The Abbey is now a ruin and has been for some considerable time.

It adjoins Holyrood Palace (or the Palace adjoins it.)

Entrance:-

Information board:-

Interior:-

Pillars:-

Chancel and east window:-

Looking back towards entrance:-

Exterior from north. The remains to the left and in the photo two below are from an even older building. Arthur’s Seat/Salisbury Crags in background:-

Exterior from north-east:-

Exterior from south:-

I realised when I was composing this that I hadn’t posted any pictures of Holyrood Palace from the grounds surounding it other than from the front courtyard, so here are two.

Holyrood Palace from Grounds. Ruins of Holyrood Abbey to right:-

East facade:-

One of the most gruesome events that took place in Holyrood Palace was the murder of David Rizzio.

Rizzio was a favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was thought by some to be too close to, and too much of an influence on, her.

A plot was hatched to kill him and he was duly murdered in front of the Queen.

One of the exhibits in the Palace is Rizzio’s “bloodstain”:-

I remember from my childhood visit to the Palace the story being told that there used to be what was said to be the remains of his clotted blood on the floor but that visitors would chip away at it on the sly to get a piece for themselves to take away. The curators got so fed up with replacing the ‘clot’ that they resorted instead to this red wash on the wooden flooring to mark the spot.

Towards the end of the Palace tour there is a room which contains royal memorabilia.

A display of British decorations (OBEs, CBEs etc):-

The regalia of the order of the Thistle:-

One of Queen Victoria’s dresses. She was not a big woman:-