Exploring Edinburgh and Glasgow

Holyrood Palace, sitting at the end of the Royal Mile against the spectacular backdrop of Arthur’s Seat, has witnessed Scotland's turbulent past. Within its walls kings planned wars, royals danced deep into the night, murders occurred. In contrast today, the Palace is the setting for State ceremonies, garden parties and official entertaining.

The State Apartments have magnificent plasterwork ceilings and collections of tapestries. The longest and largest room in the Palace is the Great Gallery - decorated with 89 of the original 110 Jacob de Wet portraits of the real and legendary kings of Scotland, from Fergus I to Charles II.

The room has served many purposes. Here the election of Scotland's representative peers took place after the Union of Parliaments in 1707. George V made the room into the State Dining Room, and today it hosts receptions, State occasions and Investitures.

The Palace is best known as the home of Mary Queen of Scots (1542-67). She married the heir to the French throne, the Dauphin of France, at 15 and became a widow at 19. Returning to Scotland she took up her duties as the Queen of Scots after a crowning ceremony at the Palace.

A group led by her second husband Lord Darnley believing she was having an affair with Rizzio, her private secretary, stabbed him to death in her private rooms. Lord Darnley in turn suffered a gruesome death following which Mary acquired yet another husband. Her subjects could take no more. Mary escaping captivity fled to England to the protection of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Suspected of treason Mary suffered in turn a gruesome death - at the hands of an axe man.

In 1501 James IV built his Palace beside Holyrood Abbey. Later kings added extensions until a building resulted with classical facades built round a central quadrangle. Although external appearance of the apartments to the east matches those towards the west the construction is different. The earlier west side has thick walls for defence while the later east is of a residential construction.

Mary's son became James I of England and Scotland (1603-25) following the union of the crowns and moved to England leaving the Palace empty. During the Civil War Oliver Cromwell's troops billeted at the Palace caused extensive fire damage.

Following restoring of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II (1660-85) added to the Palace. These additions included the new Royal apartment to the east, the Abbey Church made into the Chapel Royal and accommodation on the second floor for the Court during the sovereign's visit, and for officers of state at other times.

After the Union of Parliaments in the early eighteenth century the Palace become a sanctuary for poor and distressed 'noblemen'. In 1745 royalty returned when the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie, held court there during his attempt to reclaim the throne for his father. The Duke of Cumberland whose troops suppressed the Jacobean Rebellion of 1745 followed.

George IV's visit to Scotland on 15 August 1822 provided the impetus for further improvements and the preserving of the apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots as in her time - these are open to visitors.

It was Queen Victoria who reintroduced the custom of staying at Holyrood making the Palace once again Scotland's premier royal residence. In the 20th century, King George V and Queen Mary modernised the Palace by installed bathrooms, electricity and lifts to make it a proper family home. They also began the tradition of hosting Garden Parties at the Palace.

My wife and I have been invited twice and attended the once. It is not at all elitist for otherwise we wouldn’t have been there. It is a colourful occasion with the beverage of choice being iced tea.

What remains of Holyrood Abbey is the ruined and roofless nave of its church. However in Scotland’s history it looms large.

King David I founded the Augustinian Abbey in 1128. Tradition has it that he created it on the spot where he had a vision of a stag with a cross between its antlers - the Abbey's symbol! A more imposing building, commissioned in 1190 replaced the original Norman style with Early English architecture.

David set up the Abbey as a Sanctuary for criminals and debtors. If accepted and on payment of a booking fee, the debtor received a ‘Letters of protection’ from creditors. The debtor was then safe to live within the Sanctuary, free from risk of arrest. Debtors crowded into houses within the protective zone. It covered a large part of present-day Edinburgh.

During the final 200 years of the sanctuary, Holyrood sheltered around 2,000 people. These included pastors, lawyers, officers of the army and navy and members of the aristocracy. The ancient right of sanctuary within the grounds of Holyrood still exists however the need for a debtors' sanctuary ended in 1880 with abolition of imprisonment for debt.

In addition a community of trades people, shopkeepers, innkeepers and residents chose to live within the Sanctuary. This gave it the feel of being a town, independent of control from Edinburgh. David had created in effect a self-governing, self-financing prison - surely a better idea than politicians have since created. Top marks to the King!

