Edinburgh Castle (3)

arjayempee
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Edinburgh Castle (3)
Edinburgh Castle (3)

In the ‘blurb’ that I write to accompany my castle photographs I usually try to include three basic lots of information – (1) where it is, (2) notes on the architecture - ie what it consisted of when it was built, how it has changed and what it now consists of, and (3) the history of the building and the people that lived in it.

In the case of Edinburgh Castle, I can (I hope) skip straight over its location! It’d architecture is generally too complex and the structure too large for me to go into great detail, but I will cover a few details as we ‘fly round’! The history of the place is the most interesting aspect and to tell it all would require me to write a book, something that has been done many times before, by people far more skilled at writing than I. So what I am going to do (which will save me a considerable amount of time), is I am going to copy, mildly edit and then a number of stories from the book ‘Castle Memories – Twenty Tales of Edinburgh Castle’ by J. N. Ogilvie D.D., which was first printed in 1911. They are ‘tales’, not historical essays, but they set the tone and contain the known facts. It's as good a way of telling the history as any, and anyway, ‘Histories’ are often little more than tales themselves!

This engraving was made by John Abraham Slezer (died 1717), Surveyor of his Majesty's Stores and Magazines (no, not Tatler or Hello!). It must have been drawn around 1680. Slezer himself fell on hard times and spent the last years of his life in the Holyrood Abbey sanctuary to avoid debtors' prison.

While the details of the castle are likely to be very accurate, he has used some artistic license with the orientation of the background!

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Taken on: May 10, 2023
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with John Slezer John Slezer Everybody's photos tagged with Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle Everybody's photos tagged with Midlothian Midlothian more » Everybody's photos tagged with Engraving Engraving Everybody's photos tagged with Fortress Fortress « less
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