the background with the Scottish flag.

St Margaret's Chapel:

St Margaret's Chapel, in Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh. An example of Romanesque architecture,  It was constructed in the 12th century.

Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093) was an English princess. Margaret and her family fled to Scotland following the Norman conquest of England of 1066. Around 1070 Margaret married Malcolm III of Scotland. She was a pious woman, and among many charitable works she established a ferry across the Firth of Forth for pilgrims travelling to Dunfermline Abbey.

 She died at Edinburgh Castle in 1093, just days after receiving the news of her husband's death in battle. In 1250 she was canonised by Pope. It was originally thought that St Margaret herself worshipped in this small chapel, but the style of the architecture indicates that it was built during the reign of David I, her fourth son, who ruled from 1124–1153.

Crowd below trying to buy entry ticket—we had bought the ticket online... clever.

On a ledge below this area is a small 19th-century cemetery of soldiers' and regimental mascot dogs.

View from above—-North Sea visible.

Cannon positioned for defence.

Mons Meg:

This is the 6 ton Mons Meg the 15th-century siege gun. 

The 6-tonne (13,000 lb) bombard is displayed alongside some of its 150-kilogram (330 lb) gun stones. Mons Meg was constructed on the orders of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1449, and was given by him to his niece's husband, King James II in 1457. On 3 July 1558, Mons Meg was fired in salute to the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the French dauphin François II.

 Looks pretty easy to lift...Ha Ha!! these 150-kilogram (330 lb) gun stones.

When fired they'll land 2 miles away.   Workmen were paid to find and retrieve the stones from near the River Forth, some 2 miles (3.2 km) distant.

 Mons Meg has been defunct since her barrel burst on 30 October 1681 when firing a salute for the arrival of the Duke of Albany, the future King James VII and II.

This is what it looks like when we peer inside

Scottish National War Memorial:

The memorial commemorates Scottish soldiers, and those serving with Scottish regiments, who died in the two world wars and in more recent conflicts. Upon the altar within the Shrine is a sealed casket containing Rolls of Honour which list over 147,000 names of those soldiers killed in the First World War. After the Second World War, another 50,000 names were inscribed on Rolls of Honour held within the Hall, and further names continue to be added.

The exterior is decorated with gargoyles and sculpture, while the interior contains monuments to individual regiments. The stained-glass windows are by Douglas Strachan.

Now onward to the royal palace.

Royal Palace: 

The Royal Palace comprises the former royal apartments.  Begun in the mid 15th century,  in 1617,  state apartments for the king and queen were built.

 On the ground floor is the Laich (low) Hall, now called the King's Dining Room, and a small room, known as the Birth Chamber or Mary Room, where James VI was born to Mary, Queen of Scots, in June 1566. The commemorative painted ceiling and other decoration was added in 1617. 

On the first floor is the vaulted Crown Room, built in 1615 to house the Honours of Scotland: the crown, the sceptre and the sword of state... not as grand as the crown jewels at the Tower of London.

Tableau of coronation here.

The crown is being carried. Can hardly separate real people from these mannequins..

I've given an account of Mary Queen of Scot's life in the previous post.  Mary was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIII's sister. Queen Elizabeth I of England (daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII) was her cousin and ruler of England but many felt Mary wa the rightful heir. After her travails in Scotland, Mary sought Elizabeth's help but the latter imprisoned her, tried her for treason and had her beheaded.

The capable Queen Mary of Guise died within the Palace while her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI. The birth of James VI was difficult. 


His mother, Mary Queen of Scots, endured a long and particularly agonizing labour, so much so that one of her companions is said to have attempted to use magic to project the birth pangs on one of her servants. James became king of Scotland soon after his first birthday in 1567 and king of England in 1603. He made an emotional return to his birthplace in 1617 to celebrate his golden jubilee – the birth chamber was redecorated for the occasion.

View of Arthur Mound from inside the Castle .

The last sovereign to sleep in the Royal Palace was Charles I on 19 June, 1633, the night before his Scottish coronation.

The Honours of Scotland, also known as the Scottish Regalia and the Scottish Crown Jewels, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, are the oldest set of crown jewels in the British Isles. 

 Crown Room:

The Stone of Scone  also known as the Stone of Destiny is an oblong block of red sandstone. Historically, the artefact was kept at the now-ruined Scone Abbey in Scone, near Perth, Scotland.