The abbey church preserved in a golden reliquary a fragment of the Cross of Christ’s crucifixion, brought from Waltham Abbey by David’s mother. The relic known as the Black Rood of Scotland (‘rood’ means cross) in 1346 fell into the hands of invading English forces. Transferred to Durham Cathedral it disappeared during the Reformation.

For 450 years the Abbey hosted major royal events similar to those hosted now by Westminster Abbey in London. On July 22, 1565, the Mary, Queen of Scots married her cousin Lord Darnley in the church. The Scottish coronation of Charles I took place here in 1633.

In the 16th century, James IV built Holyrood Palace next to the abbey. Kings previously stayed at the Abbey when in Edinburgh but this cemented its place in royal pageantry.

King James VII in 1687 created ‘The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle’, Scotland's leading Order of Chivalry. The nave of Holyrood Abbey became its chapel. In 1688, the Edinburgh mob ransacked the Abbey, furious at King James' Roman Catholic devotion. It was only in 1911 the Order regained a home – this time in Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile.

Following the Reformation, the abbey became deserted. However the church became a parish Kirk until in 1768 the roof collapsed in a hurricane and brought down much of the building with it.

Access to the Abbey is through the entrance to Holyrood Palace. Step lightly for you will be treading on the graves of kings

Rosslin Chapel has found fame as the possible resting-place of the Holy Grail since Dan Brown published the Da Vinci Code.

Even before its recent fame, it has been a Mecca for those interested in the mysteries of life. The exquisite carvings portray scenes found only in this 15th century chapels. They contain images relevant to biblical, masonic, pagan and Knights Templar themes. For instance the "Two riders on a single horse" that also appears on the Seal of the Knights Templar. The layout of the chapel echoes the layout of the Temple of Solomon.

William Sinclair 3rd Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin and 1st Earl of Caithness, who claimed to be a hereditary Grand Master of the Scottish Freemasons, built this Chapel in 1446 as part of an intended bigger building. He lies buried here.

Henry Sinclair I, Earl of Orkney, the story goes left the Orkneys in early April 1397 with 12 ships and crossed the wide ocean to what is now Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Most of the ships then returned to the Orkneys; but two remained in the New World, journeyed on to Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and returned the next year. As an Orkney man myself I am apt to say – ‘Well why not, it’s possible’. Pity he hadn’t announced that he had discovered ‘The New Orkneys’!

Part of the evidence for his journeys is carvings of what seems like ears of new world corn unknown in Europe until several hundred years later.

Another notable feature of Rosslyn's architecture is the presence of 'Green Men'. These are carvings of human faces with greenery all around them and often growing out of their mouths. They are a symbol of rebirth or fertility, pre-Christian in origin. These symbolise the months of the year. Young faces symbolise Spring and the carvings age as in the Autumn of man's years. There are over 110 carvings of Green men in and around the Chapel.

Among Rosslyn's many intricate carvings are a sequence of 213 cubes protruding from pillars and arches with a selection of patterns on them. Recently the father-and-son team of Thomas and Stuart Mitchell interpreted them as a musical score they called the Rosslyn Motet.

The Apprentice Pillar is one of the most famous parts of the chapel. A model of this pillar, the story goes, arrived from Rome. The master mason on seeing its complexity consented to work on such a pillar, only if he could go to Rome to inspect the original. In his absence an Apprentice finished the Pillar. The mason on his return, seeing the pillar so exquisitely finished livid with jealousy slew the apprentice.

A sealed crypt exists towards the rear of the chapel. This may explain the legends that it leads to an extensive subterranean vault containing the mummified head of Jesus Christ, the Holy Grail, the treasure of the Templars, or the original crown jewels of Scotland.

Whatever is the truth Rosslin Chapel as a place of mystery and conjectures will continue to continue to be made as to its secrets.

A great bridge spans a deep valley to the south of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Under its enormous arches exists a catacomb of underground chambers. Within them a community thrived. Trades first legal and then illicit flourished.

This happened as a result of Edinburgh’s geography. The volcanic rock on which Edinburgh Castle stands sheltered the land to its eastward side from the onward grind of ice sheets during ice ages. The result was deep chasms gouged out towards the north and south. On the ridge a crowded community arose. Defeat by the English at Flodden led to the hurried building of the Flodden Wall across unprotected flanks. Now confined on all sides the town built upwards.

The town eventually broke free by bridging the north and south chasms. The South Bridge built in the 1780s across the Cowgate Gorge linked the High Street and the growing University of Edinburgh on the South side.

