THOUGH most people associate Scotland’s Wars of Independence with the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn, many other towns and fortresses played a crucial roles in the decades-long conflict.

None more so than Edinburgh Castle, where a new exhibition opened yesterday that explores the dramatic events which the castle endured during the Wars of Independence.

Entitled “Fight for the Castle”, the exhibition focusses on the historic stronghold’s many sieges as it changed hands between the Scots and English several times from 1286 to 1356.

It is the first new permanent exhibition to open at Edinburgh Castle since the Prisons of War in 2002, and illustrates why the castle is the most besieged in British history.

Housed in the castle’s 19th-century Argyle Tower, the exhibition sits above the Portcullis Gate. The gateway itself was the scene of a siege in 1341.

The £332,000 project has been delivered under Historic Environment Scotland’s investment plan, which identified 20 properties prioritised for investment to improve their condition and enhance the visitor experience.

The exhibition comprises a highly atmospheric, multi-layered display presented around a

14-foot-tall, sculptural siege engine – representing what is believed to have been the first use of these fearsome weapons in Scotland, during the siege of the castle in 1296.

Projected images and animations fill the space, telling the story of the castle’s fortunes, from the death of Alexander III after a banquet at the castle in 1286, until the return of David II at the end of the Second War of Independence in 1356, when he began rebuilding the castle as a home fit for a king.

Designed for a multi-lingual audience, the story is told using sound and light, images and real objects. Short, simple text provides a historical timeline. For those with little time or no English, the story of the castle changing hands on several occasions is summarised in a single captivating animation.

Medieval objects found within the castle’s walls are displayed throughout, ranging from a 14.5kg trebuchet ball to the tiny spherical remains of frozen sparks from the smithy set up in the castle in 1335.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop toured the exhibition and said: “The Fight for the Castle exhibition offers an exciting insight into the fascinating history of our country during the Wars of Independence. I am confident that, by combining innovation, entertainment and tradition, the exhibition will manage to attract and educate visitors who are keen to discover more about Scotland’s glorious past.

“I am pleased that we were able to contribute to the delivery of this exhibition through our funding of Historic Environment Scotland’s investment plan.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A TRIP BACK IN TIME

BY Hamish MacPherson

IT’S now the nation’s number one paid-for tourist attraction and provides a fairy-tale backdrop for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo every August, but Edinburgh Castle’s history as the most besieged castle in Britain – 26 sieges in 1100 years – shows just what a fighting fortress is has been over the centuries.

The new exhibition, Fight for the Castle, concentrates on the period 1286 to 1356 when the Scottish Wars of Independence made possession of the castle a strategic necessity.

Edward I of England certainly thought so, and in his invasion of Scotland in 1296 he bombarded the fortress for three days before it surrendered.

Edinburgh Castle became an English outpost and, as almost every other castle in Scotland – Stirling was also in English hands – fell to Robert the Bruce and his growing army, Edinburgh remained under English control. On the night of March 14, 1314, just 100 days before Bannockburn, Thomas Randolph, the Earl of Moray, and 30 hand-picked warriors scaled the Rock and surprised the garrison.

Bruce ordered the destruction of all of the buildings on the Rock except one – St Margaret’s Chapel – as he knew the English would come north to take the castle again, which they did in 1335.

This time they only held it for six years.