Edinburgh Castle, National War Museum of Scotland (Former Hospital and Ordnance Store) Edinburgh, Scotland

Listed Building Data

Edinburgh Castle, National War Museum of Scotland (Former Hospital and Ordnance Store) has been designated a scheduled monument in Scotland with the following information. Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.

Historic Scotland ID
395620 (entity ID)
Building ID
48223
Canmore ID
112240
Category
A
Name
Edinburgh Castle, National War Museum of Scotland (former Hospital and Ordnance Store), Including Sentry Boxes and Urns
Parish
Edinburgh
County
Edinburgh, City Of
Easting
325065
Northing
673504
Date Listed
14 December 1970

Listed Building Description

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

William Skinner, 1748; E Ingress Bell, 1893 and T Ivor-Moore, 1897, with later alterations and additions. 2-storey 10-bay rectangular-plan pitch-roofed building to S: random rubble with polished dressings; open round-arched arcade to ground floor, steps to round-arched entrance at 1st floor to right; corbel table below eaves; small pedimented dormers to attic. 2-storey and attic L-plan Baronial block to N: random rubble with polished dressings; corbel table under eaves; tall narrow projecting block to left with modern timber stair adjoining; projecting gabled bay to right; 5 tall windows with pedimented dormers breaking eaves; timber boarded door in roll-moulded surround with Greek inscription and carving in segmental pediment. Single storey steeply gabled building to E (former kitchen). 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Kneelered, crowsteppped skews. Pyramidally corniced stacks with circular cans. SENTRY BOXES AND URNS: 2 18th century stone urns and 2 18th century stone sentry boxes flanking entrance, with ball-finialled swept-roofs and depressed-arched openings, linked by arched iron overthrow with central lantern.

Listed Building Statement of Special Interest

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The A Group comprises Batteries, Foog's Gate, Gatehouse, Governor's House, Great Hall, Lang Stairs, Military Prison, National War Museum, New Barracks, Old Guardhouse, Palace Block, Portcullis Gate, St Margaret's Chapel, Scottish National War Memorial, Telephone Kiosks, United Services Museum and Vaults, all within Edinburgh Castle, and in the Care of Historic Scotland. Ingress Bell was a consulting architect to the War Office. The magazine, built in 1748, and the twin ordnance stores of 1753-4 (both designed by William Skinner) formed a quadrangle at the NW corner of the castle. Together with the New Barracks, built in 1796-9, they gave the castle a very austere appearance from the N. After Blanc's restoration of the Great Hall, which had previously housed the military hospital, the decision was taken to reconstruct the ordnance store complex as a military hospital, at the same time giving it a more romantic aspect. Ingress Bell's design, executed with some alterations by Ivor-Moore, involved demolishing the magazine, raising the N range by a storey and giving it Scottish Baronial details. The S range was given a matching corbel table and crowsteps, but the arcaded ground floor was preserved. The buildings, with a modern link to W, incorporating the heavily corbelled linking terrace, now house the National War Museum of Scotland

Listed Building References

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Gifford, McWilliam and Walker EDINBURGH (1984) p 102. MacIvor EDINBURGH CASTLE (1993). https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/edinburgh-castle