Mons Meg

Mons Meg stands outside St Margaret’s Chapel inside Edinburgh Castle. This iron bombard was built in 1449 for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and sent to James II of Scotland in 1457. The barrel is 4.0 m long and weighs nearly 7,000 kg, making it one of the largest medieval guns ever made. Its 510 mm calibre stone balls weighed 175 kg each. After 1680 the barrel burst and the gun was moved to the Tower of London in 1754. It returned to Edinburgh in 1829 after campaigns led by Sir Walter Scott. The weapon was forged from 25 iron staves bound with hoops and fitted with a screw breech. It was tested at Mons in Flanders before being delivered to Scotland. Mons Meg fired ceremonial salutes for royal weddings and visits, including Mary, Queen of Scots’ marriage in 1558. Regimental accounts show payments for grease to oil the mouth, ribbons for the carriage and pipers to lead processions. The name first appears in 1678, though earlier records call it simply “Monss” or “Muckle Meg.” Visitors find Mons Meg mounted on a heavy cast-iron carriage outside the castle’s oldest building. The gun’s massive proportions dominate the foreground while St Margaret’s Chapel rises behind it. During Hogmanay the bombard is fired to open the fireworks, though only with a blank charge. The iron surface shows the scars of its burst barrel and centuries of exposure. From this spot the Royal Mile slopes down to the city below, linking the castle’s military past with Edinburgh’s present.