500 years on

This was the view from the flat as the annual Riding of the Marches to the Flodden Wall happened but this year is special as it is 500 years since Flodden in 1513.

The Battle of Flodden was a conflict between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The battle was fought in the county of Northumberland on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey. It was an English victory. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two Kingdoms. James IV was killed in the battle, becoming the last monarch from the British Isles to suffer such a death.

The remains of a town wall called the Flodden Wall built around the southern extent of the late-medieval old town, enclosing the medieval Grassmarket, the religious houses of Greyfriars and Blackfriars and the later 15thcentury houses built up along the Cowgate outside the earlier town walls.

Although this wall is thought to have existed from perhaps as long as 70 years before the Battle of Flodden, it was repaired and re-fortified in the 12 months following September 1513. Today the remains of this ad hoc defence can be seen in the Greyfriars Church Yard and on The Pleasance near Drummond Street. Its line is also marked in the pavement at the west end of the Grassmarket.