Project Background

The Archaeology Landscape of Holyrood

Holyrood Park is a unique archaeological landscape sitting in the middle of Edinburgh. Not only is it a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but the whole landscape of the park is protected as a scheduled monument of national importance. There are over 111 archaeological sites ranging from Mesolithic hunter-gatherer activity, dating to at least 8000 years ago, up to the present day. In between there is prehistoric occupation from Bronze Age enclosures and at least four Iron Age hillforts, evidence of a Roman presence and plenty of agricultural terraces in use until at least the Medieval period. David I founded the nearby Holyrood Abbey in 1128 and from the Stewart period the use of the park changed from habitation and agriculture to become a medieval Royal hunting park.

The park was enclosed with a stone wall by King James V in 1541, as an adjunct to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, effectively preserving the present Holyrood, or Queen’s, Park as an area of open ground, with no significant settlement from that time onwards. That said areas were utilised as a source for post-medieval quarrying and the park was a focus of military activity in the Victorian and First World War periods (the latter use including firing ranges, allotments and air raid shelters).