Panorama taken inside St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle. This is a very small chapel, but the oldest building in the city.

Edinburgh Castle - St Margaret's Chapel - Edinburgh visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Edinburgh Castle - St Margaret's Chapel' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Lothian.

St Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building in Edinburgh. This Norman chapel was built in the 12 century by Margaret's fourth son, who became King David in 1124. It occupies one of the highest points of the Upper Ward of Edinburgh Castle, next to the Mons Meg bombard canon. The interior of the chapel has been restored to it's original condition.

St Margaret's Chapel was one of the few buildings in the castle to survive intact and undamaged from the 1571-73 Lang Siege, which destroyed Davids Tower and Constables Tower. The rectangular building inside measures 3m by 4.87m with stained glass, arch windows and an apse at the eastern end accessed through a rounded arch.

The chapel survived the complete destruction of the rest of the Castle after it fell to Randolph, Earl of Moray on 14 March 1314. In 1329 King Bruce, on his deathbed, spoke of the chapel to Queen Margaret and issued orders for its repair. It was known as the 'Royal Chapel in the Castle' and for some time services took place inside, even though another, larger, chapel was also in use in the castle.

From the 16th century the chapel was used as a gunpowder store until it was restored in 1845 by Sir Daniel Wilson with the support of Queen Victoria. The chapel was not re-dedicated for worship until 1934. In 1993 Historic Scotland carried out renovations in celebration of the 900th anniversary of the death of St Margaret and it is now open to the public under the care of members of St Margaret's Chapel Guild.

Edinburgh Castle
Castlehill
Edinburgh
EH1 2NG

Bus: 24 to Lawnmarket.
Walk: Edinburgh Castle is at the western end of the Royal Mile, which leads down east to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. This is about 15 minutes walk from Waverley Station and the Tourist Information Centre.