Edinburgh: Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat

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Holyrood Park is a nature park in the middle of Edinburgh, in it you will find hills, of which Arthur’s Seat is the biggest, glens and some small lochs. It amazes me that this place is actually right in the middle of Scotland’s capital.

Arthur’s Seat

The most famous of the hills is Arthur’s Seat. It is the highest point in Edinburgh. Out of all the hikes and hillwalks we did this was by far the most crowded one. Arthur’s Seat is relatively easy to walk and its short distance from the city probably accounts for it’s popularity. There are many theories as to where the name derives from. The first thing that comes to mind is of course the Arthurian mythology. There are some voices who support this theory. Now at university I’ve read quite a lot Arthurian stories for my Old and Middle English courses and I take any excuse to launch into a lengthy speech about the latest old English document I had to research or the much debated location of Camelot…but the truth is that the name of the hill probably has nothing to do with King Arthur at all. There is no certainity to the name’s origins, nor is there a traditional Scottish Gealic name for the hill, but the leading theory says the name is a corruption of “Archer’s Seat”.

St Anthony’s Chapel

The origins of St Anthony’s Chapel are a bit murky. We know that it was built before 1426 , as there are records saved of the Pope giving money to have the chapel repaired. The chapel’s ruin flanked by hills, glens and St Margaret’s Loch makes for a quite a spectacular sight indeed. Kate Davies fans might recognize the chapel as it’s the backdrop for the photos of one of her designs.

St Margaret’s Loch

St Margaret’s Loch is the biggest loch in Holyrood Park. It is a shallow, man made loch. Initially I needed to get used a bit to calling it a loch, precisely because of it being shallow and man made. We had visited Loch Lomond, one of the bigger natural lochs, before and there is a world of difference between them. Still if you’re visiting Holyrood Park, it is a nice place to go by as well.