Holyrood Park: 10,000 years of human activity but now a fragile future given swell of visitors

Over a timeline of 10,000 years, people have wandered this ancient Edinburgh landscape where hunter gatherers may have tread before them, forts of the powerful were built, food was grown, quarries were mined and holy places were consecrated on the edge of the emerging city.

Today, Holyrood Park remains a highlight of the city experience for both residents and visitors but the future of how we use it now comes into sharp view as rising visitor numbers and changes in climate make their mark on this place where rugged beauty belies its sensitive nature.

As it archaeology and condition comes under threat, Historic Environment Scotland – which describes the space as among its most complex sites given its scale, the quantity and variety of sites that require protection and the sheer number of those who walk its 259 acres – is writing a new management plan for the park.

With anecdotal figures suggesting that between half a million and 5 million people visit the park every year, HES is now asking the public what it wants from the park - which spans the extinct volcano of Arthur’s Seat, Salisbury Crags, cultivation terraces, playing fields and a series of lochs – and how it should be used in the face of its ever increasing fragile state.

The eastern slope of Arthur's Seat where the criss-cross of new paths taken by walkers finding their own routes can be seen with the new "desire lines" putting the park's archaeology - which spans thousands of years - at risk. PIC: HES.

Rachel Pickering, senior cultural resources manager at HES, revealed the challenges and “difficult questions” facing the long term management of the park in a paper published in 2020 and said there was now a “real risk” of losing some of its archaeological sites given impact of the parks popularity.

She said: “Of all of the Properties in Care, Holyrood Park exhibits the broadest range of heritage values and has exceptionally high levels of visitation and use.

"This makes it a great asset to HES' estate and to the city of Edinburgh. However, the site also poses many challenges in terms of management, conservation and visitor access.

“One of the biggest challenges faced in Holyrood Park is how to manage the impact of increasing visitor numbers. The park is a top visitor attraction in Edinburgh and one of the most visited sites in the estate.

Views of Edinburgh skyline including Holyrood park from Craigmillar Castle. PIC: HES.

"With the expansion of Edinburgh airport and favourable exchange rates, visitor numbers to the city have soared in recent years and this seems to be a continuing upward trend.

There are over 3.5 million visitors to Edinburgh each year – many of whom are likely to visit the park – in addition to the probable hundreds of thousands of visits each year from residents.”

Ms Pickering said that increased visitor footfall, and activities such as cycling and running, commercial dog-walking and organised training within the park is leading to the erosion of archaeologically sensitive areas.

"There is now a real risk of loss of significant archaeological deposits in certain areas,” the report added.

Aerial photo of Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park. A new management plan is being written for the park given the impact of rising visitor numbers and the erosion of the landscape. PIC: HES.

The earliest hints of human activity in Holyrood Park date to the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods with the “stray finds” of a microlith and two arrowheads made. From the Bronze Age onwards, land here was settled and used for agriculture, with well preserved cultivation terraces still clearly seen on the eastern slopes of Arthur’s Seat.

While the cultivation terraces are among the best-preserved examples in southern Scotland and provide valuable evidence for prehistoric human activity in and around Edinburgh, the terraces are among the features most at risk given the “criss crossing” of pedestrians across the landmark, the report said.

Remains of four hillforts represent life in the Iron Age and early medieval period in the park with the best preserved found at Dunsapie Crag, where a team of students from University of Edinburgh, along with HES and AOC Archaeology, recently used radiocarbon dating of an animal bone uncovered beneath one of the ramparts to pinpoint its construction to between 500 and 400 BC.

As the park’s timeline of human activity progresses, the founding of Holyrood Abbey in 1128 gave way to the land being divided between the monasteries of Holyrood and Kelso and used extensively for cultivation and pasture. Religious sites include St Anthony’s Chapel, first mentioned in a document issued by Pope Martin V in 1426, which became a focal point for pilgrimage and procession, with James III and IV among visitors.

Later, the park's function as a place of “wildness” emerged during the era of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who started a shift away from industrial quarrying and agriculture with lodges built, entrances formalised and a road constructed, the paper said.

Work to better map and understand the park’s archaeological sites is a key focus for HES. Recent airborne laser scans, which penetrated the rough gorse of the park, found an array of new remains - including traces of World War I practice trenches - with the results giving way to a condition survey which looked at how damaged areas intersected with the routes most commonly used by visitors. It is these results which will help shape the new management plan for the park.

The condition survey said visitor footfall was the “greatest threat” to the survival of the park’s archaeological features as new “desire lines” – informal routes routinely taken – criss cross the park.

"The worst affected areas are around the fort on Arthur's Seat, the cultivation terraces on the eastern slopes of Arthur's Seat, St Anthony's Well, Samson's Ribs fort, and various enclosures and earthwork boundaries on Whinny Hill,” Ms Pickering added.

Further analysis of excavations by University of Stirling at some of the most vulnerable areas continues.

Ms Pickering added: “There are difficult decisions to be made regarding visitor access and acceptable loss in terms of the archaeological remains within the park. There is a need to promote core path routes and reduce access across more sensitive areas of the site. However, restricting or reducing access is far from a simple solution and it would be difficult to monitor and manage with the current resources available.”

The consultation by HES on the future of Holyrood Park is available here.