Holyrood Park

The Palace of Holyroodhouse developed from a guesthouse attached to medieval Holyrood Abbey. It was a royal residence at various times from the 16th century, and is still the Queen's official residence in Scotland, so access is very restricted. The abbey was founded by David I in 1128, and was probably names after a fragment of the Cross (rood is an old word for cross) said to have belonged to his mother St Margaret. As it lay outside the city walls it was particularly vulnerable to English attacks, but the church was always rebuilt and survived as Canongate parish church until it collapsed in 1768. Most of the surviving ruins date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although a doorway in the far south-eastern corner has survived from the original Norman church. King James IV extended the abbey guesthouse in 1501 to create more comfortable living quarters than were possible in bleak and windy Edinburgh Castle; the oldest surviving section of the building, the north-west tower, was built in 1529 as a royal apartment.

Abbey Strand	Heraldic plaque of James V
Palace of Holyroodhouse
	Foggy view from a higher point in Holyrood Park