Edinburgh Castle, St Mary's Church

CROWN SQUARE.

On the S.W. side of the Half Moon Battery is an enclosure known as Crown Square or the Palace Yard. Next to St. Margaret's Chapel this is the highest part of the whole Castle. It is bounded on the N. by the Scottish National War Memorial, which stands in the position once occupied by St. Mary's Church, a building which is on record as having been reconstructed in the 14th century and which appears to have been again remodelled in the 15th century, if we may judge by some carved fragments preserved in an upper floor of the Portcullis Gate. On the W. is a block recently adapted as a Military museum; this dates from the mid-18th century, although one end of it rests on an earlier undercroft. The Great Hall, which determined the lay-out of the Square, stands on the S. and the Palace Block rises on the E. facing the town. The historic buildings are thus confined to the E. and S. sides, some part of the S.E. corner probably representing a certain "great chamber" built between 1433 and 1438 (50). The plan of the buildings that existed in 1754 is given in Fig. 93, and this may be compared with Fig. 94, which shows the present arrangement. In the latter plan, only the principal building-periods are indicated.

RCAHMS 1951

(50) Exch. Rolls, iv, p. 579