It is also known as Jacob's Pillow Stone . Its size is about 26 inches (660 mm) by 16.75 inches (425 mm) by 10.5 inches (270 mm) and its weight is approximately 336 pounds (152 kg).

Legends place the origins in Biblical times and consider the stone to be the Stone of Jacob 

Kings of Scotland were enthroned on this enigmatic stone for centuries. But in 1296, the English King Edward I took the Stone from Scone near Perth and had it built into his throne.

It has since been part of the coronation ceremonies of most monarchs of England and, later, Great Britain. In 1996, the Stone was returned to Scotland.

There are three primary elements of the Honours of Scotland: the Crown, the Sceptre, and the Sword of State. Collectively, they are known as the Honours of Scotland. They were first used together for the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots in 1543.

When Charles I had been executed by order of the Parliament of England and the monarchy overthrown, Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, ordered almost all of the English regalia to be broken up or melted down. The Honors were buried at Dunnottar Castle and later Kinneff Church between 1651 to 1660 to keep them out of the clutches of Oliver Cromwell and his English army.

The blade of the Sword of State has a fracture line that was probably made when it was snapped to smuggle it past English soldiers..

The Honours were locked away in a chest after the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1707 and only rediscovered by the novelist Sir Walter Scott in 1818.

There is a mysterious silver wand displayed with the Honours. It was found with the crown jewels in 1818 but no-one knows why it was there.

The Crown, Sceptre and Sword of State are the oldest crown jewels in the British Isles.

The Sceptre was presented to James IV by Pope Alexander VI in 1494 while the Crown was first worn by James V for the coronation of his wife, Queen Mary of Guise in 1540.

During the Second World War, the Crown of Scotland was hidden below a medieval latrine closet in David's Tower to prevent the enemy from finding it.

Unicorn,  the heraldic symbol of Scotland, holding the national flag of Scotland, with St. Andrew's Cross.

In Scotland, they prefer their own flag and symbols rather than that of the UK.

The Great Hall:

The Great Hall measures 95 by 40 ft, and was the chief place of state assembly in the castle.

 It is usually ascribed to the reign of King James IV, and is thought to have been completed in the early years of the 16th century.  It is one of only two medieval halls in Scotland with an original hammerbeam roof.

Following Oliver Cromwell's seizure of the castle in 1650, the Great Hall was converted into a barracks for his troops. Following the construction of the New Barracks in the 1790s, it became a military hospital until 1897. It was then restored. 

The Great Hall is still sometimes used for ceremonial occasions, and is a venue  for BBC Scotland's Hogmanay Live programme.

We sat down on the benches in the great hall to rest our tired feet... this costumed musician strolled in and started to play a variety of musical instruments.

Enjoyed his music performance in the great hall for a whole hour—recorded 1/2 hour of it on video.

After lunch on the castle grounds and listening to the one o clock gun, we lingered on the castle esplanade admiring the views.

Still on the castle rock. The esplanade with the castle in the background. Hundreds of supposed witches had been burned at stake in this esplanade.

Another view before we left.

We then walked the royal mile and reached the museum.

Running eastwards from the Edinburgh castle rock, the Royal Mile slopes gently down to Holyrood Palace. Steep closes (or alleyways) run between the many  tenement buildings off the main thoroughfare. All date back to 1700s.

This is just an exhibition building. We thought it is a church—but the doors did not look appropriate.

we moved on to the museum—our last destination of Edinburgh before taking our 4.30 train back to London.

National Museum of Scotland:

This is former royal museum of 1860s and the museum of scotland combined.

The exterior, designed in a Venetian Renaissance style, contrasts sharply with this light flooded main hall or Grand Gallery, inspired by The Crystal Palace. 

The building's architecture was controversial from the start, and Prince Charles resigned as patron of the museum, in protest at the lack of consultation over its design.

This is the grand gallery.

The central space of the Grand Gallery contains a variety of large objects called the "Window on the World" rising four stories, or about 20 metres.

Window on the World

850 objects are displayed in Window on the World, ranging in size and scope from tiny glass sculptures and a mineral from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius (actually containing the world’s largest sample of the rare mineral sarcolite) to large items such as a gyroplane, a full size railway signal from the Stirling to Alloa line and a girder from the original Tay Bridge.

The 1st piece in the far corner on a wooden platform is a 12-foot long feast bowl made on Atiu, one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. It had been inherited by Titaua, a Tahitian princess who married a Scot and brought it back with her to Anstruther.

