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The Castle on its volcanic plug of black basalt towers over the Grassmarket. As a key royal stronghold from at least the 11thC reign of Malcolm Canmore, its strategic importance to the kingdom of Scotland can hardly be over-estimated. It guarded the main east-coast invasion route taken repeatedly by English armies. This was the preferred route from the south since Roman times, since troops could be supplied and reinforced from ships using the developed harbours on that coast, Berwick, captured by the English at various times in history, was the obvious springboard. If the Scots failed to block an English army at the narrow ravine of Cockburnspath, Lothian was as good as lost (though castles like Dunbar and Tantallon might hold out). To avoid a dangerous crossing of the natural barrier of the 'Scottish Sea' (Firth of Forth), the invading force was obliged to follow the river to its nearest fordable point at Stirling. Edinburgh was therefore the gate preventing their further penetration into central Scotland. If circumvented, it would leave a dangerous garrison to the invaders' rear, and so it was always attacked head-on; also not least because its symbolic importance made it a prize worth capturing - its fall symbolised the fall of the Lowlands in general. It then fell to Stirling Castle, the 'gateway to the Highlands', to be the next line of defence, and not surprisingly the Stirling-Falkirk area became 'the cockpit of Scottish history' on several occasions.