The Bridge was Edinburgh's first purpose-built shopping street. It contains 19 arch viaducts. Tenement buildings provided walls to 18 and hid them from view. Arches were given floors to allow industry to use them. Some contained cobblers and watchmakers: others acted as storage for wine and other products, and others as living space. In total there are roughly 120 rooms or 'vaults' beneath the surface of the South Bridge, ranging in size upwards to 40 metres square.

In the residential vaults families of 7-10 people lived in rooms the size of a small bedroom with no ventilation or windows and a fireplace that provided little heat. The vaults lighted with fish oil-lamps, which combined with stale waste from garbage and chamber pots were dank and stank.

The vaults began to flood as water drained down from the surface. From 1795 abandonment by the businesses began. Slum dwellers took over the vaults and they became a renowned red-light district with brothels and pubs taking up the space. Living conditions were appalling. There was no sunlight, poorly circulated air, no running water, and no sanitation. Crimes, including robbery and murder plagued the Vaults. Burke and Hare, the infamous serial killers who sold corpses to medical schools, hunted for victims there.

The complex closed down around 1850. The authorities dumped tons of rubble into the vaults making them inaccessible. They remained undisturbed until excavated in 1988. Once cleared the vaults gave a snapshot of life back in time with even personal processions being found.

The Vaults are now a popular tourist destination for professional and amateur ghost-busters, who come to explore their gloomy, candlelight corridors in the hope of meeting a spirit.

The frequent reports of paranormal and ghost sightings resulted in the top UK paranormal investigation show, Most Haunted, examining the vaults for a Most Haunted Live show on Halloween 2006.

If walls could talk what stories these would tell! Our Mercat Tours guide filled in the story for us.

Tickets:
£7.50 adults, £6.50 concession, £4.00 child, £19.00 family ticket (2 adults/2 children)

Stepping through the door, I am transported from the cold, windy and wet Scottish winter to the steaming Tropics. A jungle of ferns and tall palms soar upwards before me. My cares disappear as I remove my scarf and coat.

The stuff of science fiction made possible through the ingenuity of the Victorians. How? - An enormous glass dome called the Kibble Palace, each panel glinting in the sunlight like the facet of a giant diamond. Originally built in 1865 by John Kibble as a conservatory at his home it was re-erected after enlargement in Glasgow in 1873. The main dome is 45m (146 feet) across and 13m (43 feet) high. A smaller dome 15m (50 feet) across and 10m (34 feet) high connects to the main dome.

To Glaswegians used to hard manual toil in an industrial city, it was a marvel. They couldn’t have sunshine holidays but this glass palace offered a temporary escape from the grind of their daily lives into something warm, spectacular and entertaining. At first it housed promenade concerts and events such as Glasgow University’s rectorial addresses by Prime Minister’s Benjamin Disraeli and William Ewart Gladstone. It held crowds of up to 6,000 people.

The Botanical Collection started in 1881 when the Royal Botanic Institution took over the lease. It laid out the interior with a collection of tree ferns. Now the Kibble Palace houses flora from the Temperate Zones, including Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America, North America, China, Japan, the Mediterranean, the Canaries and Madeira. It is educational and artistic through the careful blending of plant species, artwork and statues and is one of the few remaining world-class 19th century glasshouses.

Inside the entrance, below the first glass dome, a goldfish pond with a large tree fern on an island in the middle attracts a group of visitors. To the left is the warm and humid Tropicarium containing statues of King Robert of Sicily and Cain. A broad passageway winds past plants from Southern Africa, a statue of Eve and onwards to the main dome.

The mass of ferns and tall palms, gives the main dome a jungle-like appearance that could have been out of Jurrasic Park. Heading clockwise round it, I pass smoothly through the fauna of the Canaries, North America and the Mediterranean. Sculptures of the Sisters of Bethany standing on the right take me to South America and Temperate Asia. On the left further on are sculptures of the Stepping Stones and the Elf. Continuing round I enter New Zealand and come to statues of the Nubian Slave and Ruth on the right. Finally I come to Australia and a statue of Eve.

Well if I didn’t visit those countries I did meet their plants. It is peaceful and relaxing to wander round or just sit - there is no entrance charge. The hustle and bustle of the world disappears and everything assumes a slower rhythm. It is a chance to recharge energy levels before stepping out into… a cold, windy and wet Scotland.