Scottish Blog

St Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest building still standing on the Edinburgh Castle grounds.

As the name might suggest, St Margaret’s Chapel was built in honor of St Margaret. Originally it was believed that the church was named such because it was visited frequently by Saint Margaret herself during her prayers. Although archeological evidence shows that it was built after her death, and therefore most probably by one of her children in her honor, most guesses point to it being her fourth son David, who became King of Scotland.

Physically, St Margaret’s Chapel consists of a design typical of Scottish and Gaelic churches of the time. Its exterior consists a rectangular building that is almost twenty feet in length and fourteen feet in width. The walls are all made with local stone, although the north wall has been replaced due to damage that it has suffered, the exact origin of the new stone is unknown. The interior of the church consists of a single room sixteen feet in length and ten in width, the ceiling is also arched in a the fashion of churches of the time.

In 1329 St Margaret’s Chapel received much funding as a death bed order of King Robert the Bruce. It is recorded that forty Scots pounds were allocated to the renovation, a substantial amount of money at that time.

Between the 16th century and as late as 1845, St Margaret’s Chapel was used as a gunpowder store room. Understandably during this period, the condition of St Margaret’s Chapel fell below that of a standard chapel. Since then it has received at least three major renovations, the most prominent of which was in 1993 in celebration of the 900th anniversary of the death of Queen Margaret.