 The Feast Bowl is capable of holding up to 300 gallons and would have been used at large communal feasts to serve poi – a dish made from sweet potato, yams, taro or plantain and mixed with coconut milk.

The next pavilion-like piece is a cast iron drinking fountain from the 1880s was made by Glasgow firm. The fountain is highly decorative, with a fretwork dome and intricate designs. 

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/explore_the_galleries/grand_gallery.aspx

This dioptic lighthouse lens was designed in 1889 for the lnchkeith lighthouse in the Firth of Forth.

The lnchkeith lighthouse had been built in 1803 by Robert Stevenson and his father-in-law Thomas Smith to protect ships coming into the Port of Leith. It stayed in use until the last keeper was withdrawn and the lighthouse automated in 1985.

further down is the fountain...

Rising through the four storeys of the Grand Gallery, from the ground floor to the roof, Window on the World is the largest single museum installation in the UK. It showcases a spectacular array of items.

Egyptian ushabti /shabti :

Egyptian ushabti (also called shabti ) was a funerary figurine used in Ancient Egypt.

 Term ushabti meant "follower" or "answerer" in Ancient Egyptian, because the figurine "answered" for the deceased person and performed all the routine chores of daily life for its master in the afterlife.

Ushabtis were placed in tombs among the grave goods. The figurines typically carried a hoe on their shoulder and a basket on their backs. They were usually written on by the use of hieroglyphs typically found on the legs. they carried inscriptions asserting their readiness to answer the gods' summons to work.

The practice of using shabtis originated in the Old Kingdom (c. 2600 to 2100 B.C.E) with the use of life-sized reserve heads made from limestone, which were buried with the mummy

 Most ushabtis were of minor size, and many produced in multiples – they sometimes covered the floor around a sarcophagus.

Due to the shabti's commonness through all Egyptian timeperiods, and world museums' desire to represent ancient Egyptian art objects, the shabti is one of the most commonly represented objects in Egyptology displays.

Produced in huge numbers, ushabtis, along with scarabs, are the most numerous of all ancient Egyptian antiquities to survive.

One grave can have as many as 401 shabtis: 365 workers, one for each day of the year, and 36 overseers.

These are all in semiprecious metals—the blue ones are lapis lazuli.

Egyptian sarcophagus...all lined up—these are 3000years old...

Displayed throughout this gallery are objects left behind in graves, tombs and temples which help us understand how the ancient Egyptians lived and died.

Excavated burial sites not only tell us about how the ancient Egyptians died, but also about how they lived and what they believed. Sculpture, paintings, jewellery and grooming equipment,  show how men and women may have dressed, made up their faces and wore their hair (or wigs!), while toys, games and musical instruments reveal how they might have spent their free time.

Tomb-models, along with drawings, stone carvings and writing texts, suggest their houses were simple, with an outside staircase leading to the roof, where people often slept at night. They had simple furniture, mainly stools, chairs and tables. They used chests to store belongings and used wooden headrests instead of pillows. The best houses and furniture would be decorated.

The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. They believed that the spirit of a dead person was divided into two parts, the ‘ba’ and the ‘ka’, and that these would be reunited in the tomb.

A dead person was buried with everything they might need in the afterlife, including their preserved body, called a mummy. Coffins were made of wood, stone or cartonnage (thin layers of linen, covered in plaster and painted) and inscribed  with spells and prayers and the name of the dead person. Sometimes the coffin was placed inside a stone or wooden container called a sarcophagus.

Full gold painted torso.

Material: Cartonnage (layers of linen and papyrus covered with plaster), painted and gilded.

Mummy-masks are a depiction of the head and chest of the dead person and were worn over the wrapped head of the mummy. They were used to protect the deceased's face but could also act as substitutes for the mummified head should it be damaged or lost. This funerary mask allows the mummy to be recognised by the ba, the dead person’s soul, when it returns to the preserved body..

http://www.nms.ac.uk/highlights/egyptian_coffins.aspx

gives details.

Intricate face mask

Once the organs are removed, the body is covered in a salt called natron and left to dry out. Then the body is rinsed and oils and unguents (ointments) applied to preserve the skin. Several metres of linen are required to wrap the  body. Special prayers and spells are recited as the layers of bandages are added. As the body is wrapped, the bandages are coated in liquid resin. This ensures the wrappings stay in place, and also helps preserve the body.

The 2 plates mounted high on the left are Embalming plates. This plate is placed over the cut made in the dead person’s side to remove the organs and stops evil spirits entering the body. It is decorated with an Eye of Horus and a scarab beetle.

Canopic jars:

Funerary urns with organs stored inside. Before the person can be mummified, his lungs, stomach, intestines and liver must be removed. These are stored in canopic jars and placed in the tomb so he will be whole in the next world..

The 4 small objects mounted on the wall are amulets.The right one is Amulet of Duamutef. Amulets possess magical powers to protect the person on his journey to the next world, and in the afterlife. Duamutef, one of the four sons of Horus, protects his stomach.

The gods are often shown as animals, but they appear in many other forms including trees, the sun, moon or stars, humans or humans with animal heads. Some of the gods were grouped as families.

The Egyptians also worshipped the King, and sometimes important historical figures such as Imhotep, the man thought to have designed the pyramids.

Here's the Indian pavilion

Sandalwood door with intricate carvings.

Hindu deities.

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/explore_the_galleries/world_cultures/artistic_legacies.aspx

gives details of art found in the galleries.

Lewis chessmen:

Lewis chessmen made from walrus ivory.

Found on Lewis in 1831, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most well-known archaeological find from Scotland. The 93 gaming pieces known to us today include 78 chessmen, 14 tables-men and a buckle to secure a bag. The hoard is likely to be made up of four chess sets. Eleven of the chessmen are owned by National Museums Scotland and the remaining 82 reside at the British Museum.

The chess pieces consist of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales' teeth in the form of seated kings and queens, bishops, knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of obelisks. Up to four chessmen could be carved from one walrus tusk.

 They were probably made in Trondheim in Norway during the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when the area in which the chessmen were buried was part of the Kingdom of Norway, not Scotland. It seems likely they were buried for safe keeping on route to be traded in Ireland. There are several theories about how the hoard came to be hidden at Uig on Lewis.

Were they stolen from a passing ship?

Were they hidden by a travelling merchant?

Could the hoard be the prized possession of a local prince, nobleman or senior churchman?

Although many questions remain unanswered, there continues to be fascination with this remarkable group of iconic objects, 180 years after their discovery on Lewis.

Taxidermied PANDA and birds.

Marine creatures... with their skeletons.

Exhibits were awesome, we regretted we didn't have more time.

The clocks are great... 

 Millenium clock:

took a video of their millenium clock. watched its intricate movements when it chimed 2 and 3  and then left the premises reluctantly.

The millenium clock is grotesque and clever and the animations when each hour chimed are awesome:

The clock tower is like a medieval cathedral, ten metres high. It is  a summary of the best and worst of the twentieth century. The intricate animation has four sections: The Crypt, The Nave, The Belfry and The Spire. Each has its own stories.

Higher  is The Belfry, which has the clock and the Requiem, a circle of twelve figures. Each represents a calendar month, as well as a hardship or tragedy that has afflicted humanity, from war to famine, slavery to persecution. Right at the top is The Spire, and a  bell. A figure stands at the very top, a female figure carrying a dead man. This is the Pietà, from the Italian for compassion and pity. It acts as a symbol for what has gone before and the strength we need to move forward.

 http://www.nms.ac.uk/highlights/objects_in_focus/millennium_clock_tower.aspx.

The Crypt at the base of the tower houses wheels and chains. Two figures are at the heart of this section: an oak figure of an Ancient Spirit and the colourful, mischievous Egyptian Monkey.

The Nave holds a pendulum with a skeleton on a convex mirror. Distorted figures of Lenin, Hitler and Stalin act as a reminder of the worst aspects of the twentieth century. But there is celebration of better times, too, with a playground of animated characters, including a Chaplin-like figure.

We left the museum reluctantly and reached the train station. collected our bag left in storage.

We took the 4.30pm train back to London...Early dinner on the Edinburgh Express back to London.

Reached kings cross station by 8.30, went to the ticket counters and bought a new set of 7 day travel cards.

Then caught the tube and reached Premier inn by 11 at night. Collected the bags we had left behind in their storage and checked into our new room for the later 5 days of our stay.

Quite happy with the flavor of Scotland we enjoyed on our short visit! 

Day 8 report on Leeds castle, Canterbury is here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/08/uk-trip-report-day-8-london-day-trip-